Method for preserving data in electronic device initialization situation and electronic device therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12026376-B2
Application number	US-202217953756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2022
Priority date	Nov 10, 2021
Publication date	Jul 2, 2024
Grant date	Jul 2, 2024

Abstract

A method and a device are provided. The device includes a first memory, a second memory having a storage characteristic different from that of the first memory, and a processor operatively connected to at least one of the first memory and the second memory. The processor is configured to generate a logical storage area in a data area of the first memory, store designated data in the generated logical storage area, and enter a recovery mode to store the data stored in the logical storage area in the second memory, format the first memory, and move the data stored in the second memory to the data area of the first memory.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
memory including first memory and second memory having storage characteristic different from that of the first memory; and
at least one processor,
wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to:
generate a logical storage area in a data area of the first memory,
store designated data in the logical storage area,
store metadata corresponding to the logical storage area in a designated area of the first memory,
in response to entering a recovery mode, mount the logical storage area based on the metadata,
store the data stored in the logical storage area in the second memory,
format the first memory, and
move the data stored in the second memory to the data area of the first memory.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the first memory is non-volatile memory, and
wherein the second memory is volatile memory.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to generate the logical storage area in case that execution of the recovery mode is requested.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to perform at least one of:
determining the designated data, based on a usage history of the electronic device,
receiving a selection of the designated data from a user whenever data is stored, or
receiving a selection of the designated data from the user in case that the recovery mode is executed.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
encrypt the metadata to store the encrypted metadata in the designated area, or
store the metadata in an encrypted space of the designated area without encrypting the metadata.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to delete the metadata after moving the data stored in the second memory to the data area of the first memory.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the designated area is configured to be accessible and have read/write (R/W) format storage characteristic in case that the electronic device is in a normal operation mode, and
wherein the data area is configured to have R/W format storage characteristic in case that the electronic device is in the normal operation mode while having storage characteristic in which the data area is not mounted as a file system in case that the electronic device is in the recovery mode.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
mount the first memory after formatting the first memory, and
copy the data stored in the second memory such that the copied data is moved and stored in the data area of the first memory.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to control a size of the designated data, based on whether the size of the designated data exceeds a storage size of the second memory.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
identify a storage size of the second memory,
determine whether a size of the designated data exceeds the storage size of the second memory,
select partial data, based on a usage history or a user input of the electronic device, in case that the size of the designated data exceeds the storage size of the second memory, and
back up the selected partial data as the designated data in the logical storage area.

11. A method for operating an electronic device comprising first memory and second memory having storage characteristic different from that of the first memory, the method comprising:
generating, by the electronic device, a logical storage area in a data area of the first memory;
storing, by the electronic device, designated data in the logical storage area;
entering, by the electronic device, a recovery mode;
storing, by the electronic device, metadata corresponding to the logical storage area in a designated area of the first memory;
in response to entering the recovery mode, mounting, by the electronic device, the logical storage area based on the metadata;
storing, by the electronic device, the data stored in the logical storage area in the second memory;
formatting, by the electronic device, the first memory; and
moving, by the electronic device, the data stored in the second memory to the data area of the first memory.

12. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the first memory is configured to be non-volatile memory, and
wherein the second memory is configured to be volatile memory.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating comprises based on execution of the recovery mode being requested, generating the logical storage area.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising at least one of:
determining, by the electronic device, the designated data based on a usage history of the electronic device;
receiving, by the electronic device, a selection of the designated data from a user in response to data being stored; or
based on the recovery mode being executed, receiving, by the electronic device, a selection of the designated data from the user.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the storing of the metadata comprises:
encrypting, by the electronic device, the metadata and storing the encrypted metadata in the designated area; or
storing, by the electronic device, the metadata in an encrypted space of the designated area without encrypting the metadata.

16. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the designated area includes read/write (R/W) format storage characteristic while the electronic device is in a normal operation mode, and
wherein the data area includes R/W format storage characteristic while the electronic device is in the normal operation mode and has storage characteristic in which the data area is not mounted as a file system based on the electronic device being in the recovery mode.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the moving of the data stored in the second memory to the data area of the first memory comprises:
mounting, by the electronic device, the first memory after formatting the first memory; and
copying, by the electronic device, the designated data stored in the second memory such that the copied data is moved and stored in the data area of the first memory.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the storing of the data stored in the logical storage area in the second memory comprises:
identifying, by the electronic device, a storage size of the second memory;
determining, by the electronic device, whether a size of the designated data exceeds the storage size of the second memory;
in response to determining that the size of the designated data exceeds the storage size of the second memory, selecting, by the electronic device; and
backing up, by the electronic device, the selected partial data as the designated data in the logical storage area.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Eunsung
• Shin Changhoon

Classifications

• G06F3/0652

  Erasing, e.g. deleting, data cleaning, moving of data to a wastebasket · CPC title

• G06F3/0679

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

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• G06F12/06

  Addressing a physical block of locations, e.g. base addressing, module addressing, memory dedication (G06F12/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/14

  Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16) · CPC title