Patents by Inventor Hirokuni Yano

Hirokuni Yano 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).

  • Patent number: 9483192
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuya Kitsunai, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 9330752
    Abstract: A memory system of one embodiment includes: a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of word lines each connected to memory cells, each one of the memory cells being capable storing two bits, the memory cells connected to one of the plurality of word lines constituting an upper page and a lower page, each one of the pages being a unit of data programming; a random access memory configured to store an address translation table indicating relationships between logical addresses designated by a host and physical addresses in the nonvolatile memory. The memory system of the embodiment further includes a memory controller which execute data fixing for saving the address translation table from the random access memory to the nonvolatile memory; and write dummy data to at least one page subsequent to the page in which valid data has been written in the nonvolatile memory before executing the data fixing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Shinji Yonezawa, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Tatsuya Sumiyoshi
  • Patent number: 9280292
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuya Kitsunai, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Publication number: 20160041767
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Publication date: February 11, 2016
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuya KITSUNAI, Shinichi KANNO, Hirokuni YANO, Toshikatsu HIDA, Junji YANO
  • Patent number: 9251055
    Abstract: A memory system in embodiments includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory that stores user data, a forward lookup address translation table and a reverse lookup address translation table, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine that the user data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory is valid or invalid based on these two tables. The controller may perform data organizing of selecting data determined valid and rewriting the data in a new block. The controller may perform write processing and rewriting processing to the new block alternately at a predetermined ratio. The controller may determine whether a predetermined condition is satisfied on a basis of addresses included in write requests and write data in the MLC mode when the condition is satisfied and write data in the SLC mode when the condition is not satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Shinji Yonezawa, Takashi Hirao, Hirokuni Yano, Mitsunori Tadokoro, Hiroki Matsudaira, Akira Sawaoka
  • Patent number: 9229863
    Abstract: According to the embodiments, a first storage area and a second storage area specified by a trim request is managed by a first management unit, and the second storage area specified by the trim request is managed by a second management unit. A block in which data of the first management unit are all specified by the trim request from the first or second storage areas and a block in which data of the second management unit are all specified by the trim request from the second storage area are released.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Eiji Yoshihashi, Hirokuni Yano, Shinji Yonezawa
  • Publication number: 20150347020
    Abstract: A semiconductor storage device includes a first memory area configured in a volatile semiconductor memory, second and third memory areas configured in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a controller which executes following processing. The controller executes a first processing for storing a plurality of data by the first unit in the first memory area, a second processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a first management unit in the second memory area, and a third processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a second management unit in the third memory area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hirokuni YANO, Shinichi Kanno, Toshikatsu Hida, Hidenori Matsuzaki, Kazuya Kitsunai, Shigehiro Asano
  • Patent number: 9141549
    Abstract: A controller sets, out of a data range that is specified in a read request from a host device, a predetermined size of a first data range that follows a top portion of the data range and a predetermined size of a second data range that follows the first data range, and after transfer, to the host device, of data corresponding to the first data range from a second storage unit or a third storage unit having smaller data output latency than the first storage unit in which read/write of data is performed is started, the controller searches for data corresponding to the second data range in the second storage unit or the third storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hirokuni Yano, Naoki Otsuka
  • Patent number: 9134924
    Abstract: A semiconductor storage device includes a first memory area configured in a volatile semiconductor memory, second and third memory areas configured in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a controller which executes following processing. The controller executes a first processing for storing a plurality of data by the first unit in the first memory area, a second processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a first management unit in the second memory area, and a third processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a second management unit in the third memory area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Hirokuni Yano, Shinichi Kanno, Toshikatsu Hida, Hidenori Matsuzaki, Kazuya Kitsunai, Shigehiro Asano
  • Publication number: 20150254188
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a controller registers first information to a first management table, and manage the first information, the first information being management information of data buffered in the buffer memory. When the data buffered in the buffer memory is flushed to the nonvolatile memory, the controller releases, from the first management table, the first information of the flushed data, and registers, to a second management table, and manages, the first information of the flushed data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Publication date: September 10, 2015
