Abstract: Power recovery for data storage devices with an efficient space trimming technology is shown. A controller scans a non-volatile memory according to a programming order, collects a sequence of trimming information flags, and interprets a sequence of storage information scanned from the non-volatile memory to identify logical addresses and trimming code. Based on the logical addresses, a host-to-device mapping (H2F) table is rebuilt. Based on the trimming code, information of medium-length trimming and information of long-length trimming are recognized from a storage area of the non-volatile memory. According to the trimming information for medium-length trimming, dummy mapping data is programmed to the H2F table. According to the trimming information for long-length trimming, a trimming bitmap (TBM) is rebuilt. Each bit in the TBM marks space trimming of a first length.

Abstract: A data storage device includes a memory device including multiple memory blocks corresponding to multiple logical units and a memory controller. The memory controller accesses the memory device and updates content of an activated count table in response to a command issued by a host device. One or more sub-regions to be activated are identified in the command. The activated count table includes a plurality of fields each recording an activated count associated with one sub-region. The memory controller updates content of the activated count table by increasing one or more activated counts associated with the one or more sub-regions identified in the command. The memory controller further selects at least one sub-region according to the content of the activated count table and performs a data rearrangement procedure to move data of the selected at least one sub-region to a first memory space having continuous physical addresses.

Abstract: A method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes at least the following steps: controlling the flash memory to perform a plurality of read operations upon a plurality of memory cells included in the flash memory; obtaining a plurality of bit sequences read from the memory cells, respectively, wherein the read operations read bits of a predetermined bit order from the memory cells by utilizing different control gate voltage settings; and determining readout information of the memory cells according to binary digit distribution characteristics of the bit sequences.

Abstract: A method for performing access management in a memory device, the associated memory device and the controller thereof, and the associated electronic device are provided. The method may include: receiving a host command and a logical address from a host device; performing at least one checking operation to obtain at least one checking result, for determining whether to load a logical-to-physical (L2P) table from the NV memory to a random access memory (RAM) of the memory device, wherein the L2P table includes address mapping information for accessing the target data, and performing the at least one checking operation to obtain at least one checking result includes checking whether a first L2P-table index pointing toward the L2P table and a second L2P-table index sent from the host device are equivalent to each other; and reading the target data from the NV memory, and sending the target data to the host device.

Abstract: A flash memory scheme simplifies the command sequences transmitted between a flash memory device and a flash memory controller into a simplified command sequence so as to reduce the waiting time period of the command transmission and improve the performance of flash memory.

Abstract: A flash memory scheme simplifies the command sequences transmitted between a flash memory device and a flash memory controller into a simplified command sequence so as to reduce the waiting time period of the command transmission and improve the performance of flash memory.

Abstract: A method of a flash memory controller includes: providing an input/output (I/O) circuit coupled to the flash memory device; and sending a data toggle set-feature signal to the flash memory device to enable, disable, or configure a data toggle operation of the flash memory device; the data toggle operation of the flash memory device is arranged to make the flash memory device control the flash memory device's data register selecting and transferring a first data unit and a second data unit to the flash memory device's I/O control circuit to make the I/O control circuit sequentially transmit the first data unit and the second data unit to the flash memory controller through the specific communication interface in response to a specific read command or a data toggle command transmitted by the flash memory controller.

Abstract: A flash memory device is disclosed. The memory cell array has a first plane and a second plane and stores a first data unit and a second data unit. The data register buffers the first data unit and the second data unit transmitted from the memory cell array when a read command or a data toggle command is received and stored by the command register. The control circuit performs a data toggle operation to control the data register selecting and transferring the first data unit and the second data unit to the I/O control circuit to make the I/O control circuit sequentially transmit the first data unit and the second data unit to the flash memory controller through a specific communication interface in response to the read command or the data toggle command. The transmission of the first data unit is followed by the transmission of the second data unit.

Abstract: The present invention provides a control method of the flash memory controller. In the control method, after receiving a deallocate command from a host device, the flash memory controller will update a valid page count table, a detailed valid page count table and/or a zone valid page count table according to deallocate command, for the flash memory controller to efficiently and quickly determine if any one of the zones does not have any valid data, so that the flash memory controller can recommend the host device to send a reset command to reset the zone.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method performed by a secure digital (SD) card supporting both an SD mode and a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) mode for initializing the SD card. The method includes: (a) after receiving a first supply voltage through a first voltage supply pin from a host coupled to the SD card, entering the SD mode if the SD card is not in the PCIe mode and a CMD0 command for entering the SD mode is received through a command pin from the host coupled to the SD card; and (b) after receiving the first supply voltage through the first voltage supply pin from the host coupled to the SD card, performing a PCIe linkup process if the SD card is not in the SD mode and a second supply voltage is received through a second voltage supply pin from the host coupled to the SD card. The SD card enters the PCIe mode if the PCIe linkup process succeeds.

