Silicon Motion Assigned Twelve Patents

Control method of flash memory controller
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12436882) developed by Yang; Tzu-Yi, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for a “control method of flash memory controller.“

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. The control method includes: after the flash memory controller is powered on, determining whether the flash memory controller encountered an abnormal power failure; if the flash memory controller encounters the abnormal power failure, determining a first block of a flash memory module having an open state; moving a portion of valid data within the first block to a specific block; setting the first block to have a close state; determining if a number of blank blocks within the flash memory module is less than a threshold value; and if the number of blank blocks within the flash memory module is less than the threshold value, selecting a second block having the close state and a lowest number of valid pages, and moving all valid data of the second block into the specific block.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-06-25 (18/754116).

Data storage device and method for performing error recovery
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12430193) developed by Shih; Fu-Jen, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and method for performing error recovery.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes an interface circuit to process reception signals received from a peer device and transmission signals to be transmitted to the peer device. The interface circuit includes at least one signal processing circuit to perform an error recovery procedure when an error has occurred in the data storage device. When performing the error recovery procedure, the signal processing circuit performs an operation of periodic line reset to repeatedly transmit a line reset signal to the peer device within a predetermined period until the predetermined period expires or another line reset signal representing an acknowledgment of the line reset signal has been received from the peer device.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-07-10 (18/219714).

Method and apparatus for performing table management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of flexible table page grouping
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12430207) 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 table management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of flexible table page grouping.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing table management of a memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of flexible table page grouping and associated apparatus are provided. The method may include: utilizing the memory controller to perform a table management procedure to manage at least one table regarding internal management of the memory device. For example, the table management procedure may include: in response to updating a first previous table content of a first table among the at least one table being needed, writing a first updated table content of the first table into at least one first updated table page of at least one table block; and writing a first RAID parity of the first updated table content into a first parity page, wherein a first updated table page count of the at least one first updated table page protected by the first parity page is determined in real time.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-03-23 (18/125131).

Bridge device and data storage system
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12423257) developed by Chen; Chen-Hao, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “bridge device and data storage system.“

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 is coupled to the first controller and includes a second transmission interface coupled to the first transmission interface. The first transmission interface and the second transmission interface are both flash memory interface.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-08-09 (17/884551).

Data storage device and searching method for reading voltage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12405853) developed by Li; Fahao, Shenzhen, China, for “data storage device and searching method for reading voltage thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method of searching for read voltages includes: respectively reading a memory segment through read voltages to obtain a sampling data, wherein the read voltages are composed of pairs of adjacent read voltages, and the memory segment is from a non-volatile flash memory; counting the number of first bits in each sampling data, wherein the numbers of first bits correspond to the read voltages respectively; obtaining number differences of the first bits corresponding to the pairs of adjacent read voltages; calculating a coefficient matrix according to the read voltages and the differences of the number of first bits; calculating fitting values according to the read voltages and the coefficient matrix, wherein the fitting value corresponds to the read voltage respectively; and selecting a read voltage corresponding to a minimum value among the fitting values to read the memory segment to perform an error correction program.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-04-08 (18/628831).

Method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for garbage collection with determined host-address to flash-address mapping (H2F) sub-tables in flash memory device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Zhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12405886) developed by Tsai; Cheng-Yu, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “method and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and apparatus for garbage collection with determined host-address to flash-address mapping (H2F) sub-tables in flash memory device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention introduces a method for garbage collection (GC) in a flash memory device, performed by a processing unit, includes: finding a source block (SBLK) associated with a hit accumulated valid page count (VPC) that is the first one exceeding a total number of physical pages in one destination block (DBLK); labeling the found SBLK and its subsequent SBLKs as first-type SBLKs; labeling the other SBLKs as second-type SBLKs; obtaining Host-address To Flash-address mapping (H2F) sub-tables corresponding to valid pages stored in the second-type SBLKs; in the scanning for each H2F sub-table, detecting valid pages stored in the first-type and the second-type SBLKs, and appending records into a GC table for the valid pages; and reprogramming user data of a designated physical page in a designated first-type or second-type SBLK into a designated physical page in the DBLK according to each record in the GC table.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-03-21 (18/612578).

