Patent ID: 11972143
Assignee: APPLE INC.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A method for balancing write commands directed to a non-volatile memory that includes first and second partitions, the method comprising, at a computing device that is communicably coupled to the non-volatile memory:
caching write commands into a write cache of the computing device;
in response to determining that an available capacity of the write cache satisfies a first threshold:
directing at least one write command to the first partition in response to determining that an available capacity of the first partition satisfies a second threshold, and
directing at least one write command to the second partition in response to determining that the available capacity of the first partition does not satisfy the second threshold;

in response to determining that an available capacity of the second partition satisfies a third threshold:
directing at least one write command to the second partition in response to determining that the available capacity of the write cache satisfies the first threshold, and
modifying at least one characteristic of the first partition to cause at least a portion of the first partition to operate under a same cell-level format as the second partition in response to determining that the available capacity of the write cache does not satisfy the first threshold, and directing at least one write command to the at least a portion of the first partition; and

updating the available capacity of the first or second partition to reflect the at least one write command.