Abstract: A data storage device is provided. The data storage device includes a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory stores a firmware that includes a plurality of mode page settings, and each mode page setting includes a plurality of mode parameters. The controller receives a data out message arranged to rewrite a first mode page setting among the plurality of mode page settings. When determining, based on a reference array, that the data out message will change the mode parameters which cannot be rewritten in the first mode page setting, the controller rejects to change the mode parameters which cannot be rewritten in the first mode page setting. The reference array stores a rewriteable setting for each bit of the first mode page setting.

Abstract: The invention introduces a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for adjusting operating frequencies when executed by a processing unit of a device, containing program code to: collect an interface-activity parameter comprising information about data transmissions on a host access interface and/or a flash access interface; select one from multiple frequencies according to the interface-activity parameter; and drive a clock generator to output a clock signal at the selected frequency, thereby enabling the host access interface and/or the flash access interface to operate at an operating frequency.

Abstract: A data storage device includes a memory device including multiple memory blocks corresponding to multiple sub-regions and a memory controller. The memory controller accesses the memory device and updates content of a read count table in response to a read command with at least one designated logical address issued by a host device. Each field of the read count table records a read count associated with one sub-region and the content of the read count table is updated by increasing the read count associated with the sub-region that the designated logical address belongs to. The memory controller selects at least one sub-region to be rearranged according to the content of the read count table and performs a data rearrangement procedure to move data of logical addresses belonging to the selected at least one sub-region to a first memory space of the memory device having continuous physical addresses.

Abstract: A method of a flash memory controller used to be externally coupled to a host device and a flash memory, comprising: providing a multi-processor having a plurality of processing units; receiving a trim command and a logical block address (LBA) range sent from the host device; separating multiple operations of the trim command into N threads according to at least one of a number of the processing units, types of the multiple operations, numbers of execution cycles of the multiple operations, and portions of the LBA range; using the processing units to execute the N threads individually; and maximizing a number of execution cycles during which the processing units are busy.

Abstract: The present invention provides a fractional frequency divider, wherein the fractional frequency divider includes a plurality of registers, a counter, a control signal generator and a clock gating circuit. Regarding the plurality of registers, at least a portion of the registers are set to have values The counter is configured to sequentially generate a plurality of counter values, wherein the plurality of counter values correspond to the at least a portion of the registers, respectively, and the plurality of counter values are generated repeatedly The control signal generator is configured to generate a control signal based on the received counter value and the value of the corresponding register. The clock gating circuit is configured to refer to the control signal to mask or not mask an input clock signal to generate an output clock signal.

Abstract: A method for performing access management of a memory device with aid of buffer usage reduction control and associated apparatus are provided. The method includes: determining whether any host command among a plurality of host commands from a host device is a trim-related read command, wherein the trim-related read command represents a read command indicating that reading from at least one trimmed location is required; in response to the any host command being the trim-related read command, determining an estimated trim-related read operation count regarding a data buffer according to a trimmed range of the at least one trimmed location and a predetermined unit size of accessing the data buffer; writing predetermined trimmed data having the predetermined unit size into the data buffer; and controlling a transmission interface circuit to read the predetermined trimmed data from the data buffer multiple times, for being returned to the host device.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory module is disclosed, wherein the flash memory module includes at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip includes a plurality of block, each block is implemented by a plurality of word lines, each word line corresponds to K pages, and each word line includes a plurality of memory cells supporting a plurality of states, and the method includes the steps of: receiving data from a host device; generating dummy data; and writing the data with the dummy data to a plurality of specific blocks, wherein for each of a portion of the word lines of the specific blocks, the dummy data is written into at least one of the K pages, and the data from the host device is written into the other page(s) of the K pages.

Abstract: A method of caching mapping table for use in a flash memory device having a flash memory controller and a flash memory is provided. The method includes: in response to a host read/write command, checking a G2F mapping table to determine whether a required group of a L2P mapping table has been loaded to a DRAM of the flash memory controller and accordingly obtain a node index indicating which memory node of the DRAM the group is stored in; recording the node index to a first region of a SRAM of the flash memory controller; accessing the DRAM to obtain an L2P address indicating a physical address that is associated with the host read/write command from the group of the L2P mapping table by referencing the node index stored in the first region of the SRAM; and performing a read/write operation on the flash memory according to the L2P address.

Abstract: A method of managing a garbage collection (GC) operation on a flash memory includes: setting a GC starting threshold, wherein the GC starting threshold indicates a predetermined spare block number that is higher than a target spare block number of spare blocks maintained by a flash translation layer (FTL) of the flash memory; determining whether to start the GC operation according to a current number of spare blocks in the flash memory and the GC starting threshold; and performing the GC operation on a source block in the flash memory when the current number of spare blocks is lower than or equal to the GC starting threshold.

Abstract: The present invention provides a control method of a flash memory controller wherein the control method includes the steps of: selecting a first block; reading pages of the first block and determining a bit error rate or a bit error count of each page; for each of the pages, if the bit error rate or the bit error count of the page is not greater than a first threshold value, moving the data of the page into a second block; and for each of the pages, if the bit error rate or the bit error count of the page is greater than the first threshold value, moving the data of the page into a third block; wherein a number of pages corresponding to a word line of the second block is less than a number of pages corresponding to a word line of the third block.