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:
Dec. 27, 2011
Filed:
Nov. 06, 2008
Ruei-cian Chen, Taipei County, TW;
Chih-kang Yeh, Kinmen County, TW;
Kian-fui Seng, Miaoli, TW;
Phison Electronics Corp., Miaoli, TW;
Abstract
A wear leveling method for a flash is provided, wherein the flash memory includes a plurality of physical blocks grouped into at least a data area and a spare area. The method includes setting a first predetermined threshold value as a wear-leveling start value and randomly generating a random number as a memory erased count, wherein the random number is smaller than the wear-leveling start value. The method also includes counting the memory erased count each time when the physical blocks are erased and determining whether the memory erased count is smaller than the wear-leveling start value, wherein a physical blocks switching is performed between the data area and the spare area when the memory erased count is not smaller then the wear-leveling start value. Accordingly, it is possible to uniformly use the physical blocks, so as to effectively prolong a lifetime of the store system.