JP2003280822A - Memory management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the processing time associated with the reading/writing of a non-volatile memory, and to efficiently use memory resources. <P>SOLUTION: A physical sector address where an unwritten block exists is detected by memory write processing, and a physical sector address where an already written block exists is detected by memory read processing by using a sector address conversion table 23 and a block information table 25. A virtual sector address made to correspond to a plurality of physical sector addresses is made to correspond to one physical sector address by memory connection processing, and a physical sector address group corresponding to a virtual sector address to be erased is erased by memory erase processing, and the corresponding information of the virtual sector address and the physical sector address is written by memory copy processing and memory movement processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory management system in a nonvolatile memory in which an erase unit is composed of a plurality of write units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, associating a sector (physical sector) of a memory (physical memory) on a non-volatile memory with an erase unit (sector) of the memory (virtual memory) as seen from the system corresponds to a virtual sector. In this method, one sector physical sector is associated.

[0003]

However, when overwriting occurs in a write unit area (block) on the physical sector which is associated with the virtual memory and data is already written, the data is not written. A new unwritten physical sector is newly prepared, and block data to be updated and blocks other than the block to be overwritten on the sector to which the block to be overwritten belongs on this new physical sector. Since it is necessary to write the data, erase the association between the virtual sector and the existing physical sector, and associate it with the new physical sector, it is necessary to write the block data other than the overwrite block to the new physical sector. Data write processing time becomes longer and the memory capacity used becomes larger. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a memory management system that shortens the processing time for reading and writing a memory and enables efficient use of memory resources. The purpose is to

[0005]

That is, a memory management system according to claim 1 of the present invention is a physical management system which comprises physical sectors of a plurality of erase units each having a physical block of a plurality of write units. A memory management method for managing reading and writing of data from and to a memory using a virtual memory having a plurality of virtual sectors associated with a physical sector of the physical memory. Sector address management means for associating addresses of one or a plurality of physical sectors with each other; block information management means for managing block information indicating a usage state of a physical block belonging to the physical sector associated by the sector address management means; Physical sectors managed by the sector address management means and physical blocks managed by the block information management means. Based on the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detecting means and the address of the physical block detected by the sector address detecting means, and the address of the physical block managed by the block information managing means. And an address generation unit for generating a physical memory address.

That is, in the memory management system according to claim 1 of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors, and the block information management means. Block information indicating a use state of a physical block belonging to a physical sector correlated by the sector address management means is managed, and the sector address detection means manages the physical sector address and the block information management means managed by the sector address management means. The address of the required physical block is detected based on the physical block managed by the address generation means, and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means and the address of the physical block managed by the block information management means are detected. Physical notes based on Address is generated, the data processing to the memory is carried out.

A memory management system according to a second aspect of the present invention is the memory management system according to the first aspect,
The block information management means manages the usage state of each physical block based on information indicating the presence or absence of usage.

That is, in the memory management system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors, and the block information management means. Physical information managed by the sector address management means by the sector address management means, and block information indicating the usage status of the physical blocks belonging to the physical sector associated by the sector address management means is managed based on the information indicating the presence or absence of use. The address of the required physical sector is detected based on the address of the sector and the physical block managed by the block information management means, and the address generation means detects the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means and the block information management means. Of managed physical blocks A physical memory address is generated based on the address, data processing for the memory is made.

A memory management system according to claim 3 of the present invention is the memory management system according to claim 1.
The block information management means manages the usage status of each block based on the address range of the physical block in the physical sector.

That is, in the memory management system according to claim 3 of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors, and the block information management means. Block information indicating the use state of each physical block belonging to the physical sector associated by the sector address management means is managed based on the address range of the physical block in the physical sector, and is managed by the sector address management means by the sector address detection means. Address of the required physical sector is detected based on the address of the physical sector and the physical block managed by the block information management means, and the address and block information of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means by the address generation means. By management means A physical memory address is generated based on the address of the managed physical block, the data processing to the memory is carried out.

A memory management system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the memory management system according to the first aspect,
The sector address management means further searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector, and the block information management means further acquires an arbitrary physical block belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector address management means. Of the block information, the sector address detection means searches for an unused physical block based on the physical block searched by the block information management means, and the searched unused physical block belongs to the physical block. It is characterized by detecting a physical sector address.

That is, in the memory management system according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector, and the block information management means uses the sector address management means. The block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the searched physical sector is searched, the physical address in the unused state is searched by the sector address detection means based on the block searched by the block information management means, and the searched physical block is searched. The physical sector address to which the unused state block belongs is detected, and the address generation means generates a physical memory address based on the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means and the address of the physical block managed by the block information management means. And memory So that the memory write processing is performed.

A memory management system according to claim 5 of the present invention is the memory management system according to claim 4.
Further, it is characterized by further comprising sector setting means for associating a physical sector in which all physical blocks to which the physical block belongs belong to an unused state with a virtual sector when the physical address in the unused state is not detected by the sector address detecting means.

