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:
Mar. 26, 2013
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2011
Arunprasad Ramiya Mothilal, San Jose, CA (US);
Arunprasad Ramiya Mothilal, San Jose, CA (US);
Imation Corp., Oakdale, MN (US);
Abstract
Methods permitting erasures to be performed evenly over time in memory, thereby extending the service life of a data storage device, and devices operable to perform those methods. Erasures performed on a given physical block in memory are tracked by incrementing a corresponding erase count included in an entry associated with a logical block correlated with that physical block. Each of a plurality of physical blocks included in the memory is associated with logical zones such that each logical zone comprises a different portion of the physical blocks. An erase count indicator is determined for each logical zone. When the total number of erasures for the given physical block reaches a limit, the entry associated with the logical block correlated with that physical block is exchanged with another entry associated with a logical block correlated with a physical block in a logical zone having a lower count indicator.