Abstract:
A method of operating a controller for controlling the programming of a NAND memory chip is shown. The NAND memory chip has a plurality of blocks with each block having a certain amount of storage, wherein the amount of storage in each block is the minimum erasable unit. The method comprising storing in a temporary storage a first plurality of groups of data, wherein each of the groups of data is to be stored in a block of the NAND memory chip. Each group of data is indexed to the block with which it is to be stored. Finally, the groups of data associated with the same block are programmed into the same block in the same programming operation.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a method of operating a NAND memory controller as well as a method to operate a memory device comprising a NAND memory controller and a NAND integrated circuit chip. The method of the present invention increases the performance of the NAND memory to perform random writes for block based flash file system. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    NAND memory integrated circuit chips are well known in the art. In a NAND memory chip, the memory is characterized by a number of blocks of storage, with each block containing a number of pages. A block is the minimum erasable unit. Thus, if a page in a block of NAND storage has already been written or programmed, it cannot be re-programmed or re-written again until the entire block with which the page is associated is erased. Therefore, in a block based flash file system (FFS), when replacing or overwriting a portion (such as a page) of a prewritten block, the overwrite data and the unchanged data portion of the block must be merged into a new erased block. Thus, as shown in  FIG. 1 , if pages  2  and  3  of the Original Block are to be over written, the new data for those pages are first saved in a Temporary Block, and then are merged with other pages of the Original Block into a Merged Block. Therefore, pages  0  and  1  are copied from the Original Block, pages  2  and  3  are copied from the Temporary Block, and the rest of the pages, from page  4  to end of the Original Block, are copied from the Original Block to the Merged Block. The Original and Temporary Blocks can then be erased for future use. 
         [0003]    The merge operation can be very long when a block of NAND has 128 or 256 pages and moving each page may take multiple milliseconds. In addition, as the size of the blocks and programming time are increased, the merge time will increase. 
         [0004]    Furthermore, in a NAND memory integrated chip, there are a large number of blocks, with only a few blocks allocated as Temporary Blocks. Referring to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a schematic level diagram of a NAND chip with one thousand (1,000) blocks of which nine hundred ninety two (992) blocks are allocated to storing data designated Data Blocks, while eight (8) blocks are allocated to Temporary Blocks. A typical write operation may be as follows. Let us assume that pages of data are to be written into Data Block  0 , in locations where there is already pre-written data. Therefore, instead of performing the aforementioned merge operation, the new page(s) of data are first written into a Temporary Block, e.g. block  992 , with block  992  assigned as being associated with Data Block  0 . 
         [0005]    If a page of new data is received by the NAND chip and it is destined for a page that is erased, anywhere in the Data Blocks  0 - 991 , then the page of new data is written into that location. However, if the page of new data is destined for Data Block  0  where it is to write over another page of data, then it is stored in Temporary Block  992 . Finally, if the page of new data is destined for a page, in a Data Block other than Data Block  0 , e.g. Data Block  4 , where it is to overwrite another page of data, then the page of new data is stored in Temporary Block  993 , and Temporary. Block  993  is then associated with Data Block  4 . Because the merge operation requires a long period of time, it is held off for as long as possible. This is done by storing the pages of new data in the Temporary Blocks. However, since in the prior art, very few Temporary Blocks are allocated (e.g. 8 blocks for every 1,000 blocks of data), because of the desire to use as many blocks for data as possible, the NAND memory chip will quickly run out of Temporary Blocks. For example, in the above example, if a ninth “write” operation is received for a page of new data which is to overwrite a ninth different Data Block, then a merge operation must first be performed to free up a temporary block. As NAND chips increase in storage capacity and the number of blocks increases, the likelihood of the NAND chip quickly requiring a merge operation to free up a temporary block increases. 