That is, in the memory management system according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector, and the block information management means uses the sector address management means. The block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the searched physical sector is searched, the physical address in the unused state is searched by the sector address detection means based on the block searched by the block information management means, and the searched physical block is searched. When the physical sector address to which the unused state block belongs is not detected, the sector address setting unit associates the physical sector in which all the physical blocks to which it belongs to the unused state with the virtual sector, and the address generation unit sets the sector address. Add physical sector set by Scan and is a physical memory address based on the address of the managed physical blocks by the block information management means generates, so that the memory write operation is performed to the memory.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a memory control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this memory control device comprises a non-volatile memory 1, a memory management unit 2, a memory interface 3 and a system control unit 4.

The memory management unit 2 transfers a signal indicating a command (command) to the memory management unit 2 to a system control unit 4 which controls the system,
The memory access command bus 14 and the physical memory address bus 15 are connected to each other via the virtual memory address bus 12 and the data bus 13. The memory interface 3 transfers a signal indicating a command to the memory interface 3 to the memory management unit 2. The memory management unit 2 and the memory interface 3 are connected via a memory data bus 16 for transferring data, and the nonvolatile memory 1 is connected to the memory interface 3 via a memory bus 17.

The memory bus 17 transfers a signal indicating an access command (processing instruction) for reading / writing access to the nonvolatile memory 1.

The virtual memory address bus 12 transfers a signal indicating a virtual memory address on the virtual memory from the system control unit 4 to the memory management unit 2.

The physical memory address bus 15 transfers a signal indicating a physical memory address on the nonvolatile memory 1 from the memory management unit 2 to the memory interface 3.

The data bus 13 transfers data to be read from and written to the non-volatile memory 1 between the system control unit 4 and the memory interface 3 via the memory management unit 2.

The memory management unit 2 transfers the access command and the physical memory address to the memory interface 3 according to the command and the virtual memory address transferred from the system control unit 4, and stores the data to be written in the nonvolatile memory 1 in the memory. The data transferred to the interface 3 and read from the non-volatile memory 1 is transferred to the system control unit 4.

The memory interface 3 is a memory bus 1.
Access processing is performed to the non-volatile memory 1 via 7.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the memory management unit 2 provided in the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the memory management unit 2 includes a memory control unit 21, a data buffer 22, a sector address conversion table 23, a sector address conversion control unit 24, a block information table 25 and a block information control unit 26.
Composed of.

The data buffer 22 is connected to the memory controller 21 and the memory controller 21 is connected.
, The command bus 11 and the virtual memory address bus 12 are connected from the system control unit 4, and the physical memory address bus 1 is connected to the memory interface 3.
5 and the access command bus 11 are connected, the data buffer 22 is connected to the data bus 13 from the system controller 4, and the data buffer 22 is connected to the memory interface 3 to the memory data bus 16.

In addition, the sector address conversion table 23 for the memory control unit 21 is stored in the sector address conversion control unit 2.
4 and the block information table 25 is connected via the block information control unit 26.

The sector address conversion table 23 is a memory for storing data showing the correspondence between the sector unit address of the virtual memory (virtual sector address) and the sector unit address of the physical memory (physical sector address).

The block information table 25 indicates data indicating the usage status of a plurality of physical blocks set in the physical sector address, that is, whether the block is used or not used. It is a memory that stores data (block information).

The sector address conversion control unit 24 registers one or a plurality of physical sector addresses associated with each virtual sector address by using all virtual sector addresses belonging to the virtual memory in the sector address conversion table 23 as index values. Deletion and reading are performed, and a physical sector address not registered in the sector address conversion table 23 is searched.

The block information control unit 26 registers, deletes, updates and reads block information with respect to each physical block belonging to the physical sector address using all the physical sector addresses belonging to the physical memory as index values in the block information table 25. do.

The memory control unit 21 controls the memory control unit 21 and the block information control unit 26 in response to a command from the system control unit 4, changes the physical memory address to an appropriate physical memory address on the basis of the virtual memory address, and nonvolatile memory. Sex memory 1
To the nonvolatile memory 1 via the data buffer 22 and transfer control of data to be read from and written to the nonvolatile memory 1.

The data buffer 22 is used by the system controller 4
And arbitrates the data transfer rate between the nonvolatile memory 1 and the nonvolatile memory 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the sector address conversion table 23 provided in the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sector address conversion table 23 is table data for managing the correspondence between virtual sector addresses and physical sector addresses, and all virtual sector addresses in virtual memory are registered. One virtual sector address in the sector address index (p1) is associated with one physical sector address or each physical sector address in a physical sector address group composed of a plurality of physical sector addresses.

That is, in the case of the sector address conversion table 23 shown in FIG. 3, the virtual sector address "0" is
It is shown that the physical sector addresses are associated with the physical sector address group (p2) composed of the physical sector addresses “3”, “8”, “N” and “α”, and the array of each physical sector address in this physical sector address group Is an array according to the registration order, that is, the order associated with the virtual sector address.

That is, the physical sector address "3" at the left end of the physical sector address group (p2) indicates the physical sector address first associated with the virtual sector address "0", and the physical sector address "α" at the right end is Finally, the physical sector address associated with the virtual sector address "0" is shown. In this case, the size of the physical sector address has nothing to do with the registration order.

