Silicon Motion Assigned Seventeen Patents

Data storage device and operating method for dynamically executing garbage-collection process
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,592,412) developed by Ke, Kuan-Yu, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and operating method for dynamically executing garbage-collection process.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device for dynamically executing the garbage-collection process is provided which includes a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory includes a plurality of blocks wherein each of the blocks includes a plurality of pages. The controller is coupled to the flash memory and is utilized to execute the garbage-collection process on the flash memory according to a number of at least one spare block in the flash memory and the number of non-spare blocks corresponding to different ratios of effective pages. The garbage-collection process is utilized for merging at least two non-spare blocks to release at least one spare block.”

The patent application was filed on August 13, 2018 (16/101,742).

Backup mechanism of writing sequential data to single-level cell buffer and multi-level cell buffer
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,592,410) developed by Lin, Wen-Sheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Chen, Yu-Da, Taipei, Taiwan, for “backup mechanism of writing sequential data to single-level cell buffer and multi-level cell buffer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device includes a memory device and a controller. The memory device includes a first buffer, a second buffer, and a backup memory block. The first buffer is an MLC block and the second buffer is an SLC block. The controller is coupled to the memory device, receives a write command to write predetermined data in the memory device and determines whether the predetermined data has to be written into different buffers. When the controller determines that the predetermined data has to be written into different buffers, the controller writes a portion of the predetermined data that has been written in one or more predetermined pages of the first buffer into the backup memory block.”

The patent application was filed on July 19, 2018 (16/039,740).

Merging data from single-level cell block to multiple-level cell block using scrambler with different seeds
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,592,157) developed by Lin, Wen-Sheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Chen, Yu-Da, Taipei, Taiwan, for “merging data from single-level cell block to multiple-level cell block using scrambler with different seeds.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device includes a memory device and a controller. The memory device includes multiple memory blocks. The memory blocks include single-level cell blocks and multiple-level cell blocks. The controller is coupled to the memory device. When the controller executes a predetermined procedure to write data stored in the single-level cell blocks into the multiple-level cell blocks, the controller is configured to determine whether a valid page count corresponding to each single-level cell block is greater than a threshold, and when the valid page count corresponding to more than one single-level cell block is greater than the threshold, the controller is configured to execute a first merge procedure to directly write the data stored in the single-level cell blocks with the valid page count greater than the threshold into one or more of the multiple-level cell blocks.”

The patent application was filed on October 16, 2018 (16/161,900).

Data storage device and method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,592,143) developed by Liu, Tsai-Fa, and Lien, Hung-Lian, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “merging data from single-level cell block to multiple-level cell block using scrambler with different seeds.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method of data writing for a data storage device includes steps of: determining whether an event of power drop/loss is recorded, wherein the event of power drop/loss is associated with a power supplied by an external device, when it is determined that the event of power drop/loss is recorded, determining whether a backup power source operates abnormally, and when it is determined that the backup power source operates abnormally, the data storage device enters from a normal mode into a write through mode, wherein in the write through mode, data from the external device is written into a buffer area of the data storage device. A data storage device is also provided.”

The patent application was filed on May 1, 2019 (16/400,068).

Storing compact flash physical-to-host logical address mapping table on power loss
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,579,483) developed by Shen, Yang-Chih, and Chou, Po-Sheng, Jhubei, Taiwan, for a “storing a compact flash physical-to-host logical address mapping table on power loss.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage method includes steps of: selecting an active block to store data from a host, determining whether a power drop/loss event has occurred, when it is determined that a power drop/loss event has occurred, recording an index of the active block and an index of a last data-containing page in the active block, generating a primary F2H mapping table, and writing the primary F2H mapping table, the index of the active block and the index of the last data-containing page into a designated block. A data storage device and a data recovery program are also provided.”

The patent application was filed on November 6, 2017 (15/805,067).

