Method for expanding capacity of storage chip, chip and access device

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of solid-state storage, in particular to a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip, the chip and access equipment, and the method comprises the following steps: S1, detecting the operation parameters of the current state of the storage chip; s2, judging the use state of the storage chip according to the detected operation parameters; s3, carrying out expansion operation on the reserved storage area according to a judgment result; in the judgment result, when the numerical value of the operation parameter is larger than a preset numerical value, the reserved storage area is set to be in a read-write state, and therefore the storage capacity of the storage chip is expanded. In conclusion, after the storage chip is used for a long time, the storage capacity can be expanded according to the use state, so that a user has more available capacity, the service life of the electronic equipment is prolonged, and the use experience of the user is optimized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of solid-state storage, and in particular to a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip, a chip and an access device. Background Art

[0002] Solid State Disk (SSD), also known as solid state drive, is a hard disk made of solid-state electronic storage chip array. Usually SSD consists of a control unit and a storage unit (FLASH chip, DRAM chip).

[0003] Flash memory-based solid-state drives are the main category of solid-state drives. Their internal structure is very simple. The main body of the solid-state drive is actually a PCB board, and the most basic accessories on this PCB board are the control chip, cache chip (some low-end hard drives have no cache chip) and storage chip for storing data.

[0004] As the SSD market matures, most electronic products used by the public have adopted SSDs for data storage. However, due to the electronic characteristics of the memory chip itself, after a long writing operation, the sector writing time will be extended, that is, the writing speed will be reduced.

[0005] At the same time, with long-term use by users, the capacity of the installed solid-state hard disk will be filled with gradually generated data, and solid-state storage is not convenient for capacity increase, so it can only be replaced as a whole. However, with the long-term use of electronic devices, their performance will gradually decrease, and users are unwilling to upgrade and replace the storage device of old devices separately. They can only continue to use them reluctantly and wait for the opportunity to upgrade the overall electronic equipment.

[0006] For example, a Chinese patent document with publication number CN203038670U discloses a memory with expandable capacity, including a carrier and a storage unit. The carrier is provided with a plurality of slots, and a plurality of memory cards are inserted into the slots to increase the storage capacity of the entire memory.

[0007] For example, a Chinese patent document with the announcement number CN108647167A discloses a modular large-capacity storage system, including a main memory and multiple secondary memories, wherein the main memory and the secondary memories are both equipped with PCI slots, PCI plug connectors and PCI to IDE boards, and an embedded CPU is also installed inside the main memory. Through the mutual cooperation between the provided PCI slots, PCI plug connectors and PCI to IDE boards, the main memory can be connected to multiple secondary memories, thereby increasing the storage capacity of the entire memory.

[0008] The above technical solution also appears in the prior art, which can increase the capacity of the entire storage system, but the entire storage system is relatively complex and not convenient for small devices to use. It is not an expansion process for independent solid-state storage, so it is necessary to make improvements. Summary of the invention

[0009] In order to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, the present invention aims to provide a technical solution that can solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0010] The present invention provides a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip, comprising the following steps: S1, detecting the operating parameters of the current state of the memory chip; S2, judging the usage status of the storage chip according to the detected operating parameters; S3, according to the judgment result, expand the reserved storage area; In the judgment result, when the value of the operating parameter is greater than the preset value, the reserved storage area is set to a readable and writable state, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip.

[0011] As a further solution of the present invention: before step S1, an aging test is performed on the storage chip, and the writing time of each sector when writing data during the aging test is recorded, and the sectors with writing time greater than the first threshold are set as reserved storage areas, and the reserved storage areas are set to a non-readable and non-writable state.

[0012] As a further solution of the present invention: the operating parameter is set as the write capacity, and a preset value is set according to the sales capacity of the storage chip.

[0013] As a further solution of the present invention: the operating parameter is set as the sector writing time. In step S1, when the memory chip stores data, the sector writing time is detected, and the average value of all the sector writing times within a certain time or within a certain data storage amount is calculated; In step S2, it is determined whether the average value is greater than a preset threshold; In step S3, when the judgment result is yes, that is, the average value is greater than the preset threshold, the reserved storage area is set to a readable and writable state, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip.