The correspondence between the virtual sector address and the physical sector address is the virtual sector address "1" shown in FIG.
When the physical sector address is not associated at all as shown in, the physical sector address is newly associated with the virtual sector address, and the virtual sector address is already assigned to the virtual sector address like “2”. In the case where a physical sector address is associated with the physical sector address, and a new physical sector address “18” is desired to be registered after the physical sector “9”, the physical sector address registration order within the physical sector address group as shown in p3. Is added and registered or added as a new physical sector address in the physical sector address group as the registration order immediately after the final physical sector address.

To eliminate the correspondence between the virtual sector address and the physical sector address, each physical sector address is deleted from the physical sector address group as shown in p4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence between the virtual memory and the physical memory by the sector address conversion table 23 provided in the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the virtual memory sector address map showing each virtual sector address of the virtual memory and the physical memory sector address map showing each physical sector address of the physical memory, one virtual sector is One or a plurality of physical sectors are associated with each other.

Incidentally, 0 sector, 1 sector, 2 sectors of the virtual memory sector address map shown in FIG.
., L-1 sector and L sector indicate areas indicating virtual sector addresses "0", "1", "2", ..., "L-1" and "L", respectively, in the physical memory sector address map. 0 sector, 1 sector, 2 sectors, ..., N-1
The sector and N sector are physical sector addresses “0”,
.. An area indicating "N-1" and "N".

Further, one physical sector, that is, each physical sector distinguished by a physical sector address is composed of a plurality of physical blocks as shown by p11, and each physical block is distinguished by a physical block address.

That is, the 0 block, 1 block, ..., M−1 block and M block of each physical block shown in FIG. 4 are physical block addresses “0”, “1”, ... , "M-1" and "M".

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between virtual sectors and physical sectors according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the virtual sector (p21)
Is composed of a plurality of virtual blocks (p22), and each virtual block is distinguished by a virtual block address.

Then, each virtual block is associated with each physical block of the physical block group shown in p23.

The 0 block, 1 block, ..., M-1 block and M block of each virtual block are virtual block addresses "0", ..., "M-" in the virtual sector.
It is an area showing 1 ”and“ M ”.

The 0 block, which is a virtual block in the virtual sector, is associated with the physical sector (the 0th block of 8 sectors) to which the 0 block having the same physical block address value as this virtual block address value belongs. .

That is, by associating each of these virtual blocks with a physical block having the same address value, the virtual sector is associated with one or a plurality of physical sectors to which the physical block belongs.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the block information table 25 provided in the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 6, the block information table 25 is a table for managing physical block information regarding all physical blocks belonging to each physical sector address registered in the sector address conversion table 23.

The sector address conversion table 23 is
A physical sector address index (p31) in which all physical sector addresses in the physical memory are registered, a physical block address index (p32) in which all physical block addresses belonging to each physical sector address of this physical sector address index are registered, And a physical sector address index, which is composed of a physical block information storage area for storing physical block information of each physical block,
The block information storage area is referred to by using the physical sector address group as the first index and the physical block address group as the second index.

For example, the block storage area indicated by p33 is a block information storage area of a physical block whose block address is "M" in the physical sector whose physical sector address is "0".

The physical block information stored in this block information storage area is information indicating whether or not data has been written to the physical memory address derived from the physical sector address and physical block address of the reference source. The flag of "1" is stored in the written (written) state, and the flag of "0" is stored in the unwritten state, that is, the state in which no data is written.

Further, as shown in p34, the block information of a specific physical block corresponding to an arbitrary physical sector address can be updated to "0" or "1". Further, it is possible to register the block information of all the physical blocks corresponding to the area indicated by p35, that is, any physical sector address, and the area indicated by p36, that is, all the physical blocks corresponding to any physical sector address. The block information of the physical block can be deleted.

That is, the sector address conversion table 23 capable of associating a virtual sector address with a plurality of physical sector addresses and the block information table 25 capable of knowing the use state of each block of the physical sector address associated with each other Since the virtual sector is associated with a plurality of physical sectors, it is not necessary to associate one virtual sector with only one physical sector, so that high-speed memory write with less data movement on the memory during overwriting can be performed.

Further, since the use status is indicated by the flags of "0" and "1" for each arbitrary block, it becomes possible to manage in block units suitable for the system. The memory capacity can be reduced.

Next, the processing of the memory control device having the above configuration will be described.

First, the memory write (write) processing by the memory controller will be described.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a memory write process (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a memory write process (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, first, a write command is given from the system control unit 4 to the memory management unit 2 of the memory control unit 21 via the command bus 11 and also via the virtual memory address bus 12. When the virtual memory address is transferred to the memory controller 21, the memory controller 21 divides the virtual memory address into a virtual sector address A and a virtual block address (virtual block offset address) B (step A1).

Based on the virtual block address B, a physical block address having the same address value is searched for in the physical block address index on the block information table and treated as the physical block address B.

Next, the sector address conversion control unit 24 reads the sector address conversion table 23, collates the sector address conversion table 23 with the virtual sector address A, and associates them with the virtual sector address A. The physical sector address group C composed of one or a plurality of physical sector addresses is searched, and it is judged whether or not the physical sector address group C exists (steps A2 and A3).