Data storage device and method for certifying firmware data
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,579,348) developed by Chiang, Yao-Pang, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and data storage method for certifying firmware data.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device utilized for confirming firmware data includes a flash memory and a controller. The controller is coupled to the flash memory to receive at least one first hash data related to a first firmware data, and it divides the first hash data into a plurality of data groups. The controller sorts the data groups based on a predetermined sorting mechanism to generate a first sorting hash data. The controller includes an efuse region for writing the predetermined sorting mechanism. When the controller determines that a second sorting hash data of a second firmware data is identical to the first sorting hash data or a second hash data of the second firmware data is identical to the first hash data, the second firmware data is allowed to update the controller.”

The patent application was filed on December 29, 2017 (15/858,116).

Data storage and associated method for saving storage space and eliminating data errors
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,574,271) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Hsu, Sheng-I, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “data storage system and associated method for saving storage space and eliminating data errors.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage system includes a processing circuit, a lookup table,(LUT), and a decoding circuit. The processing circuit is arranged to receive a first logical block address (LBA) from a host. The LUT is arranged to store a storage address mapping to the first LBA. The decoding circuit is arranged to utilize the storage address to read storage data from a storing circuit, and decode a first data sector in the storage data according to an error checking and correcting code in the storage data, and the first data sector at least comprises a second LBA.”

The patent application was filed on August 3, 2018 (16/053,815).

Storage device, and accessing
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,564,892) developed by Shen, Chang-Wei, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “storage device, accessing system and accessing method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage device including a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory and a controller is provided. The controller sends a plurality of commands to the non-volatile memory. When the controller receives a reset signal, the controller determines whether a specific operation has been completed. When the controller has not yet finished the specific operation, the controller continuously provides the commands to the non-volatile memory. When the controller has finished the specific operation, the controller performs a reset operation according to the reset signal.”

The patent application was filed on January 11, 2018 (15/868,600).

Device and method for virtual storage
Silicon Motion Technology , (Hong Kong) Ltd., Kowloon, Honk Kong, has been assigned a patent (10,558,359) developed by Chang, Cheng-Yue, Chen, Jian-Ying, Chu, Yung-Hua, Chiu, Kuan-Kai, Yen, Po-Hsun, Yu, Tsung-Lin, and Zhong, Ming-Xun, Taipei, Taiwan, for “device and method for virtual storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A device and a method for virtual storage are provided. The device includes a physical processor, a hypervisor and a physical storage. The hypervisor is executed on the physical processor and configured to create at least one client virtual machine and a controller virtual machine. The physical storage is clustered with physical storage of at least another device via the controller virtual machine to form a storage cluster. The controller virtual machine is further configured to define a virtual storage pool in the storage cluster and create at least one virtual storage controller virtual machine to interface the at least one client virtual machine with the virtual storage pool so that the at least one client virtual machine accesses the virtual storage pool via the at least one virtual storage controller virtual machine and the controller virtual machine. The method is applied to the device to implement the operations.”

The patent application was filed on November 10, 2014 (14/536,727).

Data programming for data storage medium using horizontal and vertical error correction codes
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,552,262) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Shen, Yang-Chih, Taipei, Taiwan, and Hsu, Sheng-I, Zhubei, Taiwan, for a “data programming for a data storage medium using horizontal and vertical error correction codes.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An embodiment of a method for accessing a storage unit of a flash memory, performed by an arbiter, is disclosed to include at least the following steps. After transmitting data to first storage units each connected to one of storage-unit access interfaces in a first batch, the arbiter issues a data write command to each first storage unit, thereby enabling each first storage unit to start a physical data programming. During the physical data programming of each first storage unit, data is transmitted to second storage units each connected to one of the storage-unit access interfaces in a second batch.”

The patent application was filed on April 9, 2018 (15/948,586).

Control unit for data storage, and updating logical-to-physical mapping table
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,545,876) developed by Su, Che-Jen, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “control unit for data storage system and method for updating logical-to-physical mapping table.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A control unit for a data storage system is shown, which provides at least two buffers for updating mapping information through a host memory buffer HMB. A first buffer is provided for dynamic management of a physical-to-logical mapping table F2H that records a mapping relationship which maps a physical address within a target block to a logical address of a sector of user data stored at the physical address. The control unit performs reverse conversion on the mapping relationship to get reversed mapping information for the logical address and, accordingly, selects a target logical-to-physical mapping sub-table. A second buffer is provided to buffer the target logical-to-physical mapping sub-table when the target logical-to-physical mapping sub-table is read from the host memory buffer HMB. The control unit updates the target logical-to-physical mapping sub-table on the second buffer based on the reversed mapping information about the logical address.”

