Patents by Inventor Bruce Liikanen

Bruce Liikanen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20200005870
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device storing a set of start voltage values, wherein the set of start voltage values each represent voltage levels used to initially store charges in performing operations to corresponding one or more memory locations of the memory device; and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device, to: determine whether a quantity of start voltage values in the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device meets a threshold; modify the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device to remove one or more start voltage values from the set in response to a determination that the quantity of start voltage values in the set meets the threshold; and add a new start voltage value to the modified set of start voltage values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: Gerald L. Cadloni, Steve Kientz, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20200004632
    Abstract: A system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a processing device coupled to the memory array, the processing device configured to iteratively adjust an active processing level used to process data, wherein, for each iteration, the processing device is configured to: determine a first error rate corresponding to the active processing level, determine a second error rate based on using an offset processing level different than the active processing level, and incrementally adjust the active processing level based on a comparison of the first error rate and the second error rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20200004440
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine a target profile including distribution targets, wherein each of the distribution targets represent a program-verify target corresponding to a logic value for the memory cells, determine a feedback measure based on implementing a processing level for processing data, and dynamically adjust the program-verify target according to the feedback measure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Patent number: 10521140
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine a target profile including distribution targets, wherein each of the distribution targets represent a program-verify target corresponding to a logic value for the memory cells, determine a feedback measure based on implementing a processing level for processing data, and dynamically generate an updated target based on adjusting the program-verify target according to the feedback measure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20190391865
    Abstract: A system includes a memory circuitry configured to receive a command, and in response to the command: generate a first read result based on reading a set of memory cells using a first read voltage; and generate a second read result based on reading the set of memory cells using a second read voltage, wherein: the first read voltage and the second read voltage are separately associated with a read level voltage initially assigned to read the set of memory cells, and the first read result and the second read result are for calibrating the read level voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2018
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventors: Gerald L. Cadloni, Bruce A. Liikanen, Violante Moschiano
  • Patent number: 10509579
    Abstract: A memory quality engine can improve the operation of a memory system by setting more effective operating parameters, disabling or removing memory devices unable to meet performance requirements, and providing evaluations between memory populations. These improvements can be accomplished by converting quality measurements of a memory population into CDF-based data, formulating comparisons of the CDF-based data to metrics for quality analysis, and applying the quality analysis. In some implementations, the metrics for quality analysis can use one or more thresholds, such as a system trigger threshold or an uncorrectable error correction condition threshold, which are set based on the error correction capabilities of a memory system. Formulating the comparison to these metrics can include determining an intersection between the CDF-based data and one of the thresholds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Gerald L. Cadloni, David Miller
  • Publication number: 20190354299
    Abstract: A memory quality engine can improve the operation of a memory system by setting more effective operating parameters, disabling or removing memory devices unable to meet performance requirements, and providing evaluations between memory populations. These improvements can be accomplished by converting quality measurements of a memory population into CDF-based data, formulating comparisons of the CDF-based data to metrics for quality analysis, and applying the quality analysis. In some implementations, the metrics for quality analysis can use one or more thresholds, such as a system trigger threshold or an uncorrectable error correction condition threshold, which are set based on the error correction capabilities of a memory system. Formulating the comparison to these metrics can include determining an intersection between the CDF-based data and one of the thresholds.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Gerald L. Cadloni, David Miller
  • Publication number: 20190355435
    Abstract: A memory quality engine can improve the operation of a memory system by setting more effective operating parameters, disabling or removing memory devices unable to meet performance requirements, and providing evaluations between memory populations. These improvements can be accomplished by converting quality measurements of a memory population into CDF-based data, formulating comparisons of the CDF-based data to metrics for quality analysis, and applying the quality analysis. In some implementations, the metrics for quality analysis can use one or more thresholds, such as a system trigger threshold or an uncorrectable error correction condition threshold, which are set based on the error correction capabilities of a memory system. Formulating the comparison to these metrics can include determining a margin between the CDF-based data at a particular codeword frequency and one of the thresholds.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Gerald L. Cadloni, David Miller
  • Publication number: 20190355434
    Abstract: A memory quality engine can improve the operation of a memory system by setting more effective operating parameters, disabling or removing memory devices unable to meet performance requirements, and providing evaluations between memory populations. These improvements can be accomplished by converting quality measurements of a memory population into CDF-based data, formulating comparisons of the CDF-based data to metrics for quality analysis, and applying the quality analysis. In some implementations, the metrics for quality analysis can use one or more thresholds, such as a system health threshold. Formulating the comparison to these metrics can include determining an area between a baseline frequency and a curve specified by the CDF-based data. In some implementations, this area can further be defined by a lowest frequency bound and/or can be compared as a ratio to an area of a rectangle that contains the CDF curve.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Gerald L. Cadloni, David Miller
  • Publication number: 20190354312
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory device comprising a plurality of memory cells; and a processing device coupled to the memory device, the processing device configured to: determine at least one real-time measure including at least one environmental parameter or at least one operational parameter, or a combination thereof, wherein: the environmental parameter corresponds to one or more physical conditions concerning the system, the operational parameter represents one or more operations performed by the system; and generate an adjusted sampling rate based on the real-time measure, wherein the adjusted sampling rate replaces a previous sampling rate used to control a timing associated with gathering information for a sampling process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Francis Chew, Gerald L. Cadloni, Bruce A. Liikanen, Michael Sheperek, Larry J. Koudele
