Systems and methods for booting from NAND flash using squashfs to maximize memory

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11934680-B2
Application number	US-202117161254-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2021
Priority date	Feb 6, 2020
Publication date	Mar 19, 2024
Grant date	Mar 19, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments of the systems and methods disclosed herein includes a NAND flash memory having a boot volume. The boot volume can include a primary boot partition, a secondary boot partition, and a rootdisk partition. The primary boot partition can be configured to receive a kernel component of a file. The secondary boot partition can be configured to receive a copy of the kernel component of the file. The rootdisk partition can be configured to receive a root filesystem of the file.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A digital image processing device, comprising:
a memory, comprising:
a NOT-AND (NAND) flash memory having a boot volume, the boot volume including:
a primary boot partition configured to store a kernel component of a file,
a secondary boot partition configured to store a copy of the kernel component of the file, wherein the secondary boot partition is a back-up of the primary boot partition, and
a rootdisk partition configured to store a root filesystem of the file; and

a processor in operative association with the memory, the processor configured to operate via a device-mapper engine, wherein the processor is configured to:
split the file into the kernel component and the root filesystem;
generate a Squash File System (squashfs) image of a copy of the root filesystem;
write the squashfs image to the NAND flash memory; and
mount the squashfs image directly from the NAND flash.

2. The digital image processing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the file comprises a software package or a software package update.

3. The digital image processing device of claim 1 , wherein the device-mapper engine is configured to:
send the kernel component to the primary boot partition;
send the copy of the kernel component to the secondary boot partition; and
send the root filesystem to the rootdisk partition.

4. The digital image processing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the memory comprises an Unsorted Block Image File System (UBIFS);
and
the processor configured to store a copy of the root filesystem in the UBIFS.

5. The digital image processing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the processor is configured to write the squashfs image to the NAND flash memory via a skip-block algorithm.

6. The digital image processing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the processor is configured to operate via a scan utility, the scan utility configured to identify bad data blocks.

7. The digital image processing device of claim 6 , wherein:
the scan utility is configured to generate a block table comprising the bad data blocks.

8. The digital image processing device of claim 7 , wherein:
the squashfs image is fragmented due to bad data blocks; and
the device-mapper engine is configured to use the block table to render a complete squashfs image.

9. A method for improving memory capacity in a NOT-AND (NAND) flash memory, the method comprising:
partitioning a boot volume of the NAND flash into a primary boot partition, a secondary boot partition, and a rootdisk partition;
storing a kernel component of a file within the primary boot partition;
storing a copy of the kernel component of the file within the secondary boot partition, wherein the secondary boot partition is a back-up of the primary boot partition;
storing a root filesystem of the file within the rootdisk partition;
splitting a file into a kernel component and a root filesystem;
generating a Squash File System (squashfs) image of a copy of the root filesystem;
writing the squashfs image to the NAND flash memory; and
mounting the squashfs image directly from the NAND flash.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the file comprises a software package or a software package update.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
scanning the NAND via a scan utility, the NAND containing one or more data blocks;
identifying bad data blocks wherein identifying the bad data blocks includes:
attempting to overwrite a data block of the one or more data blocks with new data;
determining that the data block of the one or more data blocks cannot be overwritten with the new data; and
generating a block table comprising the bad data blocks.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the squashfs image is fragmented due to bad data blocks; and
rendering a complete squashfs image using the block table.

Assignees

• Arris Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Anderes Walter H
• Rementilla Richard P
• Berger David L

Classifications

• G06F3/0644 Primary

  Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools · CPC title

• G06F3/0604

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/0679 Primary

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP] · CPC title

• G06F9/4403

  Processor initialisation · CPC title

• G06F16/119

  Details of migration of file systems (migration mechanisms in storage systems G06F3/0647) · CPC title