In Block-addressed Memory (epo) Patents (Class 711/E12.007)
  • Publication number: 20120331204
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the drift management for a memory device. In at least one embodiment, the memory device of the present disclosure may include a phase change memory and switch (hereinafter “PCMS”) memory cell and a memory controller that is capable of implementing drift management to control drift. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2011
    Publication date: December 27, 2012
    Inventors: Elijah V. Karpov, Gianpaolo Spadini
  • Publication number: 20120317332
    Abstract: Solid state drive (SSD) packages are provided including a controller package and at least one non-volatile memory package. The controller package and the at least one non-volatile memory package are connected to each other using a package-on-package (PoP) technique. A data input/output of the at least one non-volatile memory package is controlled by using the controller package.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2012
    Publication date: December 13, 2012
    Inventors: Dong-ok Kwak, Sang-sub Song, Sang-ho An, Joon-young Oh, Jeong-sik Yoo
  • Publication number: 20120311227
    Abstract: The information storage system of an aspect of the present invention includes a first differential data storage area which stores differential data of a higher volume from a first point of time to a second point of time, a lower snapshot manager which provides a lower snapshot at the second point of time of the higher volume, and a second differential data storage area which stores differential data of the higher volume after the second point of time. The higher snapshot manager acquires a plurality of generations of higher snapshots from the lower snapshot and the data in the first differential data storage area and acquires a plurality of generations of higher snapshots from the data of the higher volume and the data in the second differential data storage area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2011
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomoya Anzai, Takahiro Nakano
  • Publication number: 20120311228
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for performing wear-leveling using passive variable resistive memory (PVRM) based write counters are provided. In one example, a method for performing wear-leveling using passive PVRM based write counters is disclosed. The method includes associating a logical address of a memory array with a physical address of the memory array via at least one mapping table. Additionally, the method includes, in response to writing to the physical address of the memory array, incrementally updating at least one PVRM based write counter associated with the physical address of the memory array. The at least one PVRM based write counter may be incrementally updated by varying an amount of resistance stored in the at least one PVRM based write counter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Lisa Hsu, Bradford M. Beckmann
  • Publication number: 20120311248
    Abstract: A system that includes a memory, a cache, a purge mechanism, and a memory interface mechanism. The memory includes a failing memory element at a failing memory location. The cache is configured for storing corrected contents of the failing memory element in a locked state, with the corrected contents stored in a first cache line. The purge mechanism is configured for selecting and removing cache lines that are not in the locked state from the cache to make room for new cache allocations. The memory interface mechanism is configured for receiving a request to access the failing memory location, determining that corrected contents of the failing memory location are stored in first cache line in the cache, and accessing the first cache line in the cache.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Benjiman L. Goodman
  • Patent number: 8327068
    Abstract: In a storage having a nonvolatile RAM of destructive read type, the number of restorations attributed to data read from the nonvolatile RAM is decreased, and the overall life of the storage is prolonged. In a storage having a nonvolatile RAM of destructive read type and a volatile RAM and holding the same data in the nonvolatile and volatile RAMs, data is read out of the volatile RAM in reading and data is written in both volatile and nonvolatile RAMs in writing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Masahiro Nakanishi, Tomoaki Izumi, Tetsushi Kasahara, Kazuaki Tamura, Kiminori Matsuno, Manabu Inoue, Masayuki Toyama, Kunihiro Maki
  • Patent number: 8307171
    Abstract: A plurality of CPU cores each have control rights for logical storage areas of one or more types among logical storage areas of a plurality of types. As a source for an area to be assigned to the logical storage areas, a physical storage area which is common to the logical storage areas of the plurality of types is managed. In the case of a data access to a logical storage area corresponding to the control rights of the CPU core, the respective CPU core assigns an area required to store the data from the common physical storage area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junji Ogawa, Yoichi Mizuno, Yoshinori Ohira, Kenta Shiga, Yusuke Nonaka
