Patents by Inventor Tsung-Chieh Yang

Tsung-Chieh Yang 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: 20220182074
    Abstract: A flash memory storage management method includes: providing a flash memory module including single-level-cell (SLC) blocks and at least one multiple-level-cell block such as MLC block, TLC block, or QLC block; classifying data to be programmed into groups of data; respectively executing SLC programing and RAID-like error code encoding to generate corresponding parity check codes, to program the groups of data and corresponding parity check codes to the SLC blocks; when completing program of the SLC blocks, performing an internal copy to program the at least one multiple-level-cell block by sequentially reading and writing the groups of data and corresponding parity check codes from the SLC blocks to the multiple-level-cell block according to a storage order of the SLC blocks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2022
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsung-Chieh Yang, Hong-Jung Hsu
  • Patent number: 11354231
    Abstract: A method for performing access management of a memory device with aid of information arrangement and associated apparatus (e.g. the memory device and controller thereof, and an associated electronic device) are provided. The method may include: when the host device sends a write command to the memory device, utilizing the memory controller to generate a plurality of ECC chunks respectively corresponding to a plurality of sets of memory cells of the NV memory according to data, for establishing one-to-one mapping between the plurality of ECC chunks and the plurality of sets of memory cells; and utilizing the memory controller to store the plurality of ECC chunks into the plurality of sets of memory cells, respectively, to prevent any two ECC chunks of the ECC chunks from sharing a same set of memory cells of the sets of memory cells, to enhance read performance of the memory controller regarding the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11323133
    Abstract: A flash memory storage management method includes: providing a flash memory module including single-level-cell (SLC) blocks and at least one multiple-level-cell block such as MLC block, TLC block, or QLC block; classifying data to be programmed into groups of data; respectively executing SLC programming and RAID-like error code encoding to generate corresponding parity check codes, to program the groups of data and corresponding parity check codes to the SLC blocks; when completing program of the SLC blocks, performing an internal copy to program the at least one multiple-level-cell block by sequentially reading and writing the groups of data and corresponding parity check codes from the SLC blocks to the multiple-level-cell block according to a storage order of the SLC blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsung-Chieh Yang, Hong-Jung Hsu
  • Publication number: 20220093191
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for access a flash memory module, wherein the method includes the steps of: sending a read command to the flash memory module to read a plurality of memory cells of at least one word line of the flash memory module by using a plurality of read voltages, wherein each memory cell is configured to store a plurality of bits, each memory cell has a plurality of states, the states are used to indicate different combinations of the plurality of bits; obtaining readout information from the flash memory module; analyzing the readout information to determine numbers of the states of the memory cells; determining if the memory cells are balance or unbalance according the numbers of the states of the memory cells to generate a determination result; and referring to the determination result to adjust voltage levels of the plurality of read voltages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20220066641
    Abstract: A method for use in management of a flash memory module is provided. The flash memory module has a plurality of blocks, wherein a portion of the blocks belong to a spare pool. The method includes: preserving at least one erased block in the spare pool for a write operation; monitoring an erasing period regarding the at least one erased block; and performing a replacement operation to replace the at least one erased block when the erase time exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian-Dong Du, Chia-Jung Hsiao, Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11256425
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory module, wherein the flash memory module comprises at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip comprises a plurality of blocks, each block comprises a plurality of pages, and the method includes the steps of: sending a read command to the flash memory module to ask for data on at least one memory unit; receiving multi-bit information of a plurality of memory cells of the at least one memory unit from the flash memory module; and analyzing the multi-bit information of the plurality of memory cells to obtain a threshold voltage distribution of the plurality of memory cells for determining a decoding process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11256435
    Abstract: A method for performing data-accessing management in a storage server and associated apparatus such as a host device, a storage device, etc. are provided. The method includes: in response to a client request of writing a first set of data into the storage server, utilizing the host device within the storage server to trigger broadcasting an internal request corresponding to the client request toward each storage device of a plurality of storage devices within the storage server; and in response to the internal request corresponding to the client request, utilizing said each storage device of the plurality of storage devices to search for the first set of data in said each storage device to determine whether the first set of data has been stored in any storage device, for controlling the storage server completing the client request without duplication of the first set of data within the storage server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsung-Chieh Yang, Wen-Long Wang
  • Publication number: 20210406119
    Abstract: An exemplary method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes: selecting an initial gate voltage combination from a plurality of predetermined gate voltage combination options; controlling a plurality of memory units in the flash memory according to the initial gate voltage combination, and reading a plurality of bit sequences; performing a codeword error correction upon the plurality of bit sequences, and determining if the codeword error correction successful; if the codeword error correction is not successful, determining an electric charge distribution parameter; determining a target gate voltage combination corresponding to the electric charge distribution parameter by using a look-up table; and controlling the plurality of memory units to read a plurality of updated bit sequences according to the target gate voltage combination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11209984
    Abstract: A method for performing data-compression management in a storage server may include: receiving data from a host device; performing entropy detection on a plurality of sets of partial data to generate entropy detection values of the plurality of sets of partial data, respectively; classifying the plurality of sets of partial data according to the entropy detection values of the plurality of sets of partial data, respectively, to perform data compression on at least one portion of the plurality of sets of partial data through a plurality of data compression modules, respectively, wherein the plurality of data compression modules correspond to different compression capabilities, respectively; and storing the plurality of sets of partial data into at least one storage device of the storage server and recording address mapping information of the plurality of sets of partial data, respectively. An associated apparatus is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Tsung-Chieh Yang, Wen-Long Wang
  • Patent number: 11210209
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for managing a flash memory module, wherein the flash memory module includes a plurality of flash memory chips, each flash memory chip includes a plurality of blocks, and each block includes a plurality of pages, and the method includes the steps of: using a time management circuit to generate current time information; when data is written into any one of the blocks, recording the time information generated by the time management circuit; and determining at least one specific block according to quantity of invalid pages within each block and the time information of each block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian-Dong Du, Pi-Ju Tsai, Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210398596
