Silicon Motion Assigned Twenty-two Patents

Flash memory module testing method and associated memory controller and memory device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12334168) developed by Chang; Chiu-Han,Taipei, Taiwan, and Chen; Yu-Ting, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “flash memory module testing method and associated memory controller and memory device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing a test upon a flash memory module includes: performing data writing upon a plurality of first blocks of a first group in the flash memory module; reading the plurality of first blocks of the first group to determine whether there is any abnormal block in the plurality of first blocks and generating a first test result; after the plurality of first blocks are read, performing data writing upon a plurality of second blocks of a second group in the flash memory module; and reading the plurality of second blocks of the second group to determine whether there is any abnormal block in the plurality of second blocks and generating a second test result.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-22 (18/236409).

Flash memory controller and data reading
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12333155) developed by Yen; Hsiao-chang, and Lu; Tsu-han, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “flash memory controller and data reading method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A flash memory controller and a data reading method are provided. The flash memory controller includes a control logic circuit and a processor. The control logic circuit is coupled to a first chip-enable-signal controlled area of a flash memory through a channel to transmit data and commands. The processor controls the control logic circuit to transmit a first command and a second command to the first chip-enable-signal controlled area through the channel. The first command is configured to instruct the first chip-enable-signal controlled area to read stored data and read operating temperature information. In response to the transmission of the second command, the processor controls the control logic circuit to receive at least one of the stored data and the operating temperature information from the first chip-enable-signal controlled area.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-05 (18/432098).

Data processing method for improving continuity of data corresponding to continuous logical addresses as well as avoiding excessively consuming service life of memory blocks and the associated data storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12327043) developed by Chen; Yu-Ta, Keelung, Taiwan, for “data processing method for improving continuity of data corresponding to continuous logical addresses as well as avoiding excessively consuming service life of memory blocks and the associated 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 memory controller. When a sub-region of the memory device is selected based on a predetermined rule to perform a data rearrangement procedure, the memory controller determines whether the selected sub-region is a system data sub-region. When determining that the selected sub-region is not a system data sub-region, the memory controller performs the data rearrangement procedure on the selected sub-region to move data corresponding to logical addresses belonging to the selected sub-region to a memory space of the memory device having continuous physical addresses, and when determining that the selected sub-region is a system data sub-region, the memory controller does not perform the data rearrangement procedure on the selected sub-region.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-05-02 (18/142579).

Flash memory controller and associated control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12327051) developed by Tsai; Ming-Yu, Taipei, Taiwan, Fang; Hong-Ren, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, Teng; Hsin-Ying, Taipei, Taiwan, and Yen; Shih-Min, Taichung, Taiwan, for “flash memory controller and associated control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a flash memory controller configured to access a flash memory module. The flash memory controller includes a transmission interface circuit, a buffer memory and a microprocessor. The transmission interface circuit is coupled to a host device, and the transmission interface circuit includes a time queue, at least one virtual queue and a command processing circuit, wherein the command processing circuit is configured to receive a plurality commands from a host device, write information of the plurality of commands into the time queue in sequence, and write the information of at least part of the plurality of commands into the at least one virtual queue. The buffer memory is configured to store the plurality of commands. The microprocessor is configured to selectively read the time queue or the at least one virtual queue to read the information of the plurality of commands.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-04-01 (18/623061).

Flash memory controller and associated control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12326808) developed by Yuan; Kuo-Han, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, and Tsai; Cheng-Yu, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “flash memory controller and associated control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a control method of a flash memory controller, which includes the steps of: setting a waiting time in an interrupt coalescing mechanism, and setting a timer, wherein a timeout value of the timer is equal to the waiting time; receiving multiple commands from a submission queue in a host device, generating multiple command responses after processing the multiple commands, and writing the multiple command responses to a completion queue in the host device; receiving a submission queue tail and a completion queue head from the host device; and when the timer reaches the timeout value, subtracting the completion queue head from the submission queue tail to obtain a queue depth of a command queue of the host device.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-04-01 (18/623055)