  • Patent number: 10482965
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device storing a set of start voltage values, wherein the set of start voltage values each represent voltage levels used to initially store charges in performing operations to corresponding one or more memory locations of the memory device; and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device, to: determine whether a quantity of start voltage values in the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device meets a threshold; modify the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device to remove one or more start voltage values from the set in response to a determination that the quantity of start voltage values in the set meets the threshold; and add a new start voltage value to the modified set of start voltage values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerald L. Cadloni, Steve Kientz, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20190333582
    Abstract: A system includes a memory device storing a set of start voltage values, wherein the set of start voltage values each represent voltage levels used to initially store charges in performing operations to corresponding one or more memory locations of the memory device; and a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory device, to: determine whether a quantity of start voltage values in the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device meets a threshold; modify the set of start voltage values stored in the memory device to remove one or more start voltage values from the set in response to a determination that the quantity of start voltage values in the set meets the threshold; and add a new start voltage value to the modified set of start voltage values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Gerald L. Cadloni, Steve Kientz, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Patent number: 10452480
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to iteratively: determine a first error rate corresponding to a current processing level for processing data corresponding to a subset of the plurality of memory cells, determine a second error rate using an offset processing level for processing the data corresponding to the subset of the plurality of memory cells, wherein the offset processing level is offset from the current processing level by a first offset amount, and generate an updated processing level for the subset of the plurality of memory cells based on a comparison of the first error rate and the second error rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Patent number: 10446241
    Abstract: Several embodiments of memory devices and systems with walking read level calibration are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a system includes a memory component having at least one memory region and calibration circuitry. The memory region has memory cells that read out data states in response to application of a current read level signal. The calibration circuitry is operably coupled to the at least one memory region and is configured to perform iterative calibrations of the memory region by determining a first read level offset value during a first calibration. A new base read level test signal is determined based on the first read level offset value. During a second calibration using the new base read level test signal, a second read level offset value is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Gerald L. Cadloni
  • Patent number: 10402272
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine background records associated with a programming step, wherein the background records are for representing previous data operations, calculate a trigger measure based on the background records, wherein the trigger measure is for estimating implementation of an error recovery mechanism, and generate an adjusted step based on the trigger measure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Larry J. Koudele
  • Patent number: 10355815
    Abstract: A system uses multi-level encoding where each symbol of a plurality of symbols represents more than one bit of information in a user data symbol stream for transfer using a multilevel transmission channel. The user data symbols are represented in a digital bitwise form such that each symbol is presented as a plurality of bits and each bit is subject to a different probability of error. An error correction procedure is applied based on the different error probability that is associated with each bit in the plurality. The channel can be configured to support a mosaic tile structure, each tile containing a channel symbol such that a selected tile has a collective error probability that is different from other tiles. Customized coding can be applied to the tile structure to allocate a selected amount of error correction power to the selected tile based on an overall available correction power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Stephen P. Van Aken, Gerald L. Cadloni, John L. Seabury, Robert B. Eisenhuth
  • Publication number: 20180341415
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine a target profile including distribution targets, wherein each of the distribution targets represent a program-verify target corresponding to a logic value for the memory cells, determine a feedback measure based on implementing a processing level for processing data, and dynamically generate an updated target based on adjusting the program-verify target according to the feedback measure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20180341553
    Abstract: A memory device includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to iteratively: determine a first error rate corresponding to a current processing level for processing data corresponding to a subset of the plurality of memory cells, determine a second error rate using an offset processing level for processing the data corresponding to the subset of the plurality of memory cells, wherein the offset processing level is offset from the current processing level by a first offset amount, and generate an updated processing level for the subset of the plurality of memory cells based on a comparison of the first error rate and the second error rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen
  • Publication number: 20180341552
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine background records associated with a programming step, wherein the background records are for representing previous data operations, calculate a trigger measure based on the background records, wherein the trigger measure is for estimating implementation of an error recovery mechanism, and generate an adjusted step based on the trigger measure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2017
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Bruce A. Liikanen, Larry J. Koudele
  • Publication number: 20180341416
    Abstract: A memory system includes a memory array including a plurality of memory cells; and a controller coupled to the memory array, the controller configured to: determine a target profile including distribution targets, wherein each of the distribution targets represent a program-verify target corresponding to a logic value for the memory cells, determine a feedback measure based on implementing a processing level for processing data, and dynamically generate an updated target based on adjusting the program-verify target according to the feedback measure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Larry J. Koudele, Bruce A. Liikanen