The patent application was filed on November 5, 2018 (16/180,251).

Controlling data transfer speed of data storage device and host
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,545,694) developed by Shih, Fu-Jen, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Huang, Chia-Ching, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “methods for controlling data transfer speed of a data storage device and a host device utilizing the same.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A host device coupled to a data storage device via a predetermined interface includes a processor and a thermal sensor. The thermal sensor senses ambient temperature to obtain a sensed temperature and provides the sensed temperature to the processor. When the processor determines that the sensed temperature is higher than a high-temperature threshold, the processor adjusts a data transfer speed of the predetermined interface according to a data processing speed required by subsequent data to be read from or written to the data storage device.”

The patent application was filed on December 22, 2017 (15/853,393).

Data storage and flash memory control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,540,289) developed by Lin, Wen-Sheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “data storage device and flash memory control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A flash memory control technology with high reliability. In a power recovery process, a microcontroller is configured to duplicate a last write page of a run-time write block of a flash memory and thereby generate a duplicated page in the run-time write block to replace the last write page for reliability enhancement.”

The patent application was filed on December 11, 2017 (15/837,782).

Processing data based on erase operations of logical pages related to data compression rate of mapping table in data storage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,540,276) developed by Lin, Wen-Sheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for a “method of processing data based on erase operations of logical pages related to data compression rate of mapping table in data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device includes a memory device, an SRAM and a controller. The memory device includes a first buffer configured to store data of a plurality of consecutive logical pages. The SRAM stores a first mapping table. The first mapping table records which logical page the data stored in each physical page of the first buffer directs to. The controller is coupled to the memory device and the SRAM. When the controller performs an erase operation to erase the data stored in the first buffer in response to an erase command, the controller checks whether an interrupt signal or a reset command issued by a host device has been received every time the erase operations of a predetermined number, (M) of logical pages have finished. The predetermined number (M) is a positive integer greater than 1.”

The patent application was filed on July 19, 2018 (16/039,787).

Data storage and processing data in data storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,540,118) developed by Hsieh, Sung-Yen, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and methods for processing data in the data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device includes a memory device and a controller. The memory device includes at least an MLC block. The MLC block includes a plurality of physical pages. The controller is coupled to the memory device. When the controller determines that a sudden power-off has occurred during a previous write operation for writing data onto the MLC block, the controller finds a predetermined page that has been attacked by the sudden power-off, double programs the predetermined page and a first page that is directly related to the predetermined page and dummy programs a plurality of second pages that are indirectly related to the predetermined page.”

The patent application was filed on July 19, 2018 (16/039,613).

Data storage method for optimizing data storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,528,289) developed by Lin, Yu-Chih, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “data storage method for optimizing data storage device and its data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device includes a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory is utilized to store at least one data. The controller is coupled to the flash memory to receive at least one read command transmitted from a host, and reads the data stored by the flash memory according to the read command. The controller determines whether or not the length of the read command is greater than a first predetermined value. If the length is greater than the first predetermined value, the controller arranges the read command on a sequential queue. If the length is not greater than the first predetermined value, the controller arranges the read command on a random queue. The controller executes the read command of the random queue at high priority.”

The patent application was filed on January 5, 2018 (15/863,449).

Data storage and data maintenance
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,528,263) developed by Hsiao, Wei-Yi, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “data storage device and data maintenance method thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The present invention provides a data storage device including a flash memory and a controller. The controller writes the first data sector into a first physical page of the physical pages in response to a write command arranged to write a first data sector into a first logical page, records the mapping relationship of the first logical page and the first physical page in a first large-data-maintenance table and determines whether a small-data-maintenance table has a first data link of the first logical page when one of the large-data-maintenance tables is the first large-data-maintenance table corresponding to the first logical block and the first data sector is less than a predetermined length, and deletes the first data link of the small-data-maintenance table when the small-data-maintenance table has the first data link of the first logical page.”

The patent application was filed on July 20, 2016 (15/215,279).