Bridge device and method for transferring command and data between host device and data storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12321297) developed by Chen; Chen-Hao, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Shen; Shih-Hsiang, Taipei, Taiwan, and Liu; Hui-Lin, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “bridge device and method for transferring command and data between a host device and a data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A bridge device for bridging a host device and a data storage device includes a first controller and a second controller. The first controller includes a first transmission interface. The second controller is coupled to the first controller and includes a second transmission interface. The second transmission interface is coupled to the first transmission interface through a bus. The first transmission interface operates in a slave mode and the second transmission interface operates in a master mode. The first transmission interface and the second transmission interface generate multiple transfer data chunks in compliance with a common bridge transfer format to perform transfer operations in dual directions for respectively transferring a command and data between a host device and a data storage device.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-26 (18/226274)

Method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for updating host-to-flash address mapping table
Silicon Motion, Inc., Zhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12306765) developed by Chiu; Shen-Ting, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for “method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for updating host-to-flash address mapping table.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention relates to a method, a non-transitory computer-readable program product and an apparatus for updating a host-to-flash address mapping (H2F) table. The method includes: allocating space in a random access memory (RAM) for a first H2F sub-table and intermediate information, which is used to update a second H2F sub-table in a flash module; updating the first H2F sub-table and the intermediate information temporarily stored in the RAM during an execution of a host write command or a host discard command; and in a table update procedure, programming the first H2F sub-table temporarily stored in the RAM into a system block in the flash module, updating the second H2F sub-table according to the intermediate information stored in the RAM, and programming updated second H2F sub-table into the system block in the flash module.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-10-21 (17/971403)

Firmware updating method and data storage device utilizing same
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12307237) developed by Wang; Te-Kai, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “firmware updating method and data storage device utilizing the same.“

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 memory controller. The memory controller executes a first firmware, sets a value of a lock indicator to a first value and receives a first firmware update command in the first firmware. In response to the first firmware update command, the memory controller receives a file of a second firmware. When a version number of the second firmware is a specific version number, the memory controller sets the value of the lock indicator to a second value. When the version number of the second firmware is not a specific version number, the memory controller performs an unlocked firmware update procedure when the value of the lock indicator is set to the second value, and performs a locked firmware update procedure when the value of the lock indicator is not set to the second value.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-07 (18/219114)

Firmware updating method and data storage device utilizing same
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12307236) developed by Wang; Te-Kai, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “firmware updating method and data storage device utilizing the same.“

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 memory controller. The memory controller executes a first firmware, sets a value of a lock indicator to a first value in the first firmware, and sequentially receive a first firmware update command and a second firmware update command. In response to the first firmware update command, the memory controller receives file of a second firmware. When determining that a version number of the second firmware is set to a specific version number, the memory controller sets the value of the lock indicator to a second value. In response to the second firmware update command, the memory controller receives a file of a third firmware. When the value of the lock indicator is set to the second value, the memory controller performs a firmware update procedure to the first firmware with the third firmware.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-06 (18/218600)

Performing data retention management of memory device with aid of pre-shutdown control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12307088) developed by Yang; Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing data retention management of memory device with aid of pre-shutdown control.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing data retention management of a memory device with aid of pre-shutdown control and associated apparatus are provided. The method may include: receiving a predetermined host command from a host device; in response to the predetermined host command, performing a re-programming procedure on the NV memory, for enhancing data storage reliability of the memory device, for example, reading stored data from at least one source location within the at least one NV memory element to prepare re-programming data according to the stored data, and programming the re-programming data into at least one destination location within the at least one NV memory element to be replacement of the stored data; and in response to the re-programming procedure being completed, sending completion information of the predetermined host command to the host device, to allow the host device to trigger the shutdown of the memory device.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-07-22 (17/870861)

Performing data access control of memory device with aid of reading parameter optimization
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12307131) developed by Li; Fahao, Shenzhen, China, for “method and apparatus for performing data access control of memory device with aid of reading parameter optimization.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing data access control of a memory device and associated apparatus are provided. The memory device may be arranged to receive a plurality of host commands for performing data access according to the plurality of host commands, and perform a reading parameter optimization procedure to determine at least one optimized reading parameter, for maintaining correctness of data reading, for example, initialize a raw data indication reference, a temporary minimum reading parameter and a temporary maximum reading parameter, calculate the reading parameter to be equal to an average of the temporary minimum reading parameter and the temporary maximum reading parameter, read according to the reading parameter, for determining a raw data indication, and compare the raw data indication with the raw data indication reference, for selectively adjusting temporary reading parameters or determining an optimized reading parameter.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-09-19 (18/370396)