         [0006]    One prior art solution to the problem of more closely resembling a true random write operation with the NAND chip having few merge operations before the page(s) of new data can be written was to have as many temporary blocks as data blocks. With a 1:1 ratio of temporary block to data block, the requirement for merge operation dramatically decreases. This solution however, results in far fewer data blocks available for storage of user data. Hence a new solution is desired. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    This limitation is overcome by the present invention wherein a method of operating a controller for controlling the programming of a NAND memory chip is shown. The NAND memory chip has a plurality of blocks with each block having a certain amount of storage, wherein the amount of storage in each block is the minimum erasable unit. The method comprising storing in a temporary storage a first plurality of groups of data, wherein each of the groups of data is to be stored in a block of the NAND memory chip, with a group of data less than a block of data. Each group of data is indexed to the block with which it is to be stored. Finally, the groups of data associated with the same block are programmed into the same block in the same programming operation. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a merge operation of the prior art. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the assignment of temporary blocks to data blocks used for temporarily storing data during a write operation of the prior art. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a controller operating with the method of the present invention to control a NAND memory chip and receiving commands from a host device. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the address space for a NAND memory chip with Data Blocks and Temporary Blocks used in the method of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is an example of an Index Table for use with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0013]    Referring to  FIG. 3  there is shown a block level diagram of a NAND memory controller  10  operating with the method of the present invention. The controller  10  interfaces with and controls the operation of a NAND memory integrated circuit chip  12 , through well known buses, such as an address bus  14 , a data bus  16  and a control bus  18 . Typically for a NAND memory  10 , the address bus  14  and the data bus  16  are the same, i.e. address and data are transferred over the same bus. Although the present invention is a method for operating the memory controller  10 , the present invention can also be used to operate a memory device comprising the controller  10  and the NAND memory chip  12  packaged together as a memory module or even integrated together. The controller  10  can also interface with and is connected to a volatile memory  30 . In that event, the address bus  14 , the data bus  16  and the control bus  18  are also connected to the volatile memory  30 . 
         [0014]    The controller  10  interfaces with a host device  20 , through well known protocols, such as PATA (parallel ATA) or SATA (Serial ATA) command protocols. 
         [0015]    As described heretofore, the present invention solves the problem of improving the random write performance in a block based non-volatile memory system, by reducing the frequency of performing merge operations. 
         [0016]    As previously discussed, because of the nature of the NAND memory chip  12 , in order to write data into a pre-written page(s) of a block, the entire block must first be erased. In the method of the present invention, if the page of new data is to be written into a pre-written page of a Data Block, rather than erasing the entire data block, the page of new data is first written into the next available page in the Temporary Blocks. Similar to the prior art, the Temporary Blocks may be in the NAND memory chip  12 . 
         [0017]    However, unlike the prior art in which each Temporary Block is associated with a Data Block, and only those pages associated with that Data Block can be written into the same Temporary Block, with the method of the present invention, each page in the same Temporary Block may store data destined for storage in different Data Blocks. Thus, each Temporary Block may be utilized to store many pages of data for different Data Blocks before the pages of new data need to be written into the Data Blocks. Therefore, the frequency of the merge operation may be reduced with the ratio of one over the number of pages saved in the Temporary Blocks. 
         [0018]    For example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , page  0  of temporary block  992  may store data destined to be stored in Data Block  0 . In the same Temporary Block  992 , page  1  may store new data destined for storage in Data Block  2 . Finally, in Temporary Block  992 , page  2  may store data destined for storage in Data Block  4 . Thus, unlike the prior art, pages in the same Temporary Block may store data destined for different Data Blocks. Furthermore, a different Temporary Block, such as Temporary Block  993 , may store a page of new data (e.g. page  1 ) destined for storage in a Data Block (e.g. Data Block  0 ) that a page (e.g. page  0 ) of data in Temporary Block  992  was also destined for storage. In other words, pages destined for storage in the same Data Block may be stored in different Temporary Blocks. In the method of the present invention, as a new page of data is to be stored in the Data Blocks, and it is determined that that location is not erased, then the new page of data is stored in the next available page in the collection of Temporary Blocks. Thus, the Temporary Blocks maintain a log of pages of new data to be written into the Data Blocks. 
         [0019]    To track the correlation between the pages of data in the Temporary Blocks and the ultimate destination for storage in the Data Blocks, an Index Table is created. The indexing can be done in a number of different ways, such as by physical address, or by logical address. One example is shown in  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  shows a physical address Index Table. Each row of the Index Table represents the page of data stored in the Temporary Block that contain information regarding the physical address where the page is temporarily stored and the page address of the final destination of the page of data. These addresses can be in the form of Block Address or Page Address as described below. 
         [0020]    “Logical Page Number” refers to the page in the Data Block that will be ultimately updated with this page of new data. 
         [0021]    “Logical Block No.” refers to the block number in the Data Block in which the page of new data is to be ultimately written. 
         [0022]    “Physical Block Address” refers to the physical address of the Temporary Block where the page of new data is held. 
         [0023]    “Physical Page Address” refers to the physical page address in the Temporary Block that holds the new data prior to updating the new data into the Data Blocks. 