It is judged "YES" at step A3,
That is, the physical sector address group C is added to the virtual sector address A.
, The block information control unit 26 reads the block information table 25, and in the block information table 25, the same address as each physical sector address and virtual block address B belonging to the physical sector address group C is read. On the basis of the physical block address (physical block offset address) of the above, it is determined whether or not each physical block includes an unwritten block, that is, a physical block whose block information is "0", If so, the physical sector address to which one physical block belongs is detected as the physical sector address D, and the search in the sector address conversion table 23 is completed (steps A4 and A).
5).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example in which the physical sector address D in which an unwritten block exists is detected in the memory write processing according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 9, in the sector address conversion table 23, each physical sector address belonging to the physical sector address group C associated with the virtual sector address A has the registration order as shown in p41. When the virtual block address B is “M−1” in the case of “3”, “8”, and “N” from the oldest order, the physical block to be searched is the search string surrounded by p42. Therefore, as shown in p43, the search order is from the newest registration order of the physical sector addresses belonging to the physical sector address group C to the oldest one, that is, the physical sector address is "N" and the physical block address is Are associated with "M-1" (p4
4), then the physical sector address is “8”
Then, the physical block (p45) associated with the physical block address "M-1" is searched, and finally the physical sector address is "3" and the physical block address is "M-".
The physical block (p46) associated with "1" is the search target.

Then, according to the registration order of the physical sector addresses, an unwritten block corresponding to the physical sector address of the registration order immediately before the physical sector address corresponding to the latest written block of the registration order in the search sequence,
That is, the block (p45) having the physical sector address "8" and the physical block address "M-1" is detected as an unwritten block, and the detected physical sector address D is "8".

The unwritten block search method may be a method in which the physical sector address corresponding to the unwritten block first detected in the search order is detected as the physical sector address D, and in this case, it is shown in FIG. ,
The physical sector address D detected from the block information table 25 is “N”.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which the physical sector address D in which an unwritten block exists cannot be detected in the read processing according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 10, each element sector address of the memory sector address group C is composed of "3", "8" and "N" from the oldest registered one, and the virtual block address B is "M". In some cases, the search string becomes the search string indicated by p51, and the blocks (p52) corresponding to the new registered physical sector address are searched in order. In this case, all the searched blocks have been written, that is, the block information of all the searched physical blocks is “1”, and the written block with the latest registration order in the search sequence is searched. Since the unwritten block is not detected by the time, the detected physical sector address D is none.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a process of updating the block information in the block information table 25 according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 11, when the detected physical sector address D is "8" and the virtual block address B is "M-1", the block information table 25 to be updated is updated. Since the block information is the block indicated by p61, this block information is rewritten from "0" to "1", that is, the unwritten block is updated to the written block.

On the other hand, if it is judged "NO" in step A3, that is, if the physical sector address group C is not associated with the virtual sector address A, or step A
When it is determined to be “NO” in 4, that is, when the physical sector address D which is an unwritten block is not detected,
Since the unwritten block used for writing is not associated with the virtual sector address A,
A new unwritten block in which data can be written is newly obtained.
That is, the physical sector address not registered in the sector address conversion table 23 is the block information table 25.
The physical sector address is newly registered in and the physical sector address is set as the physical sector address D (step A6).

Since there is a possibility that each block of the physical sector address D has already been written, the erase process is performed on the physical sector address D through the memory interface 3, that is, all block information of the block belonging to the physical sector address D is written. Processing for rewriting to "0" is performed (step A7).

This physical sector address D is registered in the sector address conversion table 23 via the sector address conversion control unit 24 as a new physical sector address corresponding to the virtual sector address A at the end of the physical memory sector address group C in the registration order. Is registered in the registration order immediately after the physical sector address (step A8), and each physical block belonging to this new physical sector address is a physical block that is an unwritten block in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26. It is registered (step A9).

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a process of registering a new physical sector address in the block information table 25 according to the above embodiment and a process of updating block information accompanying this registration process.

That is, as shown in FIG. 12, step A
If the new physical sector address D added in 5 is “α”, the block information belonging to the physical sector address D (= “α”) is erased in step A6,
As shown in p71, all block information of the physical sector address D (= α) becomes an unwritten block, and step A8
As a result, each physical block belonging to the new physical sector address is registered in the existing block information table 25 (p72).

When the virtual block address B to be searched for the unwritten block is "M", the physical block whose physical sector address is "α" and whose physical block address is "M" (p73). Is updated from the unwritten block to the written block, that is, rewritten from "0" to "1".

It is judged "YES" in step A4,
That is, when the physical sector address D is detected, or when the physical block belonging to the new physical sector address is registered in the block information table 25 in step A8, the physical memory address E is changed from the physical sector address D and the physical block address B. The block data from the system control unit 4 in the data buffer 22 for the physical memory address E is calculated, and the memory access command for supporting the memory write, that is, the writing of the data to the nonvolatile memory 1, is transferred via the memory interface 3. Is transferred (steps A10, A11).

Then, the block information of the physical block corresponding to the physical sector address D and the physical block address B registered in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26 is updated to "0" indicating that writing has been completed. (Step A12).

In other words, the memory write process detects a physical sector address in which an appropriate unwritten block exists from the physical sector address group associated with the virtual sector address to be written. It is possible to effectively use memory resources that do not need to be allocated.

