The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 17, 2007
Filed:
Jan. 16, 2002
Jeffrey Craig, Jackson, CA (US);
John S. Mangan, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Jeffrey Craig, Jackson, CA (US);
John S. Mangan, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
SanDisk Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for automatically detecting when a memory system has significantly degraded are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for determining a status associated with a memory system which includes a plurality of sectors includes updating a counter, comparing the counter to a threshold value, and generating an appropriate indication when comparing the counter to the threshold value yields a first result. The counter is updated each time a sector is reassigned, and indicates a number of sectors remaining in the memory system. The threshold value indicates a number of sectors which are yet to be reassigned in order for the memory system to be considered as useable, or reliable. The indication is generated when comparing the counter to the threshold value yields a first result to indicate that the memory system is substantially near a failure condition.