Data storage and operating method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016299722-A1
Application number	US-201615019419-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 9, 2016
Priority date	Apr 13, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Data storage is provided which includes a nonvolatile memory device including a plurality of memory blocks divided into a first region being an over provisioning region and a second region, and a storage controller allocating at least one memory block, corresponding to an unconcerned sector, from among memory blocks of the second region to the first region. It may be possible to adjust the number of reserved memory blocks in the over provisioning region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A data storage device comprising:
a nonvolatile memory device including a plurality of memory blocks divided into a first region which is an over provisioning region and a second region for storing data; and a storage controller configured to allocate at least one memory block, corresponding to an unconcerned sector, from among memory blocks of the second region to the first region, wherein the first and second regions are distinct from one another.

2 . The data storage device of claim 1 , wherein the storage controller provides a host with status information of the first region in response to a command from the host.

3 . The data storage device of claim 2 , wherein the status information indicates at least one of a number of reserved memory blocks in the first region or a probability of entering into a write-protected mode, and
wherein in the write-protected mode, the data storage operates in a read-only mode.

4 . The data storage device of claim 3 , wherein the unconcerned sector is set when the number of reserved memory blocks is smaller than a reference value, and
wherein the reserved memory blocks are used for maintenance of the data storage including at least one of TRIM, garbage collection, and replacement of a bad block.

5 . The data storage device of claim 3 , wherein the storage controller performs a garbage collection operation on memory blocks of the second region using the at least one memory block allocated to the first region.

6 . The data storage device of claim 3 , wherein information associated with the unconcerned sector is received from the host.

7 . The data storage of claim 1 , wherein the storage controller allocates the at least one memory block, corresponding to the unconcerned sector, to the first region by invalidating a mapping relationship between logical and physical addresses corresponding to the unconcerned sector.

8 . The data storage device of claim 1 , wherein the storage controller restores at least one memory block of the first region to the second region by validating a mapping relationship between a logical address, corresponding to a restoration sector, and a physical address of the at least one memory block to be restored, wherein the restoration sector is set based on a use rate of a file system by a host.

9 . The data storage device of claim 8 , wherein the restoration sector corresponds to at least one memory block to be restored to the second region among memory blocks included in the first region.

10 . The data storage device of claim 1 , wherein the over provisioning region is used for maintenance of the data storage including at least one of TRIM, garbage collection, and replacement of a bad block, and
wherein data not used by a file system of a host is stored at the at least one memory block corresponding to the unconcerned sector.

11 . The data storage device of claim 1 , wherein the nonvolatile memory device is a three-dimensional nonvolatile memory device in which a memory cell string is formed to be perpendicular to a substrate,

12 . An method of operating a data storage device, the method comprising:
providing a host with status information of a first region of a nonvolatile memory device allocated for over provisioning in response to a command from the host; and allocating at least one memory block, corresponding to an unconcerned sector, to the first region, from among remaining memory blocks of a second region of the nonvolatile memory device, wherein the first and second regions are distinct from one another.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the status information indicates at least one of a number of reserved memory blocks of the first region or a probability of entering into a write-protected mode, and
wherein the unconcerned sector is set when the number of reserved memory blocks is smaller than a reference value.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
performing a garbage collection operation on memory blocks of the second region using the at least one memory block allocated to the first region.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
decreasing the number of reserved memory blocks of the first region based on a use rate of a file system of the host, and wherein the number of the reserved memory blocks decreases as the use rate of the file system increases.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the nonvolatile memory device is a three-dimensional nonvolatile memory device in which a memory cell string is formed to be perpendicular to a substrate.

17 . A storage device comprising:
a nonvolatile memory device comprising distinct first and second regions; and a storage controller configured to perform over provisioning operations on the first region and blocks of the second region allocated to the first region, and normal data storage operations on the second region, wherein the storage controller allocates a memory block of the second region storing unnecessary data to the first region when he storage controller determines that the data storage device is about to enter a write protected mode.

18 . The data storage device of claim 17 , wherein the storage controller determines that the storage device is about to enter the write protected mode when a number of reserved blocks of the first region is below a threshold.

19 . The data storage device of claim 17 , wherein the storage device receives sector information from an outside host indicating which memory block of the second region corresponds to the memory storing the unnecessary data.

20 . The data storage device of claim 17 , wherein the memory block of the second region is allocated to the first region by invalidating a mapping of a logical address to a physical address associated with the allocated memory block.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Seo Sungyong
• Woo Yeong-Jae
• Kwon Moonsang
• Lee Sunmi

Classifications

• G06F3/064 Primary

  Management of blocks · CPC title

• G06F3/0631 Primary

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0679

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

• G06F3/0617

  in relation to availability · CPC title

• G06F2212/7205

  Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control · CPC title