  • Patent number: 8296496
    Abstract: One embodiment is main memory that includes a combination of non-volatile memory (NVM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM). An operating system migrates data between the NVM and the DRAM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Clifford Mogul, Eduardo Argollo de Oliveira Dias, Jr., Paolo Faraboschi, Mehul A. Shah
  • Publication number: 20120254527
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for dynamic random access memory (DRAM)/SSD-based memory to improve memory usage. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide a field programmable gate array (FPGA) (SSD controller) that comprises a PCI-express interface for receiving and converting serial data to 64 bit data; a data/bit converter coupled to the interface for converting the 64 bit data to 128 bit data; and a memory controller coupled to the data converter for receiving and storing the 128 bit data in a set of DRAM units coupled to the memory controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Inventor: Byungcheol Cho
  • Publication number: 20120254498
    Abstract: A first virtual memory address is mapped to a real memory in a memory device, and a second virtual memory address is mapped to the real memory. Here, the first virtual memory address is authorized to modify data in the real memory and the second virtual memory address is not authorized to modify the data in the real memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2012
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brian D. HATFIELD, Wenjeng KO, Lei LIU
  • Publication number: 20120254499
    Abstract: Provided are a program, a control method, and a control device by which an activation time can be shortened. In a computer system which is equipped with a Memory Management Unit (MMU), with respect to a table of the MMU, page table entries are rewritten so that page faults occur at each page necessary for operation of software. At the time of activating, stored memory images are read page by page for the page faults which occurred in the RAM to be accessed. By reading as described above, reading of unnecessary pages is not performed, and thus, the activation time can be shortened. The present invention can be applied to a personal computer and an electronic device provided with an embedded computer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2010
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: UBIQUITOUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenichi Hashimoto, Tomohiro Masubuchi
  • Patent number: 8275968
    Abstract: A computing device executing a file system maintains a search tree that includes extents for managing first regions of unallocated storage space and bitmaps for managing second regions of unallocated storage space. For each region of unallocated storage space, the file system determines whether to manage that region using an extent or a bitmap based on one or more space management criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Josef Michael Bacik
  • Patent number: 8219746
    Abstract: A memory system and methods for memory manage are presented. The memory system includes a volatile memory electrically connected to a high-density memory; a memory controller that expects data to be written or read to or from the memory system at a bandwidth and a latency associated with the volatile memory; a directory within the volatile memory that associates a volatile memory address with data stored in the high-density memory; and redundant storage in the high-density memory that stores a copy of the association between the volatile memory address and the data stored in the high-density memory. The methods for memory management allow writing to and reading from the memory system using a first memory read/write interface (e.g. DRAM interface, etc.), though data is stored in a device of a different memory type (e.g. FLASH, etc.).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Robert B. Tremaine
  • Publication number: 20120166706
    Abstract: A data management method, a memory controller and an embedded memory storage apparatus are provided. The embedded memory storage apparatus has a plurality of physical blocks and each of the physical blocks has fast physical pages and slow physical pages. The method includes detecting a status of a state indication unit. The method further includes automatically reading data stored in the embedded memory storage apparatus, using the fast and slow physical pages of the embedded memory storage apparatus to re-store the data and marking status of the state indication unit as a second status when the status of the state indication unit is a first status. Accordingly, the storage space of the embedded memory storage apparatus can be efficiently used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2011
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: PHISON ELECTRONICS CORP.
