ECC Status Module for NAND Flash Memory Compatibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional host device platforms are not equipped to handle the enhanced error correction capabilities of newer NAND flash memories, leading to performance issues and inefficiencies in data retrieval due to the need for additional status requests and parallelization of data reads.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an ECC status module that sets a threshold for bit errors, allowing the host processor to detect errors without explicit status requests by generating a 1-bit error when the error count exceeds the threshold, enabling data relocation and eliminating the need for separate ECC status exchanges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional host device platforms use additional status requests to handle enhanced ECC capabilities of newer NAND flash memories, then error correction reliability is improved, but communication time and data read speed deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the ECC status information with the data itself by embedding the error correction status in the least significant bits of the data bytes. This merging eliminates the need for separate status request communications, allowing the host processor to detect errors directly from the data stream while maintaining reduced communication time.
Solution Approach 2:
The data transmission channel is made multi-functional by using it to convey both the actual data and the ECC status information simultaneously. The least significant bits of the data bytes serve dual purposes: carrying data information and encoding error correction status, thus eliminating the need for dedicated status request channels.
2Measurement precision
If conventional host device platforms perform explicit status requests for ECC information, then error detection accuracy is improved, but data read speed deteriorates due to inability to parallelize reads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges error detection capability directly into the data retrieval process by embedding ECC status bits within the data transmission. This allows the host processor to detect errors with the same accuracy as explicit status requests would provide, while simultaneously enabling parallelized data reads since no separate status communication is needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The useful action of error detection continues uninterrupted during data retrieval. By embedding ECC status in the data stream itself, the system maintains continuous error detection capability throughout the data read process, eliminating the discontinuous nature of explicit status requests and enabling sustained parallelized operations.
3Device complexity
If older host platforms are designed for 1-bit ECC, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability to newer 4-bit or 8-bit ECC NAND flash memories deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the data transmission universal by encoding ECC status for multiple error correction levels (1-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit) within the same data stream structure. Older host platforms can interpret the embedded status bits according to their ECC capabilities, while newer platforms can utilize the full error correction information, thus achieving broad adaptability without increasing host processor complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system accommodates different ECC capabilities by changing the interpretation parameters of the embedded status bits. The same embedded status mechanism works across different ECC levels by adjusting how the host processor reads and processes the error correction information, enabling older 1-bit ECC platforms to work with newer high-capacity NAND flash memories.
Data Source
AI summary
Host device platforms developed based on older ECC (Error Correcting Code) designs may not be equipped to handle the enhanced error correction capabilities in the newer NAND memories. Error correcting memory employing an error threshold representative of the additional capability of the ECC memory allows determining when a fetch has exceeded a safe level of errors to correct. ECC processing compares an error count to the threshold, and if the error count exceeds the threshold of maximum allowable errors, the ECC status module induces an error in the fetched data to alert the host.