Next, the memory read processing by the memory control device will be described.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the memory read processing (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing the memory read processing (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, first,
The system control unit 4 gives a memory read command (read command) to the memory management unit 2 of the memory management unit 2 via the command bus 11, and the virtual memory address is transferred to the memory control unit 21 via the virtual memory address bus 12.
Is transferred to the memory control unit 2
It is divided into a virtual sector address A and a virtual block address B by 1 (step B1).

Next, the sector address conversion control unit 24 reads the sector address conversion table 23, collates the sector address conversion table 23 with the virtual sector address A, and associates them with the virtual sector address A. It is determined whether there is a physical sector address group C composed of one or a plurality of physical sector addresses (steps B2 and B3).

It is judged "YES" in step B3,
That is, the physical sector address group C is added to the virtual sector address A.
, The block information control unit 26 reads the block information table 25, and in the block information table 25, the same address as each physical sector address and virtual block address B belonging to the physical sector address group C is read. Value physical block address B
It is determined whether each block includes a written block, that is, a block whose block information is “1”. If the written block is included, one of the physical blocks belongs to the physical block. When the sector address is detected as the physical sector address D and the written block is not included, the physical sector address to which any one of the physical blocks belongs is detected as the physical sector address D in the search column (step B).
4).

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example in which the physical sector address D in which the written block exists is detected in the memory read processing according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the physical sector addresses belonging to the physical sector address group C associated with the virtual sector address A are "3", "8", and "N" from the oldest registration order. And the virtual block address B is “M−1”, the physical block to be searched is the search string shown in p81,
The search order is from newest to oldest in the registration order of the physical sector addresses belonging to the physical sector address group C,
That is, the physical sector address is "N" and the physical block address is "M-1", and the associated physical block (p8
2), then the physical sector address is "8"
Then, the physical block (p83) associated with the physical block address "M-1" is searched, and finally the physical sector address is "3" and the physical block address is "M-".
The physical block (p84) associated with "1" will be searched.

Then, according to the registration order of the physical sector addresses, the first written block detected in the search string, that is, the block having the physical sector address of "8" and the physical block address of "M-1" (p83). ) Is detected as a written block, and the detected physical sector address D becomes "8".

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example in which the physical sector address D in which the written block exists is detected in the memory read processing according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 16, each element sector address of the memory sector address group C is composed of "3", "8", and "N" from the oldest registered one, and the virtual block address B is "1". In some cases, the search string becomes the search string indicated by p91, and p92, p93, and p9 are arranged in order from the block corresponding to the new registered physical sector address.
The physical blocks indicated by 4 are searched in order. in this case,
Since the searched block is an unwritten block, that is, the written block whose block information is “1” is not detected, the physical sector address to which the unwritten block (p92) first detected in the search column belongs, that is, the searched The latest physical sector address to which the block of the column belongs, that is, the physical sector address "N" is detected as the physical sector address D.

The physical sector address D detected here is not limited to the latest physical sector address to which the physical block of the search column belongs, but by changing the detection condition, one of the physical sector addresses belonging to the search column (p91) is changed. The physical sector address belonging to the block may be detected as the physical sector address D.

On the other hand, if it is judged "NO" in step B3, that is, if the physical sector address group C is not associated with the virtual sector address A, the physical block is associated with the virtual sector address A. Therefore, in order to newly obtain a physical block from which data can be read, the physical sector address not registered in the sector address conversion table 23 is additionally registered in the block information table 25 from the sector address conversion control unit 24, This physical sector address is set as the physical sector address D (step B5).

Since each block of the set physical sector address D may have been written,
Physical sector address D through memory interface 3
Is erased (step B6).

The physical sector address D is registered in the sector address conversion table 23 via the sector address conversion control unit 24 as a new physical sector address corresponding to the virtual sector address A at the end of the physical memory sector address group C. Is registered in the registration order immediately after the physical sector address (step B7), and each physical block belonging to this new physical sector address is stored in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26 as a physical block that is an unwritten block. It is registered (step B8).

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a process of registering a new physical sector address in the block information table 25 according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 17, step B
The value of the new physical sector address D added in 5 is “γ”
If it is, the block information belonging to the physical sector address D (= “γ”) is erased in step B6, and the physical sector address D (=
All block information of "γ") is an unwritten block,
By step B8, the existing block information table 25
Each physical block belonging to the new physical sector address is registered in (p102).

If the physical sector address D is detected in step B4, or if the physical block belonging to the new physical sector address is registered in the block information table 25 in step B8, the physical sector address D
And a physical memory address E is calculated from the physical block address B, a memory access command for instructing data read is transferred to the non-volatile memory 1 via the memory interface 3, and the physical memory address E is stored in the data buffer 22. The block data is transferred from the control unit 4 (steps B9 and B10).

That is, in this memory read process, data writing is performed to the virtual sector address by associating the physical sector address which is not used in all the blocks with the virtual sector address which is not yet associated in the sector address conversion table 23. In this case, the write processing speed is improved because the processing of associating a new physical sector is not necessary.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing the memory connection processing (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing the memory connection processing (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing a memory connection process (3) by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

In this memory combination process, when the virtual sector address designated by the virtual memory address is associated with a plurality of physical sector addresses by the sector address conversion table 23, each valid block of the plurality of physical sector addresses (latest physical sector address) This is an instruction to combine a physical block belonging to a sector address) with each physical block belonging to one physical sector address.