    Inventors: Khein-Seng Pua, Jiunn-Yeong Yang, Kim-Hon Wong
  • Publication number: 20120144103
    Abstract: A two-port memory having a read port, a write port and a plurality of identical single-port RAM banks. The capacity of one of the single-port RAM banks is used to resolve collisions between simultaneous read and write accesses to the same single-port RAM bank. A read mapping memory stores instance information that maps logical banks and a spare bank to the single-port RAM banks for read accesses. Similarly, a write mapping memory stores write instance information that maps logical banks and a spare bank to the single-port RAM banks for write accesses. If simultaneous read and write accesses are not mapped to the same single-port RAM bank, read and write are performed simultaneously. However, if a collision exists, the write access is re-mapped to a spare bank identified by the write instance information, allowing simultaneous read and write. Both read and write mapping memories are updated to reflect any re-mapping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
  • Publication number: 20120137044
    Abstract: An approach is provided for providing persistent computations. A persistent computation manager determines at least one non-volatile memory space of a device. The persistent computation manager also determines at least one other non-volatile memory space of at least one other device. The persistent computation manager further determines to form a persistent memory address space based, at least in part, on the at least one non-volatile memory space and the at least one other non-volatile memory space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2010
    Publication date: May 31, 2012
    Applicant: Nokia Corporation
    Inventors: Sergey Boldyrev, Vesa-Veikko Luukkala, Jukka Honkola, Hannu Ensio Laine, Mika Juhani Mannermaa, Ian Justin Oliver, Ora Lassila
  • Publication number: 20120110238
    Abstract: The invention concerns data security in solid state memory. The solid state memory contains at least one specific area directed to storing sensitive information. The invention is for handling security relevant data in solid state memories and to protect the data from unauthorized access. According to the invention, the solid state memory includes a security element for deleting the specific memory area at start up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2010
    Publication date: May 3, 2012
    Applicant: THOMSON LICENSING
    Inventor: Meinolf Blawat
  • Publication number: 20120079182
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention describe a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device that may abort a self-refresh mode to improve the exit time from a DRAM low power state of self-refresh. During execution of a self-refresh mode, the DRAM device may receive a signal (e.g., a device enable signal) from a memory controller operatively coupled to the DRAM device. The DRAM device may abort the self-refresh mode in response to receiving the signal from the memory controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Inventor: Kuljit S. Bains
  • Publication number: 20120079183
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention describe systems, methods, and apparatuses to reduce the instantaneous power necessary to execute a DRAM device initiated self-refresh. Embodiments of the invention describe a DRAM device enabled to stagger self-refreshes between a plurality of banks. Staggering self-refreshes between banks reduces the current required for a DRAM self-refresh, thus reducing the amount of current required by the DRAM device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Inventor: Kuljit S. Bains
  • Publication number: 20120054423
    Abstract: A load balancing in a multiple DRAM system comprises interleaving memory data across two or more memory channels. Access to the memory channels is controlled by memory controllers. Bus masters are coupled to the memory controllers via an interconnect system and memory requests are transmitted from the bus masters to the memory controller. If congestion is detected in a memory channel, congestion signals are generated and transmitted to the bus masters. Memory requests are accordingly withdrawn or rerouted to less congested memory channels based on the congestion signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Feng Wang, Shiqun Gu, Jonghae Kim, Matthew Michael Nowak
  • Publication number: 20120023112
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method for measuring the similarity of diverse binary objects, such as files, is disclosed. The method comprises determining a plurality of digital signatures in each of a plurality of dissimilar objects, for each digital signature, accessing a location in a store which has object identifiers for each object which also exhibits at least one instance of the digital signature, writing into the store the object identifiers of all the objects which have the corresponding pattern and the number of times the pattern is found, and making a list of all the objects which share a pattern found in each object. Analyzing the list determines the degree of similarity of a particular object with each of a plurality of diverse binary objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: BARRACUDA NETWORKS INC.