[0014] As a further solution of the present invention: the calculation method of the first threshold value includes the following steps: sorting the writing time of the written data of each sector recorded during the aging test from small to large to form an increasing sequence M, screening out a part of the values ​​in the increasing sequence M to form a first sequence M1, and averaging all the values ​​in the first sequence M1 to obtain the value of the first threshold value.

[0015] As a further solution of the present invention: the screening method for screening a part of the values ​​comprises the following steps: calculating the ratio K between the sales capacity sc and the actual capacity ac of the memory chip, , taking the ratio K as a parameter, the increasing sequence M is evaluated to obtain the first sequence M1.

[0016] As a further solution of the present invention: the value-taking method specifically includes the following steps: multiplying the maximum serial number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, rounding to obtain a number a, and among all the serial numbers of the increasing sequence M, taking the numerical values ​​of the serial numbers corresponding to two adjacent numbers of the number a, and combining them to form a first sequence M1.

[0017] As a further solution of the present invention: the value-taking method specifically includes the following steps: multiplying the maximum serial number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, rounding to obtain a number a, and among all the serial numbers of the increasing sequence M, taking the numerical values ​​corresponding to the n serial numbers close to the number a, and combining them to form a first sequence M1.

[0018] The present invention also provides a storage chip on which a computer program is stored. When the program is executed by a processor, the above-mentioned method for expanding the capacity of the storage chip is implemented.

[0019] The present invention also provides an access device, comprising: a storage chip, the storage chip is used to store data; a transmission interface, used to connect the access device to an external host system and transmit data; a controller, electrically connected to the storage chip and the transmission interface, respectively, and executing the above-mentioned method for expanding the capacity of the storage chip on the storage chip.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. By intervening in the aging test process during the production of the memory chip, and utilizing the test and record of the sector write time during the aging test, a separate operation is performed on some sectors whose sector write time is greater than the first threshold value, and the sectors are set to an unreadable and unwritable state, thereby improving the overall write speed of the memory chip when it is sold out of the factory. After a long period of use, most of the capacity of the memory chip has been used, and the write speed has also been reduced. Therefore, the reserved storage area can be re-enabled to expand the capacity of the old memory chip, so that users can use more capacity, saving the cost of replacing storage devices separately, and extending the overall service life of the electronic equipment.

[0021] 2. The first threshold value may also be calculated based on the sales capacity and actual capacity of the storage chip, thereby optimizing the expansion timing of the reserved storage area and improving the user experience.

[0022] Therefore, after the above-mentioned improvements, the present invention can provide a method, chip and access device for expanding the capacity of a memory chip, so that after the memory chip is used for a long time, the storage capacity can be expanded according to the usage status, so that users have more available capacity, extend the overall service life of the electronic device, and optimize the user experience.

[0023] Additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will be given in part in the following description and in part will be obvious from the following description, or will be learned through practice of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0025] Figure 1 It is the overall flow chart of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a flowchart of the present invention in which the operating parameter is set as the sector writing time; Figure 3 is a flowchart of the calculation of the first threshold value of the present invention; Figure 4 It is a flowchart of the screening process of screening a part of numerical values ​​of the present invention; Figure 5 It is a flowchart of a method for taking values ​​of an increasing sequence M according to the present invention; Figure 6 It is a flowchart of another method for taking values ​​of the increasing sequence M of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are described clearly and completely below. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0027] See also Figures 1 to 6 In an embodiment of the present invention, a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip includes the following steps: S1, detecting the operating parameters of the current state of the memory chip; S2, judging the usage status of the storage chip according to the detected operating parameters; S3, according to the judgment result, expand the reserved storage area; The operating parameters include at least one of the following parameters, and the parameters of the storage chip include write capacity or sector write time; in the judgment result, when the value of the operating parameter is greater than a preset value, the reserved storage area is set to a readable and writable state, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip.

[0028] Specifically, in the capacity expansion operation, the reserved storage area is set as a readable and writable sector, which can be implemented by using a variety of strategies in the prior art. For example, the reserved storage area can be directly set to be visible to the user, forming a free space in the disk management program, so that the user can reuse the free space. The free space can be repartitioned as a new available disk, or the capacity of the existing partition can be adjusted using a partitioning tool or a disk management program provided by the system, so as to expand the available space of the existing partition.

