Patents by Inventor Horst-christoph Georg HELLWIG

Horst-christoph Georg HELLWIG 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: 11726679
    Abstract: EGs may be combined with ZNSs to offer greater control of how, where and under what configurations, data is stored to various user-defined sections on a SSD. In embodiments, this exposure of control functionalities to an SSD host provides improved performance to data center and other hyperscale users and their clients. In embodiments, larger SSDs may be partitioned into groups of zones for better usage by host devices. In embodiments, the groups may comprise, for example, EGs, sets and MUs, each containing a defined number of zones. In one or more embodiments, hosts may use different EGs to access the device and thereby manage die or channel conflicts in the SSD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel L. Helmick, Horst-Christoph Georg Hellwig, Liam Parker, Ryan R. Jones, Matias Bjorling
  • Publication number: 20220100390
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller and a media unit. The capacity of the media unit is divided into a plurality of zones. The controller is configured to make informed use of errors by update zone metadata to indicate one or more first logical block addresses were skipped and to indicate the next valid logical block address is available to store data. The controller is further configured to update zone metadata to recommend to the host device to reset one or more full zones, to recommend to the host device to transition one or more open zones to a full state, to alert the host device that one or more open zones have been transitioned to the full state, and to notify the host device of the writeable zone capacity of each of the plurality of zones.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Publication date: March 31, 2022
    Applicant: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Matias BJORLING, Horst-Christoph Georg HELLWIG, David LANDSMAN, Daniel L. HELMICK, Liam PARKER, Alan D. BENNETT, Peter GRAYSON, Judah Gamliel HAHN
  • Patent number: 11209989
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller and a media unit. The capacity of the media unit is divided into a plurality of zones. The controller is configured to make informed use of errors by update zone metadata to indicate one or more first logical block addresses were skipped and to indicate the next valid logical block address is available to store data. The controller is further configured to update zone metadata to recommend to the host device to reset one or more full zones, to recommend to the host device to transition one or more open zones to a full state, to alert the host device that one or more open zones have been transitioned to the full state, and to notify the host device of the writeable zone capacity of each of the plurality of zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Matias Bjørling, Horst-Christoph Georg Hellwig, David Landsman, Daniel L. Helmick, Liam Parker, Alan D. Bennett, Peter Grayson, Judah Gamliel Hahn
  • Patent number: 11200162
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller, random-access memory (RAM), and a NVM unit, where in the NVM unit comprises a plurality of zones. The RAM unit comprises a logical to physical address (L2P) table for the plurality of zones. The L2P table comprises pointers that are associated with a logical block address (LBA) and the physical location of the data stored in the NVM. The L2P table comprises one pointer per erase block or zone. When a command is received to read data within the NVM, the controller reads the L2P table to determine the LBA and associated pointer of the data. The controller can then determine which zone or erase block the data is stored in, and calculates various offsets of wordlines, pages, and page addresses to find the exact location of the data in the NVM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel L. Helmick, Liam Parker, Alan D. Bennett, Horst-Christoph Georg Hellwig
  • Publication number: 20210334203
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller, random-access memory (RAM), and a NVM unit, where in the NVM unit comprises a plurality of zones. The RAM unit comprises a logical to physical address (L2P) table for the plurality of zones. The L2P table comprises pointers that are associated with a logical block address (LBA) and the physical location of the data stored in the NVM. The L2P table comprises one pointer per erase block or zone. When a command is received to read data within the NVM, the controller reads the L2P table to determine the LBA and associated pointer of the data. The controller can then determine which zone or erase block the data is stored in, and calculates various offsets of wordlines, pages, and page addresses to find the exact location of the data in the NVM.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Applicant: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel L. HELMICK, Liam PARKER, Alan D. BENNETT, Horst-Christoph Georg HELLWIG
  • Patent number: 11157439
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for protecting in-flight data during a fundamental reset of a SSD by a connected host are presented. In embodiments, a controller for the SSD includes an input interface configured to receive commands from the host over a link, and processing circuitry coupled to the input interface. The processing circuitry is configured to, in response to receiving a reset command from the host, reset the link and an address space of the SSD, complete a flush of in-flight data from temporary buffers to non-volatile storage of the SSD, and, during an initialization sequence performed by the host, perform an internal reset. In embodiments, in response to the SSD performing the internal reset, the host's state of the SSD is reset, and the host is caused to re-initialize the link and configure the address space of the SSD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Judah Gamliel Hahn, Karin Inbar, Horst-christoph Georg Hellwig
  • Publication number: 20210132827
    Abstract: EGs may be combined with ZNSs to offer greater control of how, where and under what configurations, data is stored to various user-defined sections on a SSD. In embodiments, this exposure of control functionalities to an SSD host provides improved performance to data center and other hyperscale users and their clients. In embodiments, larger SSDs may be partitioned into groups of zones for better usage by host devices. In embodiments, the groups may comprise, for example, EGs, sets and MUs, each containing a defined number of zones. In one or more embodiments, hosts may use different EGs to access the device and thereby manage die or channel conflicts in the SSD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Daniel L. HELMICK, Horst-Christoph Georg HELLWIG, Liam PARKER, Ryan R. JONES, Matias BJORLING
  • Publication number: 20210089217
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller and a media unit. The capacity of the media unit is divided into a plurality of zones. The controller is configured to make informed use of errors by update zone metadata to indicate one or more first logical block addresses were skipped and to indicate the next valid logical block address is available to store data. The controller is further configured to update zone metadata to recommend to the host device to reset one or more full zones, to recommend to the host device to transition one or more open zones to a full state, to alert the host device that one or more open zones have been transitioned to the full state, and to notify the host device of the writeable zone capacity of each of the plurality of zones.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Matias BJØRLING, Horst-Christoph Georg HELLWIG, David LANDSMAN, Daniel L. HELMICK, Liam PARKER, Alan D. BENNETT, Peter GRAYSON, Judah Gamliel HAHN
  • Publication number: 20210026800
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for protecting in-flight data during a fundamental reset of a SSD by a connected host are presented. In embodiments, a controller for the SSD includes an input interface configured to receive commands from the host over a link, and processing circuitry coupled to the input interface. The processing circuitry is configured to, in response to receiving a reset command from the host, reset the link and an address space of the SSD, complete a flush of in-flight data from temporary buffers to non-volatile storage of the SSD, and, during an initialization sequence performed by the host, perform an internal reset. In embodiments, in response to the SSD performing the internal reset, the host's state of the SSD is reset, and the host is caused to re-initialize the link and configure the address space of the SSD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Judah Gamliel HAHN, Karin INBAR, Horst-christoph Georg HELLWIG