Data storage device and NVM control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12287988) developed by Ou; Hsu-Ping, Zhubei, Taiwan, and Lee; Chien-Hung, Tainan, Taiwan, for “data storage device and non-volatile memory control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A technique for accurate communication between a non-volatile memory and its controller. The controller accesses a storage area of the non-volatile memory through data lines, wherein the controller transmits a command through the data lines to access the storage area of the non-volatile memory. The command is further returned from the non-volatile memory to the controller through the data lines for comparison, to determine whether the command is correctly received by the non-volatile memory.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-03 (18/364542)

Flash memory controller that can quickly enter power saving mode after entering idle state, associated flash memory device, and associated control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12287975) developed by Lin; Wen-Sheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “flash memory controller that can quickly enter power saving mode after entering idle state, associated flash memory device, and associated control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A control method of a memory device includes: controlling a flash memory controller to transmit a command to a flash memory module; determining whether the flash memory controller is in an idle state; in response to the flash memory controller being in the idle state, determining whether an idle time of the idle state exceeds a threshold value, wherein the threshold value is less than a time required for the flash memory module to complete executing a write command or an erase command; and in response to the idle time exceeding the threshold value, controlling the flash memory controller to enter a power saving mode to turn off a part of components in the flash memory controller.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-10 (18/220240)

Interface circuit and memory controller
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12287973) developed by Shih; Fu-Jen, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “interface circuit and memory controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An interface circuit includes multiple signal processing devices and a monitor and calibration module. A process monitor monitors a current or a voltage of a test element to generate a process detection result. A temperature monitor monitors an environment temperature to generate a temperature monitored result. A calibration circuit performs calibration operation on a signal processing device according to a preferred reference value subset to adjust a characteristic value of the signal processing device. A compensation control mechanism operation logic selects the preferred reference value subset from multiple reference value subsets according to the process detection result and the temperature monitored result and generates a calibration control signal to control the calibration operation of the calibration circuit. The compensation control mechanism operation logic includes a subset handle interface which generates a subset read control signal and transmits the subset read control signal to a corresponding storage circuit.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-24 (18/225670)

Memory operation method and memory device for data movement
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12282665) developed by Chou; Po-Sheng, Huang; Hsiang-Yu, and Wang; Yan-Wen, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “memory operation method and memory device for data movement.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A memory operation method, comprising: when a first super block of a memory device is a open block (or in programming state), obtaining a first read count of one of a plurality of first memory blocks in the first super block, wherein the first read count is a number of times that data of one of the first memory blocks is read out; determining whether the first read count is larger than a first threshold; and when the first read count is larger than the first threshold, moving a part of the data in the first super block to a safe area in the memory device, wherein the part of the data comprises data in the first memory block.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-06-06 (18/330349)

Interface circuit and memory controller
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12277288) developed by Shih; Fu-Jen, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “interface circuit and memory controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An interface circuit includes multiple signal processing devices and a monitor and calibration module including multiple monitoring circuits, multiple calibration circuits and a compensation control mechanism operation logic. The monitoring circuits monitor a reception signal, a transmission signal, a power supplying voltage and a ground voltage to correspondingly generate monitored results. The calibration circuits perform a calibration operation on at least one signal processing device to adjust a characteristic value of the signal processing device. The compensation control mechanism operation logic generates a calibration control signal to control the calibration operation of the calibration circuits based on the monitored results and includes a compensation control mechanism selection circuit which selects a corresponding compensation control mechanism according to the monitored results and set it as a currently-operating compensation control mechanism to control the hardware circuits to operate in compliance with the currently-operating compensation control mechanism.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-06-26 (18/213907)

Data storage device and method for determining buffer size of storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12277331) developed by Wu; Po-Lin, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “data storage device and method for determining buffer size of 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 memory controller. The memory device includes multiple memory blocks. The memory blocks includes one or more spare memory blocks that are not written with data and one or more predetermined memory blocks that are configured as a buffer for receiving data from a host device. The memory controller is coupled to the memory device and configured to access the memory device. The memory controller is configured to determine a setting value of a number of said one or more predetermined memory blocks according to a number of currently remaining spare memory block(s), a number of the predetermined memory block(s) that has/have been written with data among said one or more predetermined memory blocks and a predetermined threshold, and configure the number of the predetermined memory block(s) as the buffer according to the setting value.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-10 (18/219705)