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hirokuni YANO, Mitsunori TADOKORO, Norio AOYAMA
  • Publication number: 20150212746
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2015
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuya KITSUNAI, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 9037947
    Abstract: A method of controlling a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes checking a first group at a first interval period, the first group including a plurality of blocks, and when a first block in the first group satisfies a first condition, assigning the first block to a second group. The method includes checking, at a second interval period, an error count of data stored in the second group, and when a second block in the second group satisfies a second condition, moving data stored in the second block to an erased block in which stored data is erased among the plurality of blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Toshikatsu Hida, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Kazuya Kitsunai, Shigehiro Asano, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 9026724
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazuya Kitsunai, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 8990458
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a memory controller includes a mode selection part that selects one of a MLC-mode and a SLC-mode, after a write command is decoded by a command decode part, and a write part that executes a data writing to a storage memory by using one of the MLC-mode and the SLC-mode selected by the mode selection part. The mode selection part is configured to check whether a first data wrote from a host to a buffer memory is a time-continuous data that is wrote continuously during a predetermined period, execute the data writing of a second data from the buffer memory to the storage memory in the MLC-mode, when the first data is the time-continuous data, and execute the data writing of the second data from the buffer memory to the storage memory in the SLC-mode, when the first data is not the time-continuous data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hirokuni Yano, Mitsunori Tadokoro
  • Patent number: 8924636
    Abstract: A management information generating method wherein logical and physical block addresses (BAs) of continuous addresses are associated with each other in the BA translation table. When a logical block is constructed, a value is set for a maximum number of allowable defective physical blocks. A logical block having fewer defects than the set number is set usable, and a logical block having more defects than the set number is set unusable. System logical block construction is performed to preferentially select physical blocks from a plane list including a large number of usable blocks to equalize the number of usable blocks in each plane list. It is determined whether the number of free blocks is insufficient on the basis of a first management unit and whether the storage area for the indicated capacity can be reserved on the basis of the management unit different from the first unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Takashi Hirao, Hirokuni Yano, Aurelien Nam Phong Tran, Mitsunori Tadokoro, Hiroki Matsudaira, Tatsuya Sumiyoshi, Yoshimi Niisato, Kenji Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20140351497
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2014
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Kazuya KITSUNAI, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 8886868
    Abstract: A memory system includes a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of blocks as data erase units, a measuring unit which measures an erase time at which data of each block is erased, and a block controller which writes data supplied from at least an exterior into a first block which is set in a free state and whose erase time is oldest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kazuya Kitsunai, Shinichi Kanno, Hirokuni Yano, Toshikatsu Hida, Junji Yano
  • Patent number: 8868842
    Abstract: A WC resource usage is compared with an auto flush (AU) threshold Caf that is smaller than an upper limit Clmt, and when the WC resource usage exceeds the AF threshold Caf, the organizing state of a NAND memory 10 is checked. When the organizing of the NAND memory 10 has proceeded sufficiently, data is flushed from a write cache (WC) 21 to the NAND memory 10 early, so that the response to the subsequent write command is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hirokuni Yano, Ryoichi Kato, Toshikatsu Hida
  • Publication number: 20140304567
    Abstract: A method of controlling a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes checking a first group at a first interval period, the first group including a plurality of blocks, and when a first block in the first group satisfies a first condition, assigning the first block to a second group. The method includes checking, at a second interval period, an error count of data stored in the second group, and when a second block in the second group satisfies a second condition, moving data stored in the second block to an erased block in which stored data is erased among the plurality of blocks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2014
    Publication date: October 9, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Toshikatsu HIDA, Shinichi KANNO, Hirokuni YANO, Kazuya KITSUNAI, Shigehiro ASANO, Junji YANO
  • Publication number: 20140258602
    Abstract: A semiconductor storage device includes a first memory area configured in a volatile semiconductor memory, second and third memory areas configured in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a controller which executes following processing. The controller executes a first processing for storing a plurality of data by the first unit in the first memory area, a second processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a first management unit in the second memory area, and a third processing for storing data outputted from the first memory area by a second management unit in the third memory area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Hirokuni YANO, Shinichi KANNO, Toshikatsu Hida, Hidenori MATSUZAKI, Kazuya KITSUNAI, Shigehiro ASANO