    Inventors: ZACHARY LEVOW, KEVIN CHANG
  • Publication number: 20120017039
    Abstract: In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for caching in a processor system having virtual memory is provided, the method comprising: monitoring slow memory in the processor system to determine frequently accessed pages; for a frequently accessed page in slow memory: copy the frequently accessed page from slow memory to a location in fast memory; and update virtual address page tables to reflect the location of the frequently accessed page in fast memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: PLX TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventor: Julien MARGETTS
  • Publication number: 20120011298
    Abstract: A control system includes a control module configured to control data transfer events of blocks of data between an interface management module and a non-volatile semiconductor memory based on at least two descriptors for each one of the data transfer events. The non-volatile semiconductor memory is prepared for a read event or a program event of the data transfer event. The interface management module and the non-volatile semiconductor memory are configured to operate within a solid-state memory drive. A command management module is configured to generate a parameter signal based on the at least two descriptors. The interface management module is configured to generate instruction signals based on the parameter signal and transmit the instruction signals to the non-volatile semiconductor memory to perform the read event or the program event.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2011
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Inventors: Chi Kong Lee, Siu-Hung Fred Au, Jungil Park, Hyunsuk Shin
  • Publication number: 20120005672
    Abstract: A storage management method and computer program serves as an intermediary between storage subsystems and a virtual machine manager, e.g., a hypervisor. The storage management provides a unified user interface for configuration and unifies handling virtual machine image storage/retrieval, as well as management of virtual disk volumes provided to the operating systems and applications within virtual machine images. The images including the virtualized storage along with the entire state of the virtual machine form snapshots that can be cloned, stored when taking a virtual machine off-line and loaded when the virtual machine is being brought on-line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2010
    Publication date: January 5, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ezequiel Cervantes, David Joseph Gimpl, Elfred Pagan, Sudhir Gurunandan Rao, Murali Krishna Somarouthu
  • Publication number: 20110320909
    Abstract: A memory system is provided. The memory system includes a memory element that is configured to selectively output data stored to and data fetched from the memory element. An error checking station is configured to receive the data stored to and the data fetched from the memory element. The error checking station is further configured to perform error checking on the data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Fee, Arthur J. O'Neill, JR.
  • Publication number: 20110320694
    Abstract: A method of performing operations in a shared cache coupled to a first requestor and a second requestor includes receiving at the shared cache a first request from the second requester; assigning the request to a state machine; transmitting a first pipe pass request from the state machine to an arbiter; providing a first instruction from the first pipe pass request to a cache pipeline, the first instruction causing a first pipe pass; and providing a second pipe pass request to the arbiter before the first pipe pass is completed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Deanna Postles Dunn Berger, Michael F. Fee, Robert J. Sonnelitter, III
  • Publication number: 20110320781
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention introduces a speculation engine to parallelize serial instructions by creating separate threads from the serial instructions and inserting processor instructions to set a synchronization bit before a dependence source and to clear the synchronization bit after a dependence source, where the synchronization bit is designed to stall a dependence sink from a thread running on a separate core. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Inventors: Wei Liu, Youfeng Wu
  • Publication number: 20110320697
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention manage access to a cache memory. In or more embodiments a request for a targeted interleave within a cache memory is received. The request is associated with an operation of a given type. The target is determined to be available. The request is granted in response to the determining that the target is available. A first interleave availability table associated with a first busy time associated with the cache memory is updated based on the operation associated with the request in response to granting the request. A second interleave availability table associated with a second busy time associated with the cache memory is updated based on the operation associated with the request in response to granting the request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Deanna P. Berger, Michael F. Fee, Arthur J. O'Neill
  • Publication number: 20110320696
