06/04/2014 | 09:42pm US/Eastern
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By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Information Technology Newsweekly -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews journalists, a patent by the inventors Kuo, Lung-Yi (Jhubei, TW); Ho, Hsin-Yi (Hsinchu, TW); Hung, Chun-Hsiung (Hsinchu, TW); Hung, Shuo-Nan (Jhubei, TW); Chen, Han-Sung (Hsinchu, TW), filed on April 14, 2011, was published online on May 27, 2014.
The assignee for this patent, patent number 8738844, is Macronix International Co., Ltd. (Hsinchu, TW).
Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The invention relates in general to a program method and a data recovery method, and more particularly to a program method and a data recovery method applied on a multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory.
"In the present age, non-volatile memory devices have become more popular for use in various electronic devices. For example, flash memory is one of the most popular non-volatile semiconductor memories applied in the present age. In detail, flash memory includes flash memory cells with programmable threshold voltages, so that each of the flash memory cells can be programmed to indicate at least one bit of data. In a case of multi-level cell (MLC) flash memory, each memory cells thereof can be programmed with more than two different levels, so that more than one bit of data, e.g. two bit of data, can be stored therein.
"Generally, two program cycles have to be applied to each of the MLC cells, so that the two bit of data stored therein can be programmed with designated values. For MLC cells corresponding to a same block (i.e. a unit array for program operation), bits of data, stored therein, programmed in the same first program cycle are arranged as pages, while bits of data, stored therein, programmed in the same second program cycle are arranged as paired pages corresponding to the respective pages.
"Conventionally, MLC flash memory suffers from data loss of the pages of the block if power off event strikes in the program cycle of the paired pages of the block. Thus, how to provide a decent program method and a decent data recovery method capable of preventing the data loss of the pages has become a prominent object for the industries."
In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, VerticalNews editors also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "The invention is directed to a program method and a data recovery method applied in a flash memory. The program method determines whether a program address command is corresponding to a paired page within the flash memory, and employs a non-volatile memory for copying data stored in a page corresponding to the paired page before programming the paired page. The data recovery method determines whether a program fail event has taken place in the paired page, and recovers data stored in the page within the copied data stored in the non-volatile memory, so that data recovery of the page can be achieved after even program failure has taken place on the paired page. Thus, in comparison to conventional multi-level cell (MLC) memory access method, the program, data recovery methods, and the flash memory thereof directed by the invention are capable of preventing the data loss of the pages.
"According to an aspect of the present invention, a program method for an MLC flash memory is provided. The memory array includes a plurality of pages and a plurality of paired pages, which correspond to the respective pages. The program method includes the following steps. Firstly, a program address command is obtained. Next, the program address command corresponding to any one of the paired pages is determined. When the program address command corresponds to a first paired page, which corresponds to a first page among the pages, among the paired pages, data stored in the first page to a non-volatile memory are copied. After that, the first paired page is programmed.
"According to a second aspect of the invention, a data recovery method for an MLC flash memory is provided. The memory array includes a plurality of pages and a plurality of paired pages, which correspond to the respective pages. The data recovery method includes the following steps. Firstly, a program completed flag has been set to indicate a fair program operation is determined. When the program completed flag indicates that a program fail event has taken place in a marked paired page within a first block, data stored in pages, except the marked paired page and a marked page corresponding to the marked paired page, of the first block are moved to a clean second block. After the data have been moved, a reserved page within the clean second block with backup data, which are recorded in a non-volatile memory, of the marked page is programmed, so that data recovery of the marked page can be achieved even after program failure has taken place on the marke d paired page.
"According to a third aspect of the invention, a flash memory is provided. The flash memory includes a memory controller and an MLC flash memory circuit. The memory controller provides a program address command. The MLC flash memory circuit includes a memory array, a non-volatile memory, and a controller. The memory array includes pages and paired pages, which correspond to the respective pages. The controller determines whether the program address command corresponds to any one of the paired pages. When the program address command corresponds to a first paired page, which corresponds to a first page among the pages, among the paired pages, the controller copies data stored in the first page to the non-volatile memory. The controller further programs the first paired page after the data stored in the page has been copied.
"According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a flash memory is provided. The flash memory includes a non-volatile memory and an MLC flash memory circuit. The MLC flash memory circuit includes a memory array, wherein the memory array includes a plurality of pages and a plurality of paired pages, which correspond to the respective pages. The memory controller determines whether a program address command corresponds to any one of the paired pages. When the program address command corresponds to a first paired page, which corresponds to a first page among the pages, among the paired pages, the memory controller copies data stored in the first page to the non-volatile memory. The memory controller further programs the first paired page after the data stored in the page has been copied.
"The invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings."
For more information, see this patent: Kuo, Lung-Yi; Ho, Hsin-Yi; Hung, Chun-Hsiung; Hung, Shuo-Nan; Chen, Han-Sung. Program Method, Data Recovery Method, and Flash Memory Using the Same. U.S. Patent Number 8738844, filed April 14, 2011, and published online on May 27, 2014. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8738844.PN.&OS=PN/8738844RS=PN/8738844
Keywords for this news article include: Information Technology, Macronix International Co. Ltd, Information and Data Loss and Recovery.
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