[0029] Of course, in another embodiment, the reserved storage area can continue to remain invisible to users, and only in the management program of the storage chip, the reserved storage area is set to be available to the program. The management program can replace the bad sectors in the existing use space, or the sectors with slow read and write speeds, with the sectors in the reserved storage area, thereby realizing the expansion operation of the storage chip in disguise, avoiding the problem of too many bad sectors after long-term use, which leads to a reduction in the available capacity of the solid-state hard disk. It can also avoid the problem of the gradual increase of sectors with slow read and write speeds after long-term use, which leads to a decrease in the overall write speed of the storage chip.

[0030] like Figure 3 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, before step S1, an aging test is performed on the storage chip, and the writing time of each sector when writing data during the aging test is recorded, and the sectors with writing time greater than the first threshold are set as reserved storage areas, and the reserved storage areas are set to a non-readable and non-writable state.

[0031] Specifically, when users purchase new storage devices such as solid-state drives, they usually hope that the devices have faster access speeds. However, due to the characteristics of the electronic structure of the flash memory chip itself, the write speeds of its internal sectors are not the same. The write speeds of some sectors are relatively low, that is, the sector write time is long. Therefore, during the aging test of the storage chip, the sectors with long sector write times can be separately marked to make them unreadable and unwritable, thereby avoiding reducing the write speed of the entire solid-state drive.

[0032] It is understandable that after users use it for a long time, the sectors inside the memory chip will also reduce the writing speed, that is, the sector writing time becomes longer. However, users have used it for a long time, so they can accept the reduction in writing speed. On the contrary, after long-term use, users have more and more data, and at this time they hope that the storage device has more capacity to facilitate data storage. In the process of research and development, production, sales and research of memory chips, the applicant discovered the above-mentioned user pain points, so they optimized and improved it and developed the technical solution in the present invention to solve the above-mentioned user pain points.

[0033] Secondly, the aging test process of the memory chip is a necessary part of the test performed in the factory before the solid-state drive leaves the factory. That is to say, the solid-state drive needs to undergo an aging test before it is shipped. The present invention utilizes this aging test process to record the writing time of the sector when writing data during the aging test process, and optimizes the sector of the memory chip according to the corresponding writing time. That is, in the card activation procedure performed before the solid-state drive leaves the factory, the corresponding reserved storage area is set to be unreadable and writable, and also set to be invisible to the user.

[0034] Again, the SSD aging test is an important means to ensure product quality, mainly by simulating long-term continuous operation, temperature changes, electromagnetic interference and vibration conditions to evaluate the durability and reliability of the SSD under various complex working conditions. The present invention mainly intervenes in the continuous read and write test process in the aging test, so that it can record the entire SSD, the write time of all sectors in the full disk read and write test, and perform corresponding operations according to the write time of all sectors.

[0035] In another embodiment, preferably, a reserved block address table is also set in the management program of the storage chip, and the physical address information of the reserved storage area is saved in the reserved block address table, so that the storage chip does not perform read and write operations on the sectors in the reserved block address table.

[0036] Specifically, in the management program of the solid-state drive, it is usually necessary to set up the Flash Translation Layer FTL, which is a key component in the SSD firmware. It is responsible for converting the logical block address (Logical Block Address, LBA) sent by the host into the physical block address (Physical Block Address, PBA) on the storage chip, and managing various characteristics of the flash memory to ensure the efficient and stable operation of the SSD. Therefore, a reserved block address table can be set in the existing flash translation layer so that the storage chip does not read and write the corresponding sectors in the reserved block address table.

[0037] In another embodiment, preferably, when the operating parameter is the write capacity, a preset value is set according to the sales capacity of the storage chip. Specifically, preferably, 80% of the sales capacity can be set as the write capacity. For example, for a solid-state drive with a sales capacity of 500G, the preset value can be set to 400G. When the user's write capacity of the storage chip reaches 400G, the storage chip can be expanded.

[0038] The sales capacity is the storage capacity visible to users when the storage chip is sold. The actual capacity is the storage capacity of the storage chip installed in actual production, including both the storage capacity visible to users and the system capacity of some installation management programs and some reserved capacity that are not visible to users. This means that the sales capacity will be smaller than the actual capacity. For example, the actual capacity of a solid-state drive with a sales capacity of 500G may be 530G or 560G.

