Silicon Motion Technology Assigned Sixteen Patents

Performing pipeline-based accessing management in storage server with aid of caching metadata with hardware pipeline module during processing object write command
Silicon Motion Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, Kowloon, Hong Kong, has been assigned a patent (11416403) developed by Tseng, Guo-Fu, Chang, Cheng-Yue, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Chiu, Kuan-Kai, Taipei, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing pipeline-based accessing management in storage server with aid of caching metadata with hardware pipeline module during processing object write command.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing pipeline-based accessing management in a storage server and associated apparatus are provided. The method includes: in response to a request of writing user data into the storage server, utilizing a host device within the storage server to write the user data into a storage device layer of the storage server and start processing an object write command corresponding to the request of writing the user data with a pipeline architecture of the storage server, utilizing the host device to input metadata corresponding to the user data into at least one pipeline within the pipeline architecture, and utilizing the host device to cache the metadata with a first cache module of the pipeline, for controlling the storage server completing the request without generating write amplification of the metadata, wherein the first cache module is a hardware pipeline module outside the storage device layer.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-02-04 (17/167109).

Managing flash memory module and associated flash memory controller and electronic device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11409650) developed by Du, Jian-Dong, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Hsiao, Chia-Jung, and Tsai, Pi-Ju, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “method for managing 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 present invention provides a flash memory controller, wherein the flash memory controller is arranged to access a flash memory module, and the flash memory controller includes a ROM, a microprocessor and a time-management circuit. The ROM stores a program code, the microprocessor is configured to execute the program code to control the access of the flash memory module, and the time-management circuit is configured to generate current time information. In the operations of the flash memory controller, when the microprocessor writes data into last pages of a specific block of the flash memory module, the microprocessor writes the time information generated by the time-management circuit into one of the last pages of the specific block.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-11-13 (16/683211).

Performing data access management of all flash array server
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11409471) developed by Lin, Yi-Feng, Changhua County, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing data access management of all flash array server.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a server including a SSD, a first node and a second node, wherein the first node comprises a first processor and a first memory, and the second node comprises a second processor and a second memory. When the first processor receives data from another device via network, the first processor stores the data in the first memory, and the first processor further sends the data to the second node, when the second processor receives the data from the first node, the second processor stores the data in the second memory, and the second processor further sends a notification to the first node to inform that the data is successfully stored in the second memory, and after and only after the first processor receives the notification from the second node, the first processor starts to write the data into the SSD.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-01-20 (17/152795).

Performing block management regarding NVM
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11403018) developed by Ke, Kuan-Yu, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing block management regarding non-volatile memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method and apparatus for performing block management regarding a non-volatile memory are provided. The method includes: determining whether a first blank block belongs to a cold block group or a hot block group according to an erase count of the first blank block, in response to the first blank block belonging to the cold block group, selecting the first blank block from a plurality of blank blocks as a target block, for performing data writing, according to at least one characteristic parameter regarding first data to be written, determining whether the first data belongs to a cold data group or a hot data group, and in response to the first data belonging to the hot data group, writing the first data into the first blank block to use the first blank block as a data block of the first data.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-04-07 (17/225080).

Storage device and plane selection method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei,, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11403010) developed by Huang, Sheng-Yuan, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and plane selection method thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A plane selection method is provided, which is applied to a data storage medium including a plurality of planes, wherein each of the planes includes a plurality of blocks, each of the blocks includes a plurality of pages, and each of the pages which includes a plurality of data columns is divided into a plurality of chunks. The plane selection method includes steps of defining at least one data column having a largest number of error bits in a worst chunk as a bad column until a quantity of bad columns is used up, determining whether at least two planes are uncorrectable according to a distribution of the bad columns, and eliminating a record of the bad columns and banning a worse plane which had the most bad columns than other planes.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-08-19 (16/996906).

Storage device and NVM control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11397669) developed by Chung, Yu-Hsiang, Zhubei, 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: “The background update of a host-to-device mapping (H2F) table designed for an efficient space trimming technology of data storage devices is shown. A controller handles a target bit in a trimming bitmap (TBM) and updates the H2F table to store information regarding the trimming status of a trimming target which has a specific length and is marked by the target bit. The controller programs the starting logical address and trimming length of the trimming target into a cache area of the temporary storage device. After the target bit handling, the controller flushes a sub-table of the trimming bitmap that manages the target bit from the cache area into the non-volatile memory.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-09-18 (17/025044).

Storage device and NVM control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11392489) developed by Lin, Ting-Han, Zhubei, Taiwan, and Hsu, Che-Wei, Taichung, 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: “Mapping information management for data storage devices is provided. A controller caches write data issued by a host in a temporary storage and then programs the cached write data from the temporary storage to a non-volatile memory. The controller uses a mapping information format to manage mapping information of logical addresses recognized by the host. As presented in the mapping information format, the values not greater than a first threshold value and mapped to the configuration information storage space of the non-volatile memory are at least partially used to point to the temporary storage, and the values greater than the first threshold value are mapped to the non-volatile memory.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-01-28 (16/774207).

Computer program product, method and apparatus for controlling access to flash storage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11385906) developed by Chang, Chun-Chieh, Taipei, Taiwan, and Huang, Hsing-Lang, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “computer program product and method and apparatus for controlling access to flash storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention is related to a non-transitory computer program product, a method and an apparatus for controlling access to a flash storage. The method, performed by a processing unit of a bridge integrate circuit (IC), includes: receiving a host write command from a host side, determining whether the flash storage needs to enter a hibernate based on at least information regarding a length of data that has been programmed into the flash storage and/or a quantity of host write commands that have been executed after executing the host write command, and instructing the flash storage to enter the hibernate when the length of data and/or the quantity of host write command meets a triggering condition.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-01-15 (17/150244).

