Lsi Corporation

Western Digital Corporation

Western Digital Technologies, Inc.

Xiotech Corporation

Timothy W Swatosh

Michael Scott Hicken

Pamela Hempstead

Carl E Forhan

Timothy B Lund

Daniel John Sokolov

Martin S Dell

Randy Reiter

Erich Franz Haratsch

George Mathew

Ming Jin

Jackson L Ellis

Jongseung Park

Jeffrey L Williams

Steven M Howe

Randal Rysavy

Mark R Schibilla

James Edward Guttmann

Vinay Ashok Somanache

Mark David Heminger

Bryan Holty

Dave Ebsen

Lyle Bergman

John Paradise

Greg Kittilson

Pamela S Hempstead

Described embodiments provide a media controller for a storage device having sectors, the sectors organized into blocks and superblocks. The media controller stores, on the storage device, logical-to-physical address translation data in N summary pages, where N corresponds to the number of superblocks of the storage device. A buffer layer module of the media controller initializes a summary page cache in a buffer. The summary page cache has space for M summary page entries, where M is less than or equal to N. For operations that access a summary page, the media controller searches the summary page cache for the summary page. If the summary page is stored in the summary page cache, the buffer layer module retrieves the summary page from the summary page cache. Otherwise, the buffer layer module retrieves the summary page from the storage device and stores the retrieved summary page to the summary page cache.

Accessing logical-to-physical address translation data for solid state disks

Described embodiments provide a method of cancelling inter-track interference (ITI) from one or more sectors read from a desired track of a storage medium. A road channel reads sectors in a desired track of the storage medium. A decoder of the read channel decodes the read sectors, and if the read sectors are incorrectly recovered from the storage medium, selected sectors of a first adjacent track and a second adjacent track are read. An ITI canceller of the read channel estimates ITI in the read sectors of the desired track corresponding to the selected sectors of each adjacent track and subtracts the estimated ITI of each adjacent track from the data for the sectors of the desired track, providing updated sector data. The ITI cancelled data is replayed to the decoder, which decodes the ITI cancelled data and provides the decoded ITI cancelled data as output of the read channel.

Storage media inter-track interference cancellation

Described embodiments provide a method of cancelling inter-track interference (ITI) from one or more sectors read from a desired track of a storage medium. A read channel reads sectors in a desired track of the storage medium. An iterative decoder of the read channel decodes the read sectors, and if the read sectors are incorrectly recovered from the storage medium, selected sectors of a first adjacent track are read. An ITI canceller of the read channel estimates ITI in the read sectors of the desired track corresponding to the selected sectors of the adjacent track and subtracts the estimated ITI of the adjacent track from the data for the sectors of the desired track, providing updated sector data. The ITI cancelled data is replayed to the iterative decoder, which decodes the ITI cancelled data and provides the decoded ITI cancelled data as output data of the read channel.

A method for handling meta data stored in a page of a flash memory within a flash media controller. The method generally includes (i) defining the meta data on a per context basis, where the context is defined on a per page basis, (ii) when a size of the meta data is less than or equal to a predefined threshold, storing the complete meta data within a structure of the context, and (iii) when the size of the meta data is greater than the predefined threshold, defining meta data pointers within the context.

Meta data handling within a flash media controller

Described embodiments provide a media controller for processing a diagnostic request received from a diagnostic source. The received diagnostic request is parsed by a corresponding request handling module of the media controller, where each diagnostic source type has a corresponding request handling module. If the received diagnostic request requires allocation of buffer space, a common diagnostic handling module of the media controller allocates buffer space in a buffer for the received diagnostic request. The common diagnostic handling module is common for all diagnostic source types. The common diagnostic handling module provides the received diagnostic request to a corresponding one of a plurality of end diagnostic handling modules. The end diagnostic handling module performs the diagnostic tasks. If the received diagnostic request requires a transfer of data to the diagnostic source, the common diagnostic handling module performs the data transfer between the media controller and the diagnostic source.

Processing diagnostic requests for direct block access storage devices

A method of controlling a flash media system. The method includes providing a flash lane controller having a processor control mode and creating and presenting soft contexts. The soft contexts generally place the flash lane controller into the processor control mode. In the processor control mode, the flash lane controller stores the entire soft context, finishes executing any outstanding contexts, suspends normal hardware automation, and then executes the soft context.

Flexible flash commands

A flash-memory system is organized into a plurality of blocks and a plurality of pages in each block, each page having 2data locations and K spare locations. At least one page in the memory has 2user data sectors and each sector has 2+L locations therein. Because L is at least 1 but less than 2, user data is stored in the spare memory locations. By storing user data in spare locations that were previously off-limits to user data, enterprise-sized sectors can be efficiently stored in flash memories with little wasted memory, thereby making flash-memory systems compatible with existing hard-drive storage systems in enterprise system applications.