It is assumed that the new physical sector address and the existing physical sector address can be arbitrarily selected as the physical sector address of the coupling destination.

As shown in FIGS. 18 to 20, first of all, a memory coupling instruction is given from the system control unit 4 to the memory management unit 2 of the memory management unit 2 via the command bus 11 and the virtual memory address bus 12 is set. When the virtual memory address is transferred to the memory controller 21 via the memory controller 21, the memory controller 21 divides the virtual memory address into a virtual sector address A and a virtual block address B (step C1).

Next, the sector address conversion control unit 24 reads the sector address conversion table 23, and in the sector address conversion table 23, the physical sector address group H associated with the virtual sector address A is read.
Is searched (step C2), and the physical sector address group H from which the physical sector address group C is combined is the original physical sector address group C
Is arbitrarily determined (step C3). It is assumed that the registration order of the physical sector addresses in the combination source physical sector address group C is continuous.

Next, it is judged whether the combined physical sector address group C is a physical sector address group composed of two or more physical sector addresses (step C).
4).

If "NO" is determined in this step C4, there is no physical sector address group to be combined, so the termination processing is performed. However, if "YES" is determined, the combination destination physical group to be combined is formed. It is determined whether the sector address F is one of the combination source physical sector address group C or a new physical sector address which does not belong to the combination source physical sector address group C (step C5).

It is determined "YES" in step C5,
That is, when one physical sector address from the combination source physical sector address group C is used as the combination destination physical sector address F, the latest registered physical sector address in the combination source physical sector address group C, for example, the combination source physical sector address When the physical sector addresses forming the physical sector address group C are "3", "8" and "N", the physical sector address "N" is selected as the coupling destination physical sector address F (step C6). ).

The method of selecting the coupling-destination physical sector address F may be a method of selecting the physical sector address immediately after the physical sector address group C. In this case, the physical sector address group H corresponding to the virtual memory address is formed. The physical sector addresses are “3”, “8”, “N”, and “K”, and among them, the physical sector addresses configuring the combined physical sector address group C are “3”, “8”.
And "N", the physical sector address "K" is selected as the coupling-destination physical sector address F.

When the latest physical sector address of the physical sector address group H is the joining destination physical sector address F itself, for example, each physical sector address forming the physical sector address group H and the joining source physical sector address group When each physical sector address forming C is "3", "8" and "N", the physical sector address "N" is selected as the coupling-destination physical sector address F.

If it is judged as "NO" in step C5, that is, if it is specified that the joining destination physical sector address F is not included in the joining source physical sector address group C, it is registered in the sector address conversion table 23. The physical sector address that is not registered is additionally registered in the block information table 25, and this physical sector address is set as the binding destination physical sector address F (step C7).

Since each block of the combined physical sector address F may have been already written, the combined physical sector address F can be read through the memory interface 3.
Is erased (step C8).

Then, this physical sector address D is registered in the sector address conversion table 23 via the sector address conversion controller 24 as a new physical sector address corresponding to the virtual sector address A at the end of the physical memory sector address group C in the registration order. Is registered in the registration order immediately after the physical sector address (step C9), and each physical block belonging to this new physical sector address is a physical block that is an unwritten block and is stored in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26. It is registered (step C10).

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing registration processing and deletion processing in the block information table 25 in the memory combination processing according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 21, p111 to p111
Source physical sector address “3” shown in p113,
For each physical block belonging to “8” and “N”,
As shown in p114, each physical block belonging to the combined physical sector address “α” is registered in the block information table 25 as an unwritten block.

Next, a physical block address range I, which is a range of physical block addresses to be searched for the latest written block from each physical block belonging to the combination source physical sector address group C, is designated, The initial value (= “0”) of the physical block address range I is set (step C11). It is also possible to select only the arbitrarily selected physical block address.

Then, it is determined whether the block information of each physical sector address, which is the leading physical block address of the specified physical block address range I, is an unwritten block or a written block, and it is determined first. The physical sector address belonging to the written block is detected as the physical sector address D (step C12).

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of detecting the physical sector address D where the written block exists in the memory connection processing according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 22, each physical sector address belonging to the combination source physical sector address group C is
"3", "8" and "N" from the oldest registration order
And the first physical block address of the physical block address range I is “0”, the block to be searched is the search string surrounded by p121,
The search order is from the newest to the oldest in the registration order of the physical sector addresses belonging to the physical sector address group C, that is, the physical block associated with the physical sector address "N" and the physical block address "0". (P1
22), the physical sector address is “8”, the physical block address is “0”, and the associated physical block (p123) is searched. Finally, the physical sector address is “3”, The physical block (p124) associated with the block address "0" is searched.

Then, according to the registration order of the physical sector addresses, the first written block detected in the search string, that is, the physical block having the physical sector address of "8" and the physical block address of "0", is detected. The physical sector address D, which is the physical sector address to which the written block detected in this search string belongs, is “8”.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example in which the physical sector address D in which the written block is present is not detected in the memory combination processing according to the above embodiment.

That is, as shown in FIG. 23, each element sector address of the memory sector address group C is composed of "3", "8" and "N" from the oldest registered one, and the physical block address B is "1". , The search string is p1
The search sequence is surrounded by 31, and the blocks corresponding to the new physical sector address in the registration order are sequentially searched. In this case, since the searched block is an unwritten block, that is, the written block is not detected, the physical sector address D is not detected.