    Abstract: A memory refresh requestor, a memory request interpreter, a cache memory, and a cache controller on a single chip. The cache controller configured to receive a memory access request, the memory access request for a memory address range in the cache memory, detect that the cache memory located at the memory address range is available, and send the memory access request to the memory request interpreter when the memory address range is available. The memory request interpreter configured to receive the memory access request from the cache controller, determine if the memory access request is a request to refresh a contents of the memory address range, and refresh data in the memory address range when the memory access request is a request to refresh memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Fee, Arthur J. O'Neill, JR., Robert J. Sonnelitter, III
  • Publication number: 20110314212
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention manage a hierarchical store-through memory cache structure. A store request queue is associated with a processing core in multiple processing cores. At least one blocking condition is determined to have occurred at the store request queue. Multiple non-store requests and a set of store requests associated with a remaining set of processing cores in the multiple processing cores are dynamically blocked from accessing a memory cache in response to the blocking condition having occurred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: DEANNA P. BERGER, Michael F. Fee, Christine C. Jones, Diana L. Orf, Robert J. Sonnelitter, III
  • Publication number: 20110314211
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present invention merge data in a cache memory. In one embodiment a set of store data is received from a processing core. A store merge command and a merge mask from are also received from the processing core. A portion of the store data to perform a merging operation thereon is identified based on the store merge command. A sub-portion of the portion of the store data to be merged with a corresponding set of data from a cache memory is identified based on the merge mask. The sub-portion is merged with the corresponding set of data from the cache memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Deanna P. BERGER, Michael F. Fee, Christine C. Jones, Diana L. Orf, Robert J. Sonnelitter, III
  • Publication number: 20110314210
    Abstract: Embodiments are described that leverage variability of a chip. Different areas of a chip vary in terms of reliability under a same operating condition. The variability may be captured by measuring errors over different areas of the chip. A physical factor that affects or controls the likelihood of an error on the chip can be varied. For example, the voltage supplied to a chip may be provided at different levels. At each level of the physical factor, the chip is tested for errors within the regions. Some indication of the error statistics for the regions is stored and then used to adjust power used by the chip, to adjust reliability behavior of the chip, to allow applications to control how the chip is used, to compute a signature uniquely identifying the chip, etc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Benjamin Zorn, Darko Kirovski, Ray Bittner, Karthik Pattabiraman
  • Publication number: 20110296095
    Abstract: A data movement engine (DME) for an electronic device is disclosed. The DME has an address generating module and a direct memory access (DMA) module. When the memory is switched to a lower power consumption state, a refresh area of a memory of the electronic device is refreshed and a non-refresh area of the memory is not refreshed. The address generating module obtains at least one source address of data in the non-refresh area, and generates at least one destination address for moving data from the non-refresh area to the refresh area and thereby a source-to-destination mapping table is generated. The DMA module performs a first data movement to move data from the non-refresh area to the refresh area according to the source-to-destination mapping table and independently of a microprocessor of the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventors: Haw-Kuen Su, Jen-Fu Tsai
  • Patent number: 8069315
    Abstract: A system and method for parallel scanning among multiple scanning entities. According to various embodiments of the present invention, buffers are allocated from a pool of memory pages, with one packet being located on each page. Each of the pages is mapped such that unprivileged scanners, privileged scanners, and hardware-based scanners are all capable of accessing the pages. By having the packets located on separate pages, additional data other than the packets at issue do not have to be shared, and copying is not necessary to complete the scanning process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Nokia Corporation
    Inventor: Michael G. Williams
  • Patent number: 8069296
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory device includes a first nonvolatile memory which has a first external interface and is capable of recording 1-bit data in one memory cell, a second nonvolatile memory which has a test terminal interface and is capable of recording a plurality of data in one memory cell, and a control unit which has a second external interface and is configured to control a physical state of an inside of the second nonvolatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Noboru Ohtsuka, Kazuki Oda, Kenji Tsuchiya, Tatsuya Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8060694
    Abstract: A data storage device has a data storage medium. A data storage capacity of the data storage device is divided into slices. Each slice has a set of sectors. Data storage device firmware is configured to store copies of a system image in the slices on the data storage device. Each of the slices stores a different copy of the system image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands, B.V.
