Patents by Inventor Matthew J. Byom

Matthew J. Byom 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: 20140112079
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for managing the peak power consumption of a system, such as a non-volatile memory system (e.g., flash memory system). The system can include multiple subsystems and a controller for controlling the subsystems. Each subsystem may have a current profile that is peaky. Thus, the controller may control the peak power of the system by, for example, limiting the number of subsystems that can perform power-intensive operations at the same time or by aiding a subsystem in determining the peak power that the subsystem may consume at any given time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Nir J. Wakrat, Daniel J. Post, Kenneth L. Herman, Vadim Khmelnitsky, Nicholas C. Seroff, Hsiao H. Thio, Matthew J. Byom
  • Publication number: 20140075208
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided for whitening and managing data for storage in non-volatile memories, such as Flash memory. In some embodiments, an electronic device such as media player is provided, which may include a system-on-a-chip (SoC) and a non-volatile memory. The SoC may include SoC control circuitry and a memory interface that acts as an interface between the SoC control circuitry and the non-volatile memory. The SoC can also include an encryption module, such as a block cipher based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The memory interface can direct the encryption module to whiten all types of data prior to storage in the non-volatile memory, including sensitive data, non-sensitive data, and memory management data. This can, for example, prevent or reduce program-disturb problems or other read/write/erase reliability issues.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2013
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth L. Herman, Matthew J. Byom, Michael J. Smith, Tahoma M. Toelkes
  • Publication number: 20140068296
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for limiting power consumption of a non-volatile memory (NVM) using a power limiting scheme that distributes a number of concurrent NVM operations over time. This provides a “current consumption cap” that fixes an upper limit of current consumption for the NVM, thereby eliminating peak power events. In one embodiment, power consumption of a NVM can be limited by receiving data suitable for use as a factor in adjusting a current threshold from at least one of a plurality of system sources. The current threshold can be less than a peak current capable of being consumed by the NVM and can be adjusted based on the received data. A power limiting scheme can be used that limits the number of concurrent NVM operations performed so that a cumulative current consumption of the NVM does not exceed the adjusted current threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2013
    Publication date: March 6, 2014
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew J. Byom, Vadim Khmelnitsky, Hugo B. Fiennes, Arjun Kapoor
  • Publication number: 20130219106
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for trim token journaling. A device can monitor the order in which trim commands and write commands are applied to an indirection system stored in a volatile memory of the device. In some embodiments, the device can directly write to a page of an NVM with a trim token that indicates that a LBA range stored in the page has been trimmed. In other embodiments, a device can add pending trim commands to a trim buffer stored in the volatile memory. Then, when the trim buffer reaches a pre-determined threshold or a particular trigger is detected, trim tokens associated with all of the trim commands stored in the trim buffer can be written to the NVM. Using these approaches, the same sequence of events that was applied to the indirection system during run-time can be applied during device boot-up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2012
    Publication date: August 22, 2013
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Andrew W. Vogan, Matthew J. Byom, Daniel J. Post
  • Patent number: 8456938
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for managing a non-volatile memory (“NVM”), such as a flash memory. To prevent data errors due to leakage effects, the NVM may be refreshed. For example, a reserved portion of the NVM may be selected, and a predetermined pattern can be stored into the reserved portion. The reserved portion can then be monitored for storage deterioration over time. After determining that storage deterioration of the reserved portion has occurred, the NVM can be refreshed. In some embodiments, a controller can attempt to distinguish data errors due to leakage effects from data errors due to disturb issues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew J. Byom, Daniel J. Post, Vadim Khmelnitsky
  • Publication number: 20130073870
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for secure relocation of encrypted files for a system having non-volatile memory (“NVM”). A system can include an encryption module that is configured to use a temporary encryption seed (e.g., a randomly generated key and a corresponding initialization vector) to decrypt and encrypt data files in an NVM. These data files may have originally been encrypted with different encryption seeds. Using such an approach, data files can be securely relocated even if the system does not have access to the original encryption seeds. In addition, the temporary encryption seed allows the system to bypass a default key scheme.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2011
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Conrad Sauerwald, Daniel J. Post, Eric Brandon Tamura, Matthew J. Byom, Puja Dilip Gupta
  • Publication number: 20130073789
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for configuring a non-volatile memory (“NVM”). In some embodiments, each block of the NVM can include a block table-of-contents (“TOC”), which can be encoded (e.g., run-length encoded) and dynamically-sized. Thus, as user data is being programmed to a block, the size of a block TOC can be concurrently recalculated and increased only if necessary. In some embodiments, the NVM interface can use a weave sequence stored in the context information and at least one weave sequence associated with each page of a block to determine whether to replay across the pages of the block after system boot-up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2011
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Applicant: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Vadim Khmelnitsky, Daniel J. Post, Nir Jacob Wakrat, Matthew J. Byom, Kenneth Herman, Alexander Sanks