Abstract: In solid state memory devices, garbage collection can be a bottleneck in meeting stringent performance requirements of certain hosts that generate a relatively-large amount of data (e.g., hosts that generate video data). With such hosts, the performance drop caused by background garbage collection can result in video recording failures. The memory device and method presented herein performs background operations in such a way as to enhance sustained performance. In general, a counter is maintained that reflects an amount of memory written to by a host, as well as an amount of memory freed by garbage collection operations. Each step of a garbage collection operation can be performed in response to a value of the counter being greater than a threshold for the step such that there is a balance between memory written and memory freed.

Abstract: In solid state memory devices, garbage collection can be a bottleneck in meeting stringent performance requirements of certain hosts that generate a relatively-large amount of data (e.g., hosts that generate video data). With such hosts, the performance drop caused by background garbage collection can result in video recording failures. The memory device and method presented herein performs background operations in such a way as to enhance sustained performance. In general, a counter is maintained that reflects an amount of memory written to by a host, as well as an amount of memory freed by garbage collection operations. Each step of a garbage collection operation can be performed in response to a value of the counter being greater than a threshold for the step such that there is a balance between memory written and memory freed.