Patent ID: 8706983

Claim:
A method of using volatile memory when performing a garbage collection operation in a memory device, the method comprising: with a controller in the memory device: determining to perform a garbage collection operation; detecting whether a quantity of incoming data for writing is equal to or exceeds a predetermined percentage of a first update block; if the quantity of incoming data is detected as equal to or exceeding the predetermined percentage of the first update block: closing open update blocks during a first addressable unit write operation; identifying an addressable unit type for a next quantity of incoming data; writing at least a first part of the data related to the garbage collection operation to a volatile memory in the memory device; writing at least a second part of the data related to the garbage collection operation to a non-volatile memory in the memory device, wherein writing the at least a first part of the data related to the garbage collection operation to a volatile memory in the memory device is dependent on at least one characteristic of the garbage collection operation, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises whether an update block is filled in the garbage collection operation, wherein the volatile memory comprises a random access memory, wherein if the identified addressable unit type for the next quantity of incoming data will completely fill a second update block, control information about the second update block is written to the volatile memory; and wherein if the identified addressable unit type for the next quantity of incoming data will not completely fill the second update block, the control information about the second update block is written to the non-volatile memory.