Zoned Namespace Compression Mapping for SSD Capacity Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data compression solutions for solid state drives (SSDs) complicate storage device hardware and firmware, leading to increased costs and uncertainty in compression reliability, while also not efficiently managing data storage capacity.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a compression engine within the SSD controller that compresses data from logical blocks to grains, allowing for efficient writing and reporting of compressed data using a ZNS Zone Append command, which manages media and host logical block addresses to optimize storage capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If current data compression solutions are implemented in SSD hardware and firmware, then data storage capacity efficiency is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the compression function from the SSD controller hardware and firmware and relocates it to the host system. The SSD presents a compressed namespace to the host, allowing the host to manage compression operations externally. This removes the complex compression engine from the SSD, simplifying its hardware and firmware while maintaining capacity efficiency through host-managed compression.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a compressed namespace as an intermediary layer between the physical storage media and the host. This namespace acts as a mediator that maps compressed data blocks to logical addresses, enabling compression functionality without requiring complex embedded compression hardware in the SSD. The compressed namespace translates host logical block addresses to physical media addresses, facilitating efficient storage while keeping the SSD architecture simple.
2Quantity of substance
If compression algorithms are added to SSD firmware, then storage capacity utilization is improved, but compression reliability becomes uncertain
Solution Approach 1:
By extracting the compression algorithm from uncertain firmware implementations and placing it in the host system where more robust software compression solutions can be applied, the patent improves compression reliability. The host can use well-tested compression libraries and algorithms, ensuring more reliable compression performance while maintaining high storage capacity utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the SSD reports compression ratios and namespace mapping information back to the host. This allows the host to monitor compression performance and adjust compression strategies accordingly, ensuring reliable operation. The feedback loop enables the host to verify compression success and manage the compressed namespace effectively, improving overall reliability.
3Productivity
If ZNS Zone Append command is used with compression engine, then data writing efficiency is improved, but controller complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the compression engine from the SSD controller, eliminating the complexity associated with integrating compression functionality into the controller. The ZNS Zone Append command continues to operate efficiently, but the compression operation is performed externally by the host based on the compressed namespace mapping, maintaining writing efficiency without increasing controller complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the namespace in compressed form, allowing the host to perform compression operations on this virtual representation rather than requiring the physical SSD controller to handle compression. This copying approach enables efficient data writing through ZNS commands while keeping the actual SSD controller simple, as it only needs to manage the mapping between compressed and uncompressed namespaces.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure generally relates to data storage devices, such as solid state drives. The data storage device includes a controller that includes a compression engine. The controller receives a ZNS append command to write data to a media, such as a non-volatile memory. The compression engine compresses data from a first number of logical blocks to second number of logical blocks. The compressed data is programmed to the media. The compressed data has a media logical block address and a host logical block address, where the media logical block address is the actual LBA where the ZNS append places the data on the media and the host logical block address is the location of the data stored on the media from the host's point of view. The host generates an index of the location of the stored data and the controller programs the index to the relevant location in the media.