Patents Examined by John P. Trimmings
  • Patent number: 9021331
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating soft decision error correction code information. The method includes generating or creating a lookup table (LUT), such as a log likelihood ratio (LLR) lookup table, characterizing a flash memory device. The method also includes loading the lookup table into the SSD controller. The method also includes accessing the lookup table to assign LLR or other characteristic values to the cells of a flash memory device. The method also includes decoding the data in a flash memory device using the soft decision information provided by the lookup table and assigned to the appropriate cells of the flash memory device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Yunxiang Wu, Zhengang Chen, Erich F. Haratsch
  • Patent number: 9015560
    Abstract: An integrated circuit including a first interface, a decoder, and a controller. The first interface is configured to (i) write encoded data in a portion of a flash memory, and (ii) read the encoded data back from the flash memory. The decoder is configured to (i) according to an error correction code, decode the encoded data read back from the flash memory, and (ii) based on the decoded data, determine a number of decoding errors corresponding to the decoded data. The controller is configured to, in response to the number of decoding errors being greater than or equal to a first threshold, cease accessing the portion of the flash memory. The first threshold is less than a number of errors correctable by the error correction code for the portion of the flash memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Chen Kuo Huang, Sui-Hung Fred Au, Xueshi Yang, Lau Nguyen
  • Patent number: 9009549
    Abstract: A RAM to be diagnosed is divided into n (n being an integer of 3 or greater) pieces of base regions. In an idle time of periodic processing performed in a system in which the RAM is incorporated, two base regions are selected from the divided base regions, and the selected two base regions are diagnosed using a diagnostic method capable of detecting a coupling fault. Thereafter, in an idle time of the periodic processing, operations to select an unselected pair of base regions and diagnose the selected pair are repeated, so as to diagnose all combinations of pairs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Ryoya Ichioka
  • Patent number: 9003270
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for temporarily storing parity information for data stored in a storage device are provided. A first data block and parity information associated with the first data block are received. The first data block is stored in a first region of the storage device. The parity information is stored until a second data block is successfully stored in a second region of the storage device. The first region of the storage device is associated with the second region of the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell World Trade Ltd.
    Inventors: Jason Adler, Man Cheung
  • Patent number: 9003265
    Abstract: Method for processing a non-volatile memory designed to store words containing data bits and control bits allowing an error correction with an error correction code, the method comprising the storage of information in the memory plane comprising an operation for writing in the memory plane at least one digital word modified with respect to at least one initial digital word not having any erroneous bit, said at least one modified digital word containing a bit having a modified value with respect to the value of this bit in said at least one initial digital word, the other bits of the modified digital word having values identical to those of these same bits in the initial digital word, the position of the modified bit in said at least one modified digital word defining the value of the digital information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS
    Inventor: Francois Tailliet
  • Patent number: 8990668
    Abstract: Embodiments of decoding data stored in solid-state memory arrays are disclosed. In one embodiment, multiple read operations are performed while taking inter-cell interference (ICI) into account. Soft-decision information, such as log-likelihood ratios (LLRs), is determined by using known data and its corresponding multi-read output. Soft-decision information is provided to a detector. Reliability is improved and performance is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Anantha Raman Krishnan, Shayan S. Garani, Kent D. Anderson
  • Patent number: 8990645
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for estimating received error rates. In one embodiment, the estimation of received error rates is conducted in relation to a bus interface such as a high-speed High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interface, and the method utilizes corrupted symbols that violate TMDS symbol rules, the corrupted symbols being easily detected and counted. In one exemplary implementation, a symbol error rate (SER) can be estimated from the number of detected invalid symbols. The SER can be used to diagnose the performance of the HDMI interface, and optionally as a basis for selecting or implementing corrective action(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 8990656