Data storage device and method for determining buffer size of storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12277330) developed by Wu; Po-Lin, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “data storage device and method for determining buffer size of 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 memory controller. The memory device includes multiple memory blocks which include one or more spare memory blocks not written with data and one or more predetermined memory blocks that are configured as a buffer for receiving data from a host device. The memory controller obtains a total number of remaining erasable count of the memory blocks and determines a setting value of a number of said one or more predetermined memory blocks according to a number of currently remaining spare memory block(s), a number of the predetermined memory block(s) that has/have been written with data among said one or more predetermined memory blocks, a predetermined threshold and the total number of remaining erasable count of the memory blocks, and configures the number of the predetermined memory block(s) as the buffer according to the setting value.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-07 (18/219101)

Memory controller, bridge device and method for transferring command and data between memory controllers
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12277317) developed by Chen; Chen-Hao, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Shen; Shih-Hsiang, Taipei, Taiwan, and Liu; Hui-Lin, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “memory controller, bridge device and method for transferring command and data between memory controllers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A bridge device includes a first controller and a second controller. The first controller includes a first transmission interface. The second controller includes a second transmission interface. The first transmission interface and the second transmission interface are flash memory interfaces. In a program mode, the first transmission interface receives a first command from the second transmission interface and obtains first transfer data from a bus in response to the first command. A value of the first command is optionally set to a first value or a second value. The first value indicates a memory command transfer operation in a first direction and the second value indicates a memory data transfer operation in the first direction. The first transmission interface processes the first transfer data according to the value of the first command to obtain a memory command or written data.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-26 (18/226265)

Performing data access management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of unbalanced table update size
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12277326) developed by Lee; Jie-Hao, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, Hsu; Keng-Yuan, Taichung, Taiwan, and Lai; Po-Cheng, Yunlin County, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing data access management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of unbalanced table update size.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing data access management of a memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of unbalanced table update size and associated apparatus are provided. The memory device may be arranged to receive a set of first commands, receive a set of first data with a first active block according to the set of first commands, and update a temporary physical-to-logical (P2L) address mapping table corresponding to the first active block, and determine a selected table update size among multiple predetermined table update sizes such as multiple table entry counts and update at least one logical-to-physical address mapping table according to a set of P2L table entries corresponding to the selected table update size in the temporary P2L address mapping table, where the table update size may be dynamically changed for enhancing overall performance.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-22 (18/236407)

Executing structural query language instruction in solid-state storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Zhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12271383) developed by Lai; Bo-Cheng, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Kuo; Yen-Shi, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for executing structural query language instruction in solid-state storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for executing Structural Query Language (SQL) instructions in a Solid-state Storage Device (SSD). The apparatus includes: a processing unit; and a database accelerator. The processing unit is arranged operably to obtain an SQL query from a host side. The database accelerator is arranged operably to parse the SQL query according an SQL syntax tree to generate a series of table tasks to execute; and during the execution of the table tasks, read tables from a flash module through the processing unit, generate intermediate tables and sub-tables based on the read tables, and perform an arithmetic computation, a logical computation or both on a specific field in one intermediate table to generate a final dataset. The processing unit is arranged operably to reply to the host side with the final dataset.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-10-27 (18/384515)

Method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for executing host write commands
Silicon Motion, Inc., Zhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12271632) developed by Chiu; Shen-Ting, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for “method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for executing host write commands.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention relates to a method, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and an apparatus for executing host write commands. The method performed by a processing unit includes: providing a sequential-write command queue (SCQ), a random-write command queue (RCQ) and a mark queue; when a specific condition is met, obtaining a first logical address range carried in the conflicting sequential write command and second logical address ranges carried in the sequential write commands earlier than the conflicting sequential write command from the SCQ, and/or a third logical address range carried in the conflicting random write command and fourth logical address ranges carried in the random write commands earlier than the conflicting random write command from the RCQ according to content of the record; reading user data of the first logical address range from a first address of the RAM and user data of the second logical address ranges from second addresses of the RAM, and/or user data of the third logical address range from a third address of the RAM and user data of the fourth logical address ranges from fourth addresses of the RAM; and programming the user data of the first logical address range and the second logical address ranges, and/or the user data of the third logical address range and the fourth logical address ranges into the flash module.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-10-24 (18/383239)