IP Library Granted Patent US 9,489,263
Granted Patent B2
US 9,489,263 · App. 14/593,965 · Granted Nov 8, 2016

Selective ECC refresh for on die buffered non-volatile memory

Inventors: Jea Hyun (Los Altos, CA); Robert Wood (Niwot, CO)
Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
G06F11/108G06F11/1072G11C16/349G11C29/021G11C29/028G11C29/52G11C2211/5641
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,489,263
App. No.
14/593,965
Granted
Nov 8, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for on die buffered non-volatile memory management. A method includes storing data in a first set of non-volatile memory cells. A method includes determining whether to perform an error-correcting code (ECC) refresh for data to be copied from a first set of non-volatile memory cells to a second set of non-volatile memory cells based on one or more attributes associated with the data. A method includes storing data in a second set of non-volatile storage cells representing data using more storage cells per cell than a first set of non-volatile storage cells.

Claims (28)

1. A method comprising:

determining whether to perform an error correcting code (ECC) refresh for data to be copied from a first set of non-volatile memory cells to a second set of non-volatile memory cells based on one or more attributes associated with the data, the second set of non-volatile memory cells configured to store more bits per cell than the first set of non-volatile memory cells;

adjusting one or more read voltage thresholds for the first set of non-volatile memory cells in response to determining to perform the ECC refresh; and

reading the data from the first set of non-volatile memory cells using the adjusted one or more read voltage thresholds for copying the data to the second set of non-volatile memory cells.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the data in the second set of non-volatile memory cells by writing the data stored in the first set of non-volatile memory cells to the second set of non-volatile memory cells internally within a non-volatile memory element comprising the first and second sets of non-volatile memory cells in response to determining not to perform the ECC refresh.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more read voltage thresholds for the first set of non-volatile memory cells is adjusted proactively based on one or more storage media characteristics for the first set of non-volatile memory cells.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more storage media characteristics comprise one or more of a program/erase cycle count, a read count, a retention time, a temperature, and an error rate for the first set of non-volatile memory cells.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising aborting copying of the data to the second set of non-volatile memory cells in response to a power level failing to satisfy a threshold, and erasing the second set of non-volatile memory cells and accessing the data from the first set of non-volatile memory cells after recovery from the power level failing.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising marking the second set of non-volatile memory cells as filled in response to storing the data in the second set of non-volatile memory cells and erasing one or more sets of non-volatile memory cells not marked as filled after recovery from a power level failing to satisfy a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more attributes associated with the data comprise one or more of a write frequency for the data, a read frequency for the data, a quality-of-service level for the data, an age for the data, an error rate for the data, a capacity threshold being satisfied for the first set of non-volatile memory cells, and a program/erase cycle count for the first set of non-volatile memory cells.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a buffer module configured to store data in a first set of non-volatile storage cells;

a refresh module configured to determine whether to perform an error-correcting code (ECC) refresh for the data for storing the data in a second set of non-volatile storage cells based on one or more data factors; and

a copyback module configured to store the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells, the second set of non-volatile storage cells representing data using more storage states per cell than the first set of non-volatile storage cells.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the refresh module is configured to perform an ECC refresh for the data by decoding one or more ECC code words of the data using an error-correcting code decoder and by re-encoding the data using an error-correcting code encoder for storing the re-encoded data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the refresh module is further configured to re-packetize the re-encoded data.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a read voltage module configured to determine one or more read voltage thresholds for the first set of non-volatile storage cells proactively based on one or more storage media characteristics for the first set of non-volatile storage cells, the copyback module configured to use the one or more read voltage thresholds to read the data from the first set of non-volatile storage cells for storing in the second set of non-volatile storage cells.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a logical-to-physical mapping module configured to maintain a first logical-to-physical mapping for a location of the data in the first set of non-volatile storage cells and to maintain a second logical-to-physical mapping for a location of the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a storage capacity recovery module configured to recover storage capacity of the first set of non-volatile storage cells in response to one or more of the copyback module verifying data integrity of the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells, an access rate for the data failing to satisfy an access threshold, a quality-of-service level for the data failing to satisfy a threshold, and a storage capacity threshold being satisfied.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the copyback module is configured to verify integrity of the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells in response to a trigger, the trigger comprising at least one of a read request for the data, a background scan of the second set of non-volatile storage cells, a storage capacity threshold being satisfied, and a storage capacity recovery event for the first set of non-volatile storage cells.

15. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a power-cut module configured to abort the copyback module storing the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells in response to a power level failing to satisfy a threshold and to erase the second set of non-volatile storage cells in response to recovery from the power level failing such that the data is accessed from the first set of non-volatile storage cells after recovery from the power level failing.

16. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a power-cut module configured to mark the second set of non-volatile storage cells as filled in response to the copyback module storing the data to the second set of non-volatile storage cells and to erase one or more sets of non-volatile storage cells not marked as filled after recovery from a power level failing to satisfy a threshold.

17. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a data factor module configured to maintain metadata indicating the one or more data factors over time based on at least one of a storage request for the data and a background scan of the data, the data factor module configured to determine the one or more data factors by reading at least a subset of the data from the first set of non-volatile storage cells and factoring in results of the reading of the at least a subset to determine the one or more data factors.

18. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the copyback module is configured to store the data in the second set of non-volatile storage cells by writing the data from the first set of non-volatile storage cells to the second set of non-volatile storage cells internally within a non-volatile memory element comprising the first and second sets of cells in response to the refresh module determining not to perform the ECC refresh.

19. A system comprising:

a non-volatile memory element comprising a set of single level cell (SLC) non-volatile memory cells and a set of triple level cell (TLC) non-volatile memory cells; and

a controller that buffers data in the set of SLC non-volatile memory cells and copies the data to the set of TLC non-volatile memory cells, the controller selectively determining whether to perform an error-correcting code (ECC) refresh for storing the data in the TLC non-volatile memory cells based on one or more data factors.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the controller performs the ECC refresh by performing an error-correcting code (ECC) decode for the data from the set of SLC non-volatile memory cells and an ECC re-encode for the data for copying to the set of TLC non-volatile memory cells.

Assignments (5)
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 071050/0001 →
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTERESTS Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS AGENT
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 071382/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 31, 2024
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 069796/0423 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded May 25, 2016
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES INC
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Reel/Frame 038807/0807 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 12, 2015
From: HYUN, JEA; WOOD, ROBERT
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 034952/0965 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 61925549 · Jan 9, 2014
Related Publication 20150193302A1 · Jul 9, 2015