Flash Memory Sector Segmentation for Critical Data Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flash memory in driver assistance devices for vehicles can overflow during data copying, leading to the deletion of critical data, which is essential for the device's functionality, causing system failures, especially when interruptions occur due to voltage drops or external resets, and existing solutions either require additional memory or are not feasible in all system configurations.
Innovation Solution
Implement a method where all critical data is stored in at least one memory sector, ensuring it remains intact by copying critical data to the other sector before erasing the full sector, thereby preventing data loss during memory overflow without needing additional memory units.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If flash memory is used for data storage in driver assistance devices, then write cycle time is significantly reduced (1μs to 1ms), but data can only be erased in large quantities by sector, requiring complete sector erasure before overwriting
Solution Approach 1:
The flash memory is divided into multiple sectors, with at least one designated as a protected sector. This segmentation allows the system to manage data erasure at the sector level while protecting critical data in specific sectors from being erased, resolving the conflict between fast write cycles and controlled data retention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by designating protected sectors in advance and implementing protection mechanisms before data loss can occur. The computing device is configured to prevent erasure operations on protected sectors, ensuring critical data remains intact before any potential overflow or corruption event.
2Productivity
If complete sector erasure is performed to overwrite data, then flash memory can be reused, but all data in the sector including critical data is deleted, leading to system failure
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the flash memory into erasable sectors and protected sectors, the system enables selective erasure. Critical data is stored in protected sectors that cannot be erased, while non-critical data in other sectors can be erased and reused, maintaining both reliability and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts critical data from the general data storage pool and places it in a separately protected sector. This extraction ensures that critical data is isolated from erasure operations, allowing the rest of the memory to be freely erased and reused without compromising system functionality.
3Reliability
If data is copied back and forth between sectors in a ring memory configuration, then flash memory overflow can be prevented, but frequent interruptions during copying fill up memory with invalid records, causing overflow
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts critical data from the ring memory copying process and stores it in a protected sector that is excluded from the copy/erase cycle. This prevents critical data from being overwritten or lost during interruptions, while allowing the computing device to manage memory capacity by erasing non-protected sectors when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary protection of critical data by storing it in a protected sector before any copying or erasure operations occur. This preliminary action ensures that even if multiple interruptions occur during normal operation, the critical data remains intact and available.
Data Source
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AI summary
The method involves providing data containing critical data and uncritical data, where fault of the critical data leads of failure of a driver assistance device. The critical data is stored in one of memory sectors (8, 9) of a flash memory (7). An attribute is allocated to the critical data. The critical data is characterized by the attribute. Copying of the critical data is carried out due to the attribute. An overflow of the flash memory is detected. The data from the memory sectors, in which the critical data is stored, is deleted after detecting the overflow. An independent claim is also included for a driver assistance device.