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for transmitting uplink control information in a wireless access system and a terminal for the same. More particularly, the method comprises the following steps: attaching, if the bit size of uplink control information is larger than a preset number, cyclic redundancy check to the uplink control information; calculating the number of wireless resource elements for transmitting the uplink control information to which the CRC is attached; coding the uplink control information to which the CRC is attached, using a tail biting convolutional coding (TBCC) technique, based upon the calculated number of the wireless resource elements; and transmitting a physical uplink shared channel signal containing the coded uplink control information to a base station, wherein the uplink control information is either hybrid automatic repeat and request acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK/NACK) information or rank indication (RI) information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Jiwoong Jang, Jaehoon Chung, Seunghee Han, Hyunsoo Ko
  • Patent number: 8984383
    Abstract: A method for decoding comprises the following steps: receiving a first codeword comprising a plurality of elements of a first finite commutative group and associated to a plurality of symbols in accordance with a first code defining codeword elements by respective summations in said first commutative group; determining, by applying a projection onto elements of the first codeword, a second codeword comprising a plurality of elements of a second finite commutative group having a cardinal strictly smaller than the cardinal of the first finite commutative group, wherein the projection is a morphism from the first finite commutative group to the second finite commutative group; decoding the second codeword in accordance with a second code defining codeword elements by respective summations in said second commutative group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Sébastien Lasserre
  • Patent number: 8984380
    Abstract: A method and system for operating a communication circuit that is configurable to support one or more communication standards on a single device. The communication circuit includes a transmitting device that comprises a PCS module operating at a first data rate, and a second PCS module operating at a second data rate. The circuit also includes a plurality of forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding modules, each operating at a specified data rate. A first group of FEC encoding and decoding modules is configured to support the first PCS module, and a second group of FEC encoding and decoding modules is configured to support the second PCS module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: ALTERA Corporation
    Inventors: Divya Vijayaraghavan, Chong H. Lee, Keith Duwel, Vinson Chan
  • Patent number: 8984371
    Abstract: A method begins, as data objects are ingested, by determining, for each of some of the data objects, a priority indicator to produce a listing of priority indicators. The method continues for a data object by determining encoding parameters based on a corresponding priority indicator. The method continues by encoding the data object in accordance with the encoding parameters to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices and storing them. The method continues by identifying a first data object for analysis based on a corresponding priority indicator and an analysis priority. The method continues by decoding a plurality of sets of encoded data slices to recover the first data object and analyzing it in accordance with analysis criteria to determine its relevancy. The method continues by issuing a command to delete the plurality of sets of encoded data slices when the relevancy is below a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Cleversafe, Inc.
    Inventors: S. Christopher Gladwin, Thomas Franklin Shirley, Jr., Jason K. Resch
  • Patent number: 8977921
    Abstract: A system for providing a test result from an integrated circuit to a status analyzer. A deserializer is configured to deserialize, into data frames, messages received from the integrated circuit. The messages include the test result and are received from the integrated circuit in a serial data format. A frame sync module is configured to synchronize the data frames, output the synchronized data frames, and generate a clock signal. A gateway module is configured to receive the synchronized data frames from the frame sync module in accordance with the clock signal, convert signal levels and signal timings associated with the synchronized data frames from a first format used by the frame sync module to a second format used by the status analyzer, and provide the synchronized data frames to the status analyzer in accordance with the signal levels and the signal timings in the second format used by the status analyzer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Saeed Azimi, Son Hong Ho, Daniel Smathers
  • Patent number: 8972831
    Abstract: A processor includes a first memory module for storing a first set of storage values each representing a respective input, and a second memory module for storing a second set of storage values in analog form. An analog module is coupled to the first and the second memory modules. The analog module is configured to, in each operation cycle of at least one iteration, update at least some of the second set of storage values based on the first and the second sets of storage values. An output module is for generating a set of outputs from at least some of the second set of storage values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: David Reynolds, Benjamin Vigoda, Alexander Alexeyev
  • Patent number: 8972832
    Abstract: Computer-implemented methods and systems may perform one or more operations including, but not limited to: receiving input data from a source; applying an interleaving protocol to the input data to generate at least one component codeword; decoding the at least one component codeword; determining a first convergence value of at least one decoded component codeword; computing extrinsic data associated with the at least one component codeword according to the bit error count and the first convergence of at least one component codeword; determining a second convergence value associated with the at least one component codeword according to the extrinsic data associated with the at least one component codeword.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Ngok Ning Chu, Lei Chen, Herjen Wang, Johnson Yen