Flash memory organization

Described embodiments provide a media controller that synchronizes data cached in a buffer and corresponding data stored in one or more sectors of a storage device. A buffer layer module of the media controller caches data transferred between the buffer and the storage device. One or more contiguous sectors are associated with one or more chunks. The buffer layer module updates a status corresponding to each chunk of the cached data and scans the status corresponding to a first chunk of cached data. If, based on the status, the first chunk of cached data is more recent than the corresponding data stored on the storage device, a media layer module synchronizes the data on the storage device with the cached data. The status corresponding to the group of one or more sectors is updated. The media layer module scans a next chunk of cached data, if present.

Cache synchronization for solid state disks

Described embodiments provide reconstruction of logical-to-physical address mapping data for one or more sectors of a storage device at startup of a media controller. The sectors of the storage device are organized into blocks and superblocks and the address mapping data is stored in a volatile memory. At a startup condition of the media controller, a buffer layer module of the media controller allocates space in the volatile memory for one or more logical-to-physical address mapping data structures. A media layer module of the media controller determines a block type of each block of the storage device and places each block of the storage device into corresponding groups based on the determined block type of each block. The one or more blocks of each group are processed, and one or more address mapping data structures for the storage device are constructed in the allocated space in the volatile memory.

Startup reconstruction of logical-to-physical address translation data for solid state disks

Described embodiments provide logical-to-physical address translation for data stored on a storage device having sectors organized into blocks and superblocks. A flash translation layer maps a physical address in the storage device to a logical sector address. The logical sector address corresponds to mapping data that includes i) a page index, ii) a block index, and iii) a superblock number. The mapping data is stored in at least one summary page corresponding to the superblock containing the physical address. A block index and a page index of a next empty page in the superblock are stored in a page global directory corresponding to the superblock. A block index and a page index of the at least one summary page and the at least one active block table for each superblock are stored in at least one active block table of the storage device.

Logical-to-physical address translation for solid state disks

Described embodiments provide skip operations for transferring data to or from a plurality of non-contiguous sectors of a solid-state memory. A host layer module sends data to, and receives commands from, a communication link. Received commands are one of read requests or write requests, with commands including i) a starting sector address, ii) a skip mask indicating the span of all sector addresses in the request and the sectors to be transferred, iii) a total number of sectors to be transferred; and, for write requests, iv) the data to be written to the sectors. A buffer stores data for transfer to or from the solid-state memory. A buffer layer module i) manages the buffer, ii) segments the span of the request into a plurality of chunks, and iii) determines, based on the skip mask, a number of chunks to be transferred to or from the solid-state memory.

Skip operations for solid state disks

A method, apparatus and program storage device for providing control to a networked storage architecture is disclosed. A networked storage device is provided. Controllers are coupled to the at least one networked storage device for controlling input/output operations of the networked storage device. The networked storage device includes a file system for storing data provided by a first of the controllers for retrieval by the other controllers.

Method, apparatus and program storage device for providing control to a networked storage architecture

A method of managing defective data sites on a hard disk drive through a shared defect table. The method writes both skip type entries and vector type entries to the defect table. Skip type entries represent defective data sites that are to be skipped during operation of the disk drive, and vector type entries represent defective data sites which have been reassigned to spare data sites and alternate locations on the disk. Both skip type entries and vector type entries are in a common format within the defect table, where the top two data bits of each entry distinguish skip type entries from vector type entries. The method also manages a separate cross-reference table for vector type entries, where the location of the reassigned defective data site is associated with the location of a spare data site which contains the data from the reassigned site. The shared defect table provides an efficient way for distinguishing skipped and vectored defective data sites during subsequent disk operation.

Defective data site management through a shared defect management table

A disk drive and method which efficiently stores zone parameter sets for a plurality of disk surfaces. The disk drive includes a disk control system and a plurality of disk surfaces. Each disk surface has an associated transducer head in communication with the disk control system for reading and writing data to the disk surface. Each disk surface is subdivided into a plurality of zones. Control parameters sets for each zone of a disk surface are stored in table. The disk drive further comprises a first disk surface and a second disk surface. A first zone parameter table is provided for the first disk surface. The first zone parameter table comprising a zone control parameter set for each zone of the first disk surface. A second zone parameter table is provided. The second zone parameter table includes a number of zone control parameter sets, wherein the zone control parameter sets and the second zone parameter table are not included in the first zone parameter table. Means are provided for extracting zone control parameter sets for the second disk surface from the first zone parameter table and the second zone parameter table, a means for extracting zone control parameter sets including offset pointer to the first zone parameter table.

Disk drive which efficiently stores zone parameter sets for a plurality of disk surfaces

A method of mapping sequential logical data blocks to multiple disk surfaces. Data blocks are written to a predetermined number of adjacent tracks on each surface before performing a head switch to write data on another surface. The predetermined number of tracks are written on each surface in turn before performing a seek and head switch to continue writing on another predetermined number of tracks on each surface. After each head switch to continue writing from the radial position reached when writing the previous group of tracks, the direction of track incrementing or decrementing reverses so that the actuator moves back and forth in a 'serpentine' manner.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, MN, United States of America

Timothy W Swatosh