[0039] like Figure 2 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, when the operating parameter is the sector writing time, In step S1, the sector writing time when storing data in the current state of the memory chip is detected, and the average value of all sector writing times within a certain time or within a certain data storage amount is calculated; In step S2, it is determined whether the average value is greater than a preset threshold; In step S3, according to the judgment result, the reserved storage area is expanded; In step S3, when the judgment result is yes, that is, the average value is greater than a preset threshold, the reserved storage area is set as a readable and writable sector, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip. The preset threshold is equal to the first threshold.

[0040] Specifically, since the sector write time affects the write speed of the storage chip, it is also the performance parameter that users can most easily perceive. In particular, when data is written to a problematic sector during user operation, the operating system may even become stuck. Therefore, it is preferred to set the operating parameter to the sector write time.

[0041] Secondly, since a certain independent sector of the storage chip may be damaged, it is obviously not the best time to perform the expansion operation. Therefore, in order to optimize the user experience, it is preferred to average the write time of all sectors within a certain period of time or within a certain range of data storage written, and only when the average value is greater than a preset threshold, the corresponding expansion operation is performed.

[0042] Again, the certain time can be set to a relatively long time such as 100 hours of operation, and the certain data storage capacity can be set to write 2~10G of data, or one-tenth of the sales capacity. Using a longer time or a larger amount of written data can relatively accurately reflect the current usage status of the storage chip. Only when the overall performance status decreases significantly, the storage chip is expanded, thereby optimizing the user experience.

[0043] like Figure 3 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, the method for calculating the first threshold comprises the following steps: During the aging test, the writing time of each sector writing data is sorted from small to large to form an increasing sequence M. A part of the values ​​are selected from the increasing sequence M to form a first sequence M1, and all the values ​​in the first sequence M1 are averaged to obtain the value of the first threshold.

[0044] Specifically, during the aging test, the data writing time of all sectors recorded can be sorted from small to large, so that the sector writing time is sorted at the back. Then, the values ​​of the sector writing time corresponding to a part of the sequence numbers are selected in the ascending sequence, and after calculation, the value of the first threshold is formed. This makes the setting of the reserved storage area more scientific, and the sectors with relatively slow writing speed are set as the reserved storage area.

[0045] like Figure 4 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, the screening method for screening a portion of values ​​comprises the following steps: Calculate the ratio K between the sales capacity sc and the actual capacity ac of the memory chip, , taking the ratio K as a parameter, the increasing sequence M is evaluated to obtain the first sequence M1.

[0046] Specifically, in order to rationally set the reserved storage area, calculations can be performed based on the sales capacity and actual capacity of the memory chip, thereby optimizing the value of the reserved storage area. In order to further improve its scientificity, it is preferred to set a first sequence, and use multiple values ​​in the first sequence to perform an average operation to further improve its rationality.

[0047] like Figure 5 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, the value-taking method specifically includes the following steps: multiplying the maximum serial number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, rounding to obtain a number a, and among all the serial numbers of the increasing sequence M, taking the numerical values ​​corresponding to two adjacent numbers of the number a, and combining them to form a first sequence M1.

[0048] Specifically, for the composition of the first sequence, two adjacent numbers of the number a may be simply selected, thereby optimizing the first threshold to a certain extent.

[0049] like Figure 6 As shown, in another embodiment, preferably, the method for obtaining a value specifically comprises the following steps: multiplying the maximum sequence number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, rounding to obtain a number a, and taking the values ​​corresponding to n sequence numbers close to the number a from all the sequence numbers of the increasing sequence M, and combining them to form a first sequence M1. The n is an even number greater than 2.

[0050] Specifically, in order to further optimize the first threshold, more values ​​can be selected in the increasing sequence to form the first sequence. The serial numbers close to the number a have the characteristic of appearing in pairs, so n can be set to an even number greater than 2. For example, when the number a is 1024, the closest serial numbers are 1023 and 1025, the next closest serial numbers are 1022 and 1026, and the next closest serial numbers are 1021 and 1027, and so on. Multiple pairs of close serial number groups can be selected, so that there are more numerical values ​​in the first sequence, so that in the process of obtaining the first threshold, more numerical values ​​can be averaged, so that the setting of the first threshold is more optimized.