Then, in step C12, it is judged whether or not the physical sector address D is detected (step C13). If it is judged "YES", the physical sector address D and the physical block address range I are determined. In addition to calculating the physical memory address E from the physical block address to which each physical block currently searched for belongs, it is currently searched for in the combined physical sector address F and the physical block address range I. The physical memory address G is calculated from the physical block address to which the physical block belongs, and the block data is reflected (copied) from the physical memory address E to the physical memory address G via the memory interface 3.
However, if the physical memory addresses E and F are the same address, it is not necessary to copy the data (step C14).

Then, the block information corresponding to the physical block address range I of the physical sector address F registered in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26 is updated to block information indicating that the writing has been completed, that is, "1". (Step C15).

That is, as shown in FIG. 21, every time the data of the latest written block in the physical sector address group C is copied, from among the physical blocks belonging to the physical sector address “α” shown in p114. , The block information of the physical block having the same physical block address as the physical block address where the written block as a result of the search in step C exists is updated to “1” which is the block information indicated by p115.

Next, it is judged whether or not the physical block address is the last block address in the physical block address range I, that is, the physical block address M (step C16), and it is judged "NO" in this step C. That is, when the physical block address is not the physical sector address address M and there is a physical block belonging to the physical block address to be searched, a physical block obtained by adding 1 to the value of the physical block address currently being searched. The block information of each physical block belonging to the address is continuously determined (step C1).
6 → C17 → C12).

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of detection of the latest written block in the memory combination processing according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 24, when the start of the physical block address range I is "0" and the end is "M", the search order is the physical block address "N",
When the order is “8” and “3”, the physical block indicated by p132 is the physical block detected as the latest written block from the physical blocks belonging to each physical block address.

Next, all block information of the physical blocks belonging to the combined physical sector address group C registered in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26 is erased, that is, updated to "0" (step). C1
8). However, if the joining destination physical sector address F is the latest registered address among the physical sector addresses belonging to the joining source physical sector address group C, the physical sector address F
The physical block information belonging to is not erased.

Since all the data of the latest written block for each physical block address range I for the combined physical sector address group C exists in the physical block of the combined physical sector address F, the sector address conversion control unit 24 is set. The merged source physical sector address group C is deleted from the sector address conversion table 23 (step C
19).

However, if the combination destination physical sector address F is the latest registered physical sector address in the combination source physical sector address group C, the physical sector address F is not deleted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 21, the physical sector addresses of the physical sector address group C are "3" and "8".
And if “N”, then by step C19,
The physical sector addresses indicated by p111 to p113, that is, "3", "8", and "N" are all deleted from the block information table 25 and the sector address conversion table 23, but the merged physical sector address F is the merged source. If it is the latest registered address “N” in the physical sector address group C, only the physical sector addresses indicated by p111 and p112, that is, “3” and “8” are stored in the block information table 25 and the sector address conversion table 23. To be deleted.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a registration process and a deletion process in the sector address conversion table 23 in the memory combination process according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 25, the virtual sector address A is "0", and the virtual sector address "0" belongs to the physical sector address group H according to the sector address conversion table 23. 8 ",
“3”, “8”, and “N” of each physical sector address that is associated with “N” and “K”, the coupling destination physical sector address F is “α”, and belongs to the coupling source physical sector address group C. Is selected, the new physical sector address “α” is immediately after the end physical sector address “N” of the combination source physical sector address group C indicated by p141 (p1).
42).

As a result, the virtual sector address "0" is
Physical sector address groups “3”, “8”,
It is associated with “N”, “α” and “K”.

In this case, step C1 shown in FIG.
By the processing of 9, the registration of the combination source physical sector address groups C "3", "8" and "N" shown in p141 is erased (p143), and as a result, the virtual sector address A becomes the address conversion table. Then, the physical sector addresses of the physical sector address group H are associated with “α” and “K”.

Further, the combination source physical sector address group C is "3", "8" and "N", the connection destination physical sector address F is the existing physical sector address "N", and the virtual sector address A is " 0 ", and the virtual sector address A is a physical sector address group H in the address conversion table.
Physical sector address "3", "8", "N" belonging to
And "K", the physical sector addresses "3" and "8" belonging to the combined physical sector address group C are processed by the processing of step C19 shown in FIG.
Will be deleted (p144), and as a result, the virtual sector address A will be the physical sector address of the physical sector address group H in the address conversion table.
It will be associated with N "and" K ".

Further, the physical sector addresses belonging to the combination source physical sector address group C are "3", "8" and "N".
, The coupling-destination physical sector address F is “K”, which is an existing physical sector, and the virtual sector address A is “0”.
If the virtual sector address A is associated with the physical sector addresses “3”, “8”, “N” and “K” belonging to the physical sector address group H in the address conversion table, step C19 shown in FIG. By the processing of p
The registration of physical sector addresses “3”, “8” and “N” belonging to the combination source physical sector address group C indicated by 141 is erased (p143), and as a result, the virtual sector address A is converted into an address. In the table, it is associated with the physical sector address “K” belonging to the physical sector address group H.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing a process for arbitrarily selecting a physical block address to be combined in the memory combination process according to the first embodiment.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 26 is a partial replacement of the flowchart shown in FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 26, first, when the process of selecting a sector address to be combined, that is, the same process as steps C1 to C10 shown in FIG. 19, is performed (step C).
20), physical block address group J to be combined
Is set arbitrarily (step C21). Here, the method of setting the physical block address group J is not particularly limited.
For example, the physical block address B divided in the process of step C1 shown in FIG. 18 may be used,
The setting may be performed by obtaining the information of the physical block address group J via the data bus 13.