         [0024]    In the method of the present invention, a new page of data is received by the NAND memory controller  10  from the host device  20 . The controller  10  checks the location in the Data Blocks where the page of new data is to be written to determine if the location contains erased memory cells or pre-written data. If the location contains erased memory cells, then the page of new data is written into that location. If, however, the location contains pre-written data, then the page of new data is written into the next available erased page in the Temporary Blocks. The controller  10  then updates the index Table as to where the new page of data is to be written, which includes the logical address of the new page of data, and the associated physical address of where the new page of data is to be temporarily written. Other tables conventional in the operation of a NAND memory device, and well known to those skilled in the art, such as mapping of logical to physical blocks, and mapping of temporary block numbers to physical blocks must also be maintained and updated. 
         [0025]    Because each Temporary Block is not associated with a unique Data Block, the accumulated number of pages of new data destined for locations where there is pre-existing data can be much larger. Thus, the frequency of performing merge operations can be reduced. For a Temporary Block having 256 pages, one Temporary Block can store 256 pages destined for 256 different Data Blocks or multiple pages per Data Block. If there are eight Temporary Blocks, then there could be as many as 2048 different Data Blocks to which the eight Temporary Blocks can serve as a buffer or storage area. Further, if these Temporary Blocks serve 128 Data Blocks, each Data Block can have an average of 16 pages accumulated in the Temporary Blocks before a merge operation needs to be performed. In contrast, in the prior art, a single Temporary Block can serve as a buffer for only one Data Block, and eight Temporary Blocks can serve as a buffer for only eight different Data Blocks. The trade-off, of course, is the need to create an Index Table. The Index Table can be stored in a volatile memory  30  or even in the NAND memory  12  itself. The advantage of the Index Table being stored in the volatile memory  30  is the speed of retrieval. The disadvantage is the volatility, which can cause data to be lost in the event of an abrupt power severance. 
         [0026]    The operation of merging the pages of new data from the Temporary Blocks into the Data Blocks can be done opportunistically, when there is a lull in requiring the resources of the NAND chip  12 , or deterministically, at specified intervals or events. In the event of opportunistic merging, a merge operation can be performed without causing any delay to host commands. During the merge operation, the controller  10  gathers all of the pages of new data from the Temporary Blocks that are to be stored in the same Data Block, and merges those new pages of data with the non-replaced pages of data from the same block and writes them into an erased data block. The original Data Block is then erased, and the pages of new data and the associated data, such as Block No., physical address and logical address are then deleted from the Temporary Blocks and from the Index Table. 
         [0027]    The merge operation can occur in one of two ways. In one manner all of the pages in the Temporary Blocks are written into the Data Blocks. This is followed by an erase of all the Temporary Blocks, and the Index Table. In this manner, because there may be a large number of pages stored in the Temporary Blocks, the merge operation may take a long time. 
         [0028]    In a second manner the merge operation may update only one or a few Data Blocks at a time. In this manner of operation, the pages that are destined for the same Data Block, which may be stored in a plurality of different Temporary Blocks, are selected from the Temporary Blocks and written into the same Data Block(s). In this approach however, since not all of the pages of data from the Temporary Blocks were written into the Data Blocks by the merge operation, only the written pages must be erased from the Temporary Blocks. However, because each Temporary Block is also a “block” of data, which means all of the data in that block must be erased together, there must be a so-called “garbage collection” operation done. In a “garbage collection” operation, which is well known in the art, the unmerged pages of data in the same Temporary Block are transferred to a fully erased block of the Temporary Block so that the Temporary Block can then be erased. In addition, the indexing Table must similarly be purged of those entries referencing the pages of data that were written during the merge operation. Therefore, although the second technique of merging only pages for only one or a few Data Blocks does not require a lengthy contiguous merge operation, it does require an additional subsequent “garbage collection” process, which creates additional overhead. 
         [0029]    If a read request is made to the controller  10 , before the new pages of data are merged into the Data Blocks, the controller  10  uses the logical address supplied by the host device  20  as a part of the read request to read the location of the page of new data from the Index Table. If the logical address is not contained in the Index Table, indicating that the data is in the Data Blocks and has not been replaced, then the controller  10  uses the logical address to search the Data Blocks to read the page of data. 
         [0030]    As can be seen from the foregoing, because the Temporary Blocks save each page of new data and are not associated with any one particular Data Block, with the method of the present invention the Temporary Blocks can hold more pages of new data before one or more merge operations need to be performed. In addition, when there is a merge operation, more pages from the same Temporary Block can be stared in the same merge operation than with the method of the prior art.