[0051] In another embodiment, preferably, the serial number adjacent to number a and smaller than number a is taken as serial number b, and in the increasing sequence M, all values ​​from serial number 1 to serial number b are averaged to obtain an average value c, and the preset threshold is greater than the average value c and less than the first threshold.

[0052] Specifically, the preset threshold value can be simply set to a first threshold value. When the write time of other sectors within the sales capacity also reaches the first threshold value, it indicates that the overall speed of the storage chip has dropped significantly. Therefore, corresponding capacity expansion operations can be performed without any impact on the current write speed of the storage chip.

[0053] Secondly, since the sectors larger than the first threshold have been set as reserved storage areas during the aging test, the preset threshold is preferably smaller than the first threshold, so that the capacity expansion process can be performed in advance before the write speed of the memory chip drops to the first threshold, thereby further optimizing the user experience and expanding the capacity of the memory chip without reducing the write speed of the memory chip.

[0054] In order to avoid the preset threshold being set too low, when the storage chip still has a large capacity or its write speed is relatively fast, expanding the capacity will easily cause the write speed of the storage chip to drop significantly, thereby reducing the user experience. Therefore, the preset threshold can be set to be greater than the average value c.

[0055] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above and that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered exemplary and non-restrictive in all respects, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the above description, and it is intended that all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims be included in the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip, characterized in that: The steps include: S1, detecting the operating parameters of the current state of the memory chip; S2, judging the usage status of the storage chip according to the detected operating parameters; S3, according to the judgment result, expand the reserved storage area; In the judgment result, when the value of the operating parameter is greater than the preset value, the reserved storage area is set to a readable and writable state, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip.

2. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before step S1, an aging test is performed on the storage chip, and the writing time of each sector when writing data during the aging test is recorded, and the sectors with writing time greater than the first threshold are set as reserved storage areas, and the reserved storage areas are set to a non-readable and non-writable state.

3. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 2, characterized in that: Set the operating parameter to write capacity and set the preset value according to the sales capacity of the memory chip.

4. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 2, characterized in that: Set the operation parameters to sector write time, In step S1, when the memory chip is storing data, the sector writing time is detected, and the average value of all sector writing times within a certain period of time or within a certain data storage amount is calculated; In step S2, it is determined whether the average value is greater than a preset threshold; In step S3, when the judgment result is yes, that is, the average value is greater than the preset threshold, the reserved storage area is set to a readable and writable state, thereby expanding the storage capacity of the storage chip.

5. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 2, characterized in that: The method for calculating the first threshold comprises the following steps: During the aging test, the writing time of each sector writing data is sorted from small to large to form an increasing sequence M. A part of the values ​​are selected from the increasing sequence M to form a first sequence M1, and all the values ​​in the first sequence M1 are averaged to obtain the value of the first threshold.

6. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 5, characterized in that: The screening method for screening a portion of values ​​comprises the following steps: Calculate the ratio K between the sales capacity sc and the actual capacity ac of the memory chip, , taking the ratio K as a parameter, the increasing sequence M is evaluated to obtain the first sequence M1.

7. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 6, characterized in that: The method for obtaining a value specifically comprises the following steps: multiplying the maximum serial number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, and rounding to obtain a number a; among all the serial numbers of the increasing sequence M, taking the numerical values ​​of the serial numbers corresponding to two adjacent numbers of the number a, and combining them to form a first sequence M1.

8. The method for expanding the capacity of a memory chip according to claim 6, characterized in that: The value-taking method specifically includes the following steps: multiplying the maximum serial number of the increasing sequence M by the ratio K, and rounding to obtain a number a; among all the serial numbers of the increasing sequence M, taking the numerical values ​​corresponding to n serial numbers close to the number a, and combining them to form a first sequence M1.

9. A memory chip, characterized in that: A computer program is stored thereon, and when the program is executed by a processor, a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip as described in any one of claims 1 to 8 is implemented.

10. A storage and access device, characterized in that: include: A memory chip, wherein the memory chip is used to store data; A transmission interface is used to connect the access device to an external host system and transmit data; The controller is electrically connected to the storage chip and the transmission interface respectively, and executes a method for expanding the capacity of a storage chip according to any one of claims 1 to 8 on the storage chip.

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