    Inventor: Marco Sanvido
  • Publication number: 20110276742
    Abstract: An approach is provided that uses a hypervisor to allocate a shared memory pool amongst a set of partitions (e.g., guest operating systems) being managed by the hypervisor. The hypervisor retrieves memory related metrics from shared data structures stored in a memory, with each of the shared data structures corresponding to a different one of the partitions. The memory related metrics correspond to a usage of the shared memory pool allocated to the corresponding partition. The hypervisor identifies a memory stress associated with each of the partitions with this identification based in part on the memory related metrics retrieved from the shared data structures. The hypervisor then reallocates the shared memory pool amongst the plurality of partitions based on the identified memory stress of the plurality of partitions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Vaijayanthimala K. Anand, Richard Louis Arndt, David Alan Hepkin, Sergio Reyes, Kenneth Charles Vossen
  • Publication number: 20110271032
    Abstract: Refresh to be performed together with normal processing may fail to be performed for a sufficiently long period of time due to the specification requirements. In this case, data loss can occur in an area that has not been refreshed for a sufficiently long period of time. An access module (130) receives the status of data stored in a nonvolatile memory (120) from a nonvolatile memory module (100), and determines whether the data needs maintenance based on the data status, and also determines whether the maintenance is enabled based on the system status of the access module (130). In this case, data maintenance is performed without being required to be performed together with normal system processing. This enables the maintenance to be performed with a sufficiently long processing time allocated to the maintenance, and improves the data retention properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hideyuki Yamada, Masahiro Nakanishi
  • Publication number: 20110264853
    Abstract: A signal control device includes: a dual port RAM from or to which data signals are read and written at predetermined operation timings by first and second CPUs connected to two ports, respectively; an address collision detection unit detecting collision between addresses in which the first and second CPUs respectively read and write the data signal from and to the dual port RAM; a first storage unit storing the data signal read by the first CPU; a second storage unit storing the data signal read from the address in which the second CPU writes the data signal to the dual port RAM when the collision between the addresses is detected; and a switching unit switching a reading source outputting the data signal to the port to which the first CPU is connected and outputting the read data signal to the first CPU entering a readable state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Shinjiro Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20110258512
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for storing data on a solid-state storage device. A method includes receiving a storage request to store data on the solid-state storage device, representing the data in an object entry in an object index maintained by a solid-state storage device controller, storing the data as one or more object data segments on the solid-state storage device, and referencing in the object entry the one or more object data segments on the solid-state storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: FUSION-IO, INC.
    Inventors: David Flynn, David Atkisson, Bert Lagerstedt, John Strasser, Jonathan Thatcher, Michael Zappe
  • Publication number: 20110252184
    Abstract: A method of storing data in a storage media is provided which includes sequentially compressing data by a compression unit, and storing the compressed data in the storage media, the compression unit being varied according to a compression characteristic of data to be stored in the storage media.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Publication date: October 13, 2011
    Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyoung Lae CHO, Donggi LEE, Hee Chang CHO, Bumseok YU, Junjin KONG, Hyungjoon PARK
  • Patent number: 8032701
    Abstract: This invention is a system and method for managing allocation of storage resources in a storage network, the storage network including physical data storage on a plurality of storage arrays that are in the storage network, and the network is in communication with one or more hosts and the network further includes a storage network management system, communicatively coupled to the storage arrays via the network, the storage management system includes a storage virtualizer capable of intercepting and virtualizing an IO stream from the one or more hosts and which storage network management system further includes a storage and switch controller in communication with the storage virtualizer for storage network management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: EMC Corporation
    Inventors: Bradford B. Glade, David W. Harvey, John Kemeny, Matthew D. Waxman
  • Patent number: 8032694
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor mass storage system and architecture can be substituted for a rotating hard disk. The system and architecture avoid an erase cycle each time information stored in the mass storage is changed. Erase cycles are avoided by programming an altered data file into an empty mass storage block rather than over itself as a hard disk would. Periodically, the mass storage will need to be cleaned up. These advantages are achieved through the use of several flags, and a map to correlate a logical block address of a block to a physical address of that block. In particular, flags are provided for defective blocks, used blocks, and old versions of a block. An array of volatile memory is addressable according to the logical address and stores the physical address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Petro Estakhri, Mahmud Assar
  • Publication number: 20110231628