Memory device, flash memory controller and associated control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12399823) developed by Wu; Yi-An, New Taipei, Taiwan, Chen; Wei-Lin, Tainan, Taiwan, and Huang; Zih-Jie, Changhua County, Taiwan, for “memory device, 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. By dividing a plurality of logical address to physical address mapping tables into multiple groups, establishing a group-to-physical address mapping table, a storage unit relationship table and a latest updated storage unit table to manage the flash memory controller, the times of loading the group-to-physical address mapping table into a buffer memory can be reduced, so as to improve the efficiency of the flash memory controller.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-29 (18/592444).

Method and apparatus for performing data access management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of multi-table checking
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12399822) developed by Lee; Jie-Hao, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, and Hsu; Ting-Fong, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing data access management of memory device in predetermined communications architecture with aid of multi-table checking.“

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 multi-table checking and associated apparatus are provided. The method may include: utilizing the memory controller to receive a first command from a host device, wherein the first command indicates that reading first data at a first logical address is requested; checking at least one logical-to-physical (L2P) address mapping table to generate a first checking result and starting performing a first read operation according to the first checking result, and checking a temporary physical-to-logical (P2L) address mapping table corresponding to a first active block to generate a second checking result for selectively performing a second read operation according to the second checking result; and returning the first data to the host device, wherein the first data is read according to one of the first checking result and the second checking result.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-22 (18/236939).

Flash memory controller and associated memory device and control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12393368) developed by Tsai; Ming-Yu, Taipei, Taiwan, for “flash memory controller and associated memory device and control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A flash memory controller is arranged to access a flash memory module, and includes a transmission interface circuit a buffer memory, and a microprocessor. The transmission interface circuit is coupled to a host device, wherein the transmission interface circuit includes a command processing circuit, and the command processing circuit is arranged to: receive a command from the host device; utilize multiple check items to check the command to generate at least one check result; and convert the command to generate a converted command of a specific format, wherein the converted command comprises an error state field for recording the at least one check result. The buffer memory is arranged to store the converted command. The microprocessor is arranged to read the converted command from the buffer memory, and access the flash memory module according to the converted command.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-08-21 (18/236398).

Data storage device and NVM control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12393512) developed by Chang; Yi-Kang, New Taipei, 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 non-volatile memory life-extension technology is shown. Based on two values related to the write amplification factor of non-volatile memory, the controller coupled to the non-volatile memory adjusts the execution frequency of the wear-leveling migration performed on the non-volatile memory. By executing the wear-leveling migration, the controller uses the first block, which is a spare block, to store the data of the second block, whose erase count is lower than that of the first block, and then erases and releases the second block for reuse. The frequency adaptation of the execution of wear-leveling migration effectively avoids the exacerbation of write amplification problems.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-01-09 (18/407809).

Method for controlling flash memory module and associated flash memory controller and memory device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12386524) developed by Peng; Kuan-Chieh, Taoyuan, Taiwan, and Yang; Tzu-Yi, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “method for controlling flash memory module and associated flash memory controller and memory device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a method for controlling a flash memory module. The flash memory module includes a plurality of dies, each die includes a plurality of blocks, each block includes a plurality of pages, and the method includes the steps of: selecting a super block, wherein the super block includes a plurality of first blocks respectively located in the plurality of dies; for each first block in the super block, determining whether the first block is a full block or a blank block; and if the first block is not the full block or the blank block, writing dummy data to the first block so that the first block becomes the full block; and erasing the plurality of first blocks in the super block, so that the plurality of first blocks become a plurality of blank blocks.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-02-29 (18/592458).

Method for accessing flash memory module and associated flash memory controller and electronic device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (12373284) developed by Yang; Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “method for accessing flash memory module and associated flash memory controller and electronic device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention provides a method for accessing a flash memory module, wherein the method includes the steps of: classifying multiple read retry tables into at least a first group and a second group to establish a classifying and sorting table, wherein each of the multiple read retry tables records at least one reading voltage, and any two read retry tables do not have exactly the same reading voltage; selecting a first read retry table from the first group to read a page of a block of the flash memory module to generate first read data; and when a decoder fails to decode the first read data, selecting a second read retry table from the first group to read the page of the block of the flash memory module to generate second read data for the decoder to decode.”

The patent application was filed on 2024-03-28 (18/621069).