  • Patent number: 8930792
    Abstract: Systems and method relating generally to data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for utilizing multiple data streams for data recovery from a storage device. In some cases the systems include a low density parity check data decoder circuit including at least a first data decoder engine and a second data decoder engine each electrically coupled to a common circuit. The common circuit is operable to: shift a combination of both a first sub-message from the first data decoder engine and the second sub-message from the second data decoder engine to yield an shifted output, and disaggregate the shifted output to yield a third sub-message to the first data decoder engine and a fourth sub-message to the second decoder engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Shu Li, Shaohua Yang, Zongwang Li, Yang Han
  • Patent number: 8910011
    Abstract: A low-density parity check (LDPC) code decoding method may be provided. The LDPC code decoding method may linearize or perform step-approximation on a natural logarithm hyperbolic cosine function included in a check node updating equation of a sum-product algorithm used for decoding an LDPC code, and may convert the linearized function to correspond to a check node updating equation of a min-sum algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignees: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Nextwill
    Inventors: Sung Ik Park, Heung Mook Kim, Won Gi Seo
  • Patent number: 8156392
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for bad block remapping. A bad block identifier module identifies one or more data blocks on a solid-state storage element as bad blocks. A log update module writes at least a location of each bad block identified by the bad block identifier module into each of two or more redundant bad block logs. A bad block mapping module accesses at least one bad block log during a start-up operation to create in memory a bad block map. The bad block map includes a mapping between the bad block locations in the bad block log and a corresponding location of a replacement block for each bad block location. Data is stored in each replacement block instead of the corresponding bad block. The bad block mapping module creates the bad block map using one of a replacement block location and a bad block mapping algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Fusion-IO, Inc.
    Inventors: David Flynn, John Strasser, Jonathan Thatcher, David Atkisson, Michael Zappe, Joshua Aune, Kevin Vigor
  • Patent number: 8112694
    Abstract: A system and method communicates commands from a command originator to receiving devices, yet the receiving devices do not confirm receipt of the command. The most current command (e.g. the one with the highest sequence number) is rebroadcast by the command originator and the receiving devices, tending to be more frequent upon detection of an event indicating that the most current command was not received by at least one other device, and less frequently upon detection of an event indicating that the most current command was provided with sufficient duplication that if another device could receive it, the device likely did receive it, subject to a maximum and minimum rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Alec Woo, David E Culler
  • Patent number: 8069383
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for bad block remapping. A bad block identifier module identifies one or more data blocks on a solid-state storage element as bad blocks. A log update module writes at least a location of each bad block identified by the bad block identifier module into each of two or more redundant bad block logs. A bad block mapping module accesses at least one bad block log during a start-up operation to create in memory a bad block map. The bad block map includes a mapping between the bad block locations in the bad block log and a corresponding location of a replacement block for each bad block location. Data is stored in each replacement block instead of the corresponding bad block. The bad block mapping module creates the bad block map using one of a replacement block location and a bad block mapping algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Fusion-IO, Inc.
    Inventors: David Flynn, John Strasser, Jonathan Thatcher, David Atkisson, Michael Zappe, Joshua Aune, Kevin Vigor
  • Patent number: 8024623
    Abstract: In a proximity communication system, transmit elements on one chip are aligned with receive elements on a second chip juxtaposed with the first chip. However, if the elements are misaligned, either statically or dynamically, the coupling between chips is degraded. The misalignment may be compensated by controllably degrading performance of the system. For example, the transmit signal strength may be increased. The bit period or the time period for biasing each bit may be increased, thereby decreasing the bandwidth. Multiple coupling elements, such as capacitors, may be ganged together, thereby decreasing the number of channels. The granularity of symbols, such as images, may be increased by decreasing the number of bits per symbol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Oracle America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Ho, Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy, John E. Cunningham, Robert J. Drost