    Abstract: A system for memory instantiation in a programmable logic device (PLD) includes a computing device having a processor and memory coupled with the PLD. The processor is configured to receive memory parameters including at least a data width and a data depth. The processor is also configured to determine a number and sizes of block random access memory (BRAM) primitives required for data storage based on the memory parameters and based on one or more sizes of BRAM primitives available on the programmable logic device. In one example, the processor minimizes a size of the total number of BRAMs required for instantiation on the PLD. The processor is also configured to instantiate the determined number and corresponding sizes of the BRAM primitives in logic for configuration of the programmable logic device to include a device memory within the available BRAM primitives thereof corresponding to the determined number and sizes of the BRAM primitives.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicant: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Aaron Gelter, Brian Parker, Robert Boatright
  • Patent number: 8019954
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a mechanism for an operating system and applications to cooperate in memory management. Applications register with the operating system for cooperative memory management. The operating system monitors the memory and determines a memory “pressure” related to the amount of demand for the memory. As the memory pressure increases, the operating system provides a memory pressure signal as feedback to the registered applications. The operating system may send this signal to indicate it is about to commence evicting pages from the memory or when it has commenced swapping out application data. In response to the signal, the registered applications may evaluate the memory pressure, determine which data should be freed, if any, and provide this information back to the operating system. The operating system may then free those portions of memory relinquished by the applications. By releasing data the system may thus avoid swapping and increase its performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventors: Henri Han van Riel, Matthias Clasen
  • Publication number: 20110213922
    Abstract: A method of operating a phase change random access memory (PRAM) device includes performing a program operation to store data in selected PRAM cells of the device, wherein the program operation comprises a plurality of sequential program loops. The method further comprises suspending the program operation in the middle of the program operation, and after suspending the program operation, resuming the program operation in response to a resume command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hye-jin KIM, Kwang-jin LEE, Du-eung KIM
  • Publication number: 20110197018
    Abstract: Provided is a computing system and method that utilizes a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). A system including the NVRAM as a part of a memory or a whole memory may execute a program in the NVRAM, and, when the system is re-operated after being shut down, may restore a state and data of the program being executed in the NVRAM to an original state and thus, may provide a permanent computing environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Publication date: August 11, 2011
    Inventors: Sam Hyuk Noh, Hyojin Kim, Eunsam Kim, Jong Moo Choi, Dong Hee Lee, Young-Je Moon, In Hwan Doh, Jung-Soo Park
  • Publication number: 20110191520
    Abstract: The amount of data to be stored in a semiconductor nonvolatile memory can be reduced and overhead associated with data processing can be reduced. When a microprocessor 112 receives a write request from a host computer 300 and data D1 to D3 exist in a cache slot 117, the microprocessor 112 reads the LBA of each piece of the data, manages each piece of the data D1 to D3 using a bitmap table 118 by associating them with their LBAs, generates a specific command CMD based on the LBAs of the data D1 to D3, adds the data D1 to D3 and addresses ADD1 to ADD3 indicating where the data D1 to D3 are to be stored, to the specific command CMD, and sends it to an FMPK 30. The FMPK 130 stores each piece of update data in a specified block in the flash memory 135 based on the specific command CMD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2009
    Publication date: August 4, 2011
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiki Kano, Masanori Takada, Akira Yamamoto, Akihiko Araki, Masayuki Yamamoto, Jun Kitahara, Sadahiro Sugimoto
  • Publication number: 20110185257
    Abstract: A semiconductor memory chip including error correction circuitry configured to receive data words from an external device, each data word comprising a binary number of data bits, and configured to error encode each data word to form a corresponding coded word comprising a non-binary number of data bits including the data bits of the data word and a plurality of error correction code bits. At least one memory cell array is configured to receive and store the coded word and partitioned based on the non-binary number of bits of the coded word so as to have a non-binary number of wordlines and provide the memory chip with an aspect ratio other than a 2:1 aspect ratio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2010
    Publication date: July 28, 2011
    Applicant: QIMONDA AG
    Inventor: Thomas Vogelsang
  • Patent number: 7970990
    Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates scalable high-bandwidth memory access using a memory module with optical interconnect. This system includes an optical channel, a memory buffer, and a random-access memory module. The memory buffer is configured to receive a request from a memory controller via the optical channel. The memory buffer handles the received request by performing operations on the random-access memory module and then sending a response to the memory controller via the optical channel. Hence, the memory module with optical interconnect provides a high-speed serial link to the random-access memory module without consuming a large number of pins per channel on the memory controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Oracle America, Inc.
    Inventors: Craig S. Forrest, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy