Patent ID: 8352674

Claim:
A semiconductor memory information storage apparatus comprising: a storage unit which allows erasing stored contents data in units of blocks; a write number manager configured to count a number of times of writing the contents data to each block in the storage unit and manage the number of times for each block; a list manager configured to: manage, in a using list, first blocks in which the contents data is stored; manage, in a first unused list, second blocks in which the contents data is not stored and with the number of times of writing equal to a maximum value; and manage, in a second unused list, third blocks in which the contents data is not stored and with the number of times of writing less than the maximum value, the first, second, and third blocks being included among said blocks in the storage unit; and a controller configured to: select any of the third blocks and write the contents data to the selected block when writing control to the storage unit is carried out; erase the contents data stored in the storage unit in units of blocks when erasing control to the storage unit is carried out; and notify the list manager of a block from which the contents data is erased to update management of the notified block; wherein when any one of the third blocks is selected as a write block, the list manager removes the selected block from the second unused list and manages the selected block in the using list, and the write number manager increments the number of times of writing of the selected block; wherein when all blocks in which contents data is not stored is included in the second blocks, the list manager removes the second blocks from the first unused list, and manages the removed blocks in the second unused list.