    Abstract: A method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes at least the following steps: controlling the flash memory to perform a plurality of read operations upon a plurality of memory cells included in the flash memory; obtaining a plurality of bit sequences read from the memory cells, respectively, wherein the read operations read bits of a predetermined bit order from the memory cells by utilizing different control gate voltage settings; and determining readout information of the memory cells according to binary digit distribution characteristics of the bit sequences.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2021
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11175841
    Abstract: A method for use in management of a flash memory module is provided. The flash memory module has a plurality of blocks, wherein a portion of the blocks belong to a spare pool. The method includes: preserving at least one erased block in the spare pool for a write operation; monitoring an erasing period regarding the at least one erased block; and performing a replacement operation to replace the at least one erased block when the erase time exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian-Dong Du, Chia-Jung Hsiao, Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210342101
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes a flash memory module and a flash memory controller. The flash memory module includes at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip includes a plurality of blocks, and each block includes a plurality of pages, and the flash memory controller is configured to access the flash memory module. In the operations of the electronic device, when the flash memory controller sends a read command to the flash memory module to ask for data on at least one page, the flash memory module uses a plurality of read voltages to read each memory cell of the at least one page to obtain multi-bit information of each memory cell, and the flash memory module transmits the multi-bit information of each memory cell of the at least one page to the flash memory controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2021
    Publication date: November 4, 2021
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210334202
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory module is disclosed, wherein the flash memory module includes at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip includes a plurality of block, each block is implemented by a plurality of word lines, each word line corresponds to K pages, and each word line includes a plurality of memory cells supporting a plurality of states, and the method includes the steps of: receiving data from a host device; generating dummy data; and writing the data with the dummy data to a plurality of specific blocks, wherein for each of a portion of the word lines of the specific blocks, the dummy data is written into at least one of the K pages, and the data from the host device is written into the other page(s) of the K pages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210334045
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory module, wherein the flash memory module comprises at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip comprises a plurality of blocks, each block comprises a plurality of pages, and the method comprises: sending a read command to the flash memory module to ask for data on at least one memory unit; and analyzing state information of a plurality of memory cells of the memory unit based on information from the flash memory module to determine a decoding method adopted by a decoder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2021
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210318953
    Abstract: The present invention provides a flash memory controller, wherein the flash memory controller is arranged to access a flash memory module, and the flash memory controller includes a ROM, a microprocessor and a timer. The ROM stores a program code, the microprocessor is configured to execute the program code to control the access of the flash memory module, and the timer is used to generate time information. In the operations of the flash memory controller, the microprocessor refers to the time information to perform dummy read operations upon at least a portion of the blocks, wherein the dummy read operations are not triggered by read commands from a host device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Publication date: October 14, 2021
    Applicant: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian-Dong Du, Chia-Jung Hsiao, Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11144390
    Abstract: An exemplary method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes: selecting an initial gate voltage combination from a plurality of predetermined gate voltage combination options; controlling a plurality of memory units in the flash memory according to the initial gate voltage combination, and reading a plurality of bit sequences; performing a codeword error correction upon the plurality of bit sequences, and determining if the codeword error correction successful; if the codeword error correction is not successful, determining an electric charge distribution parameter; determining a target gate voltage combination corresponding to the electric charge distribution parameter by using a look-up table; and controlling the plurality of memory units to read a plurality of updated bit sequences according to the target gate voltage combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Patent number: 11139032
    Abstract: A method for reading data stored in a flash memory includes at least the following steps: controlling the flash memory to perform a plurality of read operations upon a plurality of memory cells included in the flash memory; obtaining a plurality of bit sequences read from the memory cells, respectively, wherein the read operations read bits of a predetermined bit order from the memory cells by utilizing different control gate voltage settings; and determining readout information of the memory cells according to binary digit distribution characteristics of the bit sequences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang
  • Publication number: 20210271402
    Abstract: A flash memory controller for controlling a flash memory module includes a communication interface for receiving a first data and a second data; and a processing circuit for dynamically controlling a data writing mode of the flash memory module according to an amount of stored data in the flash memory module. If the amount of stored data in the flash memory module is less than a first threshold when the communication interface receives the first data, the processing circuit controls the flash memory module so that the first data is written into the first data block under an one-bit-per-cell mode. If the amount of stored data in the flash memory module is greater than the first threshold when the communication interface receives the second data, the processing circuit controls the flash memory module so that the second data is written into the second data block under a two-bit-per-cell mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2021
    Publication date: September 2, 2021
    Inventors: Tsung-Chieh Yang, Chun-Chieh Kuo, Ching-Hui Lin, Yang-Chih Shen
  • Patent number: 11099781
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes a flash memory module and a flash memory controller. The flash memory module includes at least one flash memory chip, each flash memory chip includes a plurality of blocks, and each block includes a plurality of pages, and the flash memory controller is configured to access the flash memory module. In the operations of the electronic device, when the flash memory controller sends a read command to the flash memory module to ask for data on at least one page, the flash memory module uses a plurality of read voltages to read each memory cell of the at least one page to obtain multi-bit information of each memory cell, and the flash memory module transmits the multi-bit information of each memory cell of the at least one page to the flash memory controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Motion, Inc.
    Inventor: Tsung-Chieh Yang