Flash Memory Block Management for Storage Responsiveness
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Flash memory's garbage collection process imposes a heavy processing load, hindering other processes like data download due to its difficulty in rewriting only part of data in a block, leading to reduced responsiveness in content storage.
Innovation Solution
A storage management apparatus with a flash memory that includes normal and reserved areas, where non-unnecessary datasets are copied from one block to another to free up space for new datasets, reducing the need for extensive garbage collection and optimizing data storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If garbage collection is performed to delete unnecessary datasets from flash memory blocks, then storage space is freed for new data, but processing load increases and responsiveness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by acquiring new datasets and preparing storage locations before garbage collection is needed. When writable area becomes available, new datasets are acquired and stored in advance, so that when garbage collection frees up space, the system can quickly utilize the pre-prepared data without waiting for collection operations to complete first.
Solution Approach 2:
The flash memory is segmented into multiple blocks with normal areas and reserved areas. The system manages storage by selectively operating on individual blocks rather than treating the entire storage as a single unit, allowing parallel operations and reducing the impact of garbage collection on overall system responsiveness.
2Quantity of substance
If garbage collection copies necessary data to other blocks and erases specific blocks, then storage is optimized, but heavy processing load hinders other processes like data download
Solution Approach 1:
The system acquires and stores new datasets in advance during periods when storage conditions are favorable, before garbage collection becomes necessary. This preliminary storage action ensures that when garbage collection runs, it doesn't need to perform extensive data movements, reducing its processing load and minimizing interference with concurrent processes like data downloads.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses an intermediary approach by maintaining a pool of pre-acquired datasets that can be quickly deployed to freed storage blocks. This intermediary data pool acts as a buffer that decouples the garbage collection process from the data download process, allowing them to operate more independently without heavy mutual interference.
3Quantity of substance
If the flash memory stores multiple datasets in normal areas, then storage capacity is utilized, but rewriting only part of data is difficult due to flash memory characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The flash memory storage is divided into multiple independent blocks, each with its own normal area and reserved area. This segmentation allows the system to manage and erase individual blocks independently, making it easier to perform partial updates by only erasing and rewriting specific blocks that contain outdated data, rather than requiring complete block erasure for any modification.
Solution Approach 2:
Each block is given local quality characteristics with dedicated normal areas for data storage and reserved areas for flexibility. This local differentiation allows certain blocks to be optimized for frequent rewriting while others maintain data, enabling selective rewrite operations on only those blocks that need updates, thereby improving ease of manufacture for partial data modifications.
Data Source
AI summary
An object of the present invention is to reduce deterioration in responsiveness to storage of content in a flash memory. A storage management apparatus according to the present invention includes a flash memory including a plurality of blocks each having a reserved area and a normal area, acquires a new dataset when a writable area included in a normal area of the plurality of blocks is larger than the new dataset and the new dataset is smaller in size than the writable area included in the normal area of the plurality of blocks in a case where unnecessary datasets included in the plurality of blocks are deleted, copies non-unnecessary datasets from the normal area of a specific block including the unnecessary datasets to the normal area of another block, deletes all datasets included in the normal area of the specific block, and stores the new dataset in the normal area of the specific block from which all the datasets are deleted.