Memory access module for performing plurality of sensing operations to generate digital values of storage cell in order to perform decoding of storage cell
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11386952) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Chang, Hsiao-Te, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, Wang, Wen-Long, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for a “memory access module for performing a plurality of sensing operations to generate digital values of a storage cell in order to perform decoding of the storage cell.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing memory access of a Flash cell of a Flash memory includes: performing a first sensing operation corresponding to a first sensing voltage to generate a first digital value of the Flash cell, according to a result of the first sensing operation, performing a plurality of second sensing operations to generate a second digital value of the Flash cell representing at least one candidate threshold voltage of the Flash cell, determining the threshold voltage of the memory Flash cell according to the at least one candidate threshold voltage, determining soft information of a bit stored in the Flash cell according to the threshold voltage of the Flash cell, and using the soft information to perform soft decoding.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-10-20 (17/075689).

Control method for flash memory controller and associated controller and device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11372578) developed by Lin, Ching-Hui, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “control method for flash memory controller and associated flash memory controller and memory device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A control method of a flash memory controller, wherein the control method includes the steps of: when data is written to a page of any block of a flash memory module, recording a write time in the page, create a write time table, wherein the write time table records block numbers of blocks having data written therein and corresponding write time, compress the write time table to generate a compressed write time table, wherein the compressed write time table contains multiple time ranges and corresponding indexes, each index corresponds to a page of the flash memory module, and the page records block numbers of all blocks whose writing time is within the corresponding time range.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-03-11 (17/199388).

Encoder built-in self-test circuit applied in flash memory controller and associated method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11373723) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “encoder built-in self-test circuit applied in flash memory controller and associated method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides an encoder built-in self-test (BIST) circuit applied in a flash memory controller, wherein the encoder BIST circuit includes a control circuit and an encoder. In operations of the encoder BIST circuit, without accessing any flash memory, the control circuit generates input data to the encoder, and the encoder encodes the input data to generate a check code to the control circuit, wherein the check code is arranged to determine whether functions of the encoder fail or not.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-02-18 (16/278180).

Memory controller having plurality of control modules and associated server for coding and decoding raw data from flash memory chips
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11372592) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “memory controller having a plurality of control modules and associated server for coding and decoding raw data from flash memory chips.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a memory controller configured to access a plurality of channels, wherein each of the channels includes a plurality flash memory chips, and the memory controller includes a flash translation layer and a plurality of control modules. The flash translation layer is configured to generate commands with corresponding physical addresses of at least one of the channels. The plurality of control modules are connected to the plurality of channels, respectively, and each of the control modules operates independently to receive the corresponding command with the corresponding physical address from the flash translation layer, to access the flash memory chips within the corresponding channels.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-02-04 (17/168119).

Storage device and data access method for quickly loading boot data
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11366596) developed by Ke, Kuan-Yu, Zhubei, Taiwan, and Chiu, Shen-Ting, Houlong Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for “data storage device and data access method for quickly loading boot data.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device utilized for accessing boot data includes a flash memory, a controller and a RAM. The flash memory includes several blocks, and each block includes several pages. The controller is coupled to the flash memory and the RAM. The controller receives a write command from a host and determines whether the data of the write command is system data or normal data. If the data to be written is system data, the controller transmits a confirm message to the host after the system data has been completely stored on the data storage device.”

The patent application was filed on 2019-05-08 (16/406165).

Performing dynamic throttling control with aid of configuration setting
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11366674) developed by Hsu, Sheng-I, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing dynamic throttling control with aid of configuration setting.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing dynamic throttling control with aid of configuration setting and associated apparatus such as a host device, a data storage device and a controller thereof are provided. The method includes: utilizing the host device to provide a user interface, to allow a user to select any of a plurality of throttling control configurations of the data storage device, and in response to the selection of said any of the plurality of throttling control configurations by the user, utilizing the host device to send throttling control information corresponding to said any of the plurality of throttling control configurations toward the data storage device, to perform the dynamic throttling control on the data storage device during programming the NV memory, for limiting power consumption of the data storage device during programming the NV memory, wherein the throttling control information indicates performing the dynamic throttling control is required.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-01-01 (16/732338).

Storage device with exclusive channel for flag checking of read data, and non-volatile memory control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11366775) developed by Li, An-Pang, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device with an exclusive channel for flag checking of read data, and non-volatile memory control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An efficient control technology for non-volatile memory. In a controller, a host bridge controller and a master computing unit are coupled to a system memory via an interconnect bus, and then coupled to a non-volatile memory interface controller. In response to a read command issued by a host, the non-volatile memory interface controller temporarily stores data read from a non-volatile memory to the system memory and, accordingly, asserts a flag in the system memory. Through a first channel provided by the interconnect bus, the host bridge controller confirms that the flag is asserted to correctly read the data from system memory and returns the data to the host. The master computing unit reads the system memory through a second channel provided by the interconnect bus, without being delayed by the status checking of the flag.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-01-19 (17/152138).

All flash array server and control method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Hsinchu County, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11366618) developed by Kan, Li-Sheng, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “all flash array server and control method thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a control method of a server, wherein the control method includes the steps of: setting a first node within the server as a master device, setting a second node within the server as a slave device, controlling the first node to receive data from another device via network, storing the data into a first write buffer within the first node, performing a cache mirroring operation to copy the data stored in the first write buffer into a second write buffer within the second node, setting a first tail register and a first head register within the first node, and setting a second tail register and a second head register within the second node, and referring to the first tail register and the first head register to determine if the data stored in the first write buffer is successful written into the second write buffer.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-01-19 (17/151677).