Patent ID: 8621137
Filing Date: 2013-12-31
Classification: G06F,G11C

Abstract:
1. A method of rebuilding metadata used in a flash memory controller following a loss of power, comprising: (a) copying from flash memory to volatile memory a first table containing metadata regarding a first block in flash memory, each block comprising a plurality of pages of flash memory, wherein the first table contains logical addresses for each of a sequence of physical locations in flash memory; (b) based on one or more indicators, determining whether the first block in flash memory was open for writing, closed for writing or erased at the time of power loss; (c) if the first block was erased, placing an identifier of the first block in a memory structure that contains identifications of flash memory blocks that may be written to; (d) if the first block was closed for writing, performing the following sub-operations for each of two or more of the flash memory pages of the first block, the first table containing metadata for each such page: (e) if the first block was open for writing, reading from the first block metadata associated with each page within the first block, and using the metadata to populate the first table.