Then, the head element of the physical block address group J is set based on the physical block address range I indicating the physical block address to be combined (step C22), and the combining process, that is, step C1 shown in FIG.
2 to C15 are performed (step C2)
3). Note that in step C23, when it is determined whether or not the latest written physical sector address is detected, that is, when it is determined that the physical sector address D is not detected by the same processing as in step C12 shown in FIG. In the physical block address range J, the joining process for the physical block address obtained by adding 1 to the physical block address value currently being joined is performed (steps C13 → C17 → C12).

After the processing up to step C23, it is judged whether or not the physical block address range I is the last element of the physical block address group J (step C24), and if "YES" is judged, the ending processing is carried out. Is made and it is determined to be “NO”. That is, if it is not the last element, the combining process is performed on the physical block address obtained by adding 1 to the physical block address value currently being combined in the physical block address range J (steps C24 → C25 → C23).

The processing of steps C18 and C19 shown in FIG. 20 is not performed. This is because the combining process shown in FIGS. 18 to 20 is a process for all the blocks belonging to the physical sector address of the combination source, but the combining process is performed in the range of a partial physical block address.
Even if the combining process ends, there is a possibility that a valid block, that is, a physical block that has not been combined with the physical block belonging to the combination destination physical sector address exists in each physical block belonging to the combination source physical sector address. Because there is.

That is, by this memory combination processing, the sector address conversion table 23 and the block information table 2
Since a virtual sector address associated with a plurality of physical sector addresses by 5 is associated with one physical sector address, memory resources can be effectively used depending on the situation.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an example of overwriting on a virtual sector in which arbitrary data is written to all blocks in the conventional memory control device. FIG. Is a diagram showing a state before writing data to the virtual sector, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a process for the physical sector when writing data to the virtual sector.

First, in FIG. 32A, the virtual sector G for which arbitrary data has already been written to all blocks is associated with the physical sector X by the sector address conversion control unit 24. Here, if it is assumed that arbitrary block data (P151) is written in the 0th block of the virtual sector G, since the physical block indicated by p152 on the physical sector X to be actually written has already been written, the block data ( p151) is a block 0, that is, a physical block address is “0” on the newly prepared physical sector Y in which all physical blocks are unwritten blocks.
Physical block (p153) that is written to all physical blocks that are not write targets on physical sector X, that is, the physical block group shown in p154 that is associated with the block group from the first block to the Mth block of virtual sector G. Block data is newly associated with the physical sector Y
No. 1 block is copied to the physical block group (p155) which is the Mth block, and as shown in FIG. 32B, the sector address conversion control unit 24 loses the correspondence between the virtual sector G and the physical sector X, The new physical sector Y is associated with the virtual sector.

That is, assuming that the write time of one block to the physical memory is x, the read time is y, and one sector is composed of M blocks, the memory required for the write processing of the block data f0. The total access time T1 is

[Equation 1] Becomes

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of overwriting a virtual sector in which arbitrary data is written to all blocks in the memory control device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a state before writing the first data to the virtual sector, and FIG. 6B is a physical sector when writing the first data to the virtual sector. FIG. 6C is a diagram showing a state before the processing for and the second data is written, FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing processing for a physical sector when writing second data to a virtual sector.

First, in FIG. 27A, the virtual sector G in which arbitrary data has already been written to all blocks is associated with the physical sector X by the sector address conversion control unit 24 in a one-to-one correspondence. Here, 0 of the virtual sector G
It is assumed that an arbitrary block data (p161) is written in the No. block.

At this time, since the physical block (p162) on the physical memory to be actually written has already been written, as shown in FIG. 27 (b), the sector address conversion control unit 24 creates a new physical sector Y. The prepared block data (p161) is written to the 0th block on the physical sector Y, that is, the physical block (p163) whose physical block address is “0”, and the sector address conversion control unit 24 physically writes the virtual sector G. The sector Y is newly associated. At this time, since the association between the virtual sector G and the physical sector X remains, the virtual sector G is associated with both the physical sector X and the physical sector Y. Further, block 0 of physical sector X associated with block 0 of virtual sector G (p162)
And a block for determining which block of the 0th block (p163) of the physical sector Y, which is also associated with the 0th block of the virtual sector G, is valid, that is, the latest written data. The block information is managed by the information control unit 26.

As in FIG. 32, assuming that the write time of one block to the physical memory is x, the read time is y, and one sector is composed of M blocks, the write of the block data g0 is performed. The total memory access time T2 required to complete the processing is

[Equation 2] Becomes

In this case, the block data from the first block to the Mth block of the physical sector X (p16
7) will be associated with blocks 1 to M of virtual sector G.

Further, in FIG. 27B, it is assumed that arbitrary data (p164) is written in the first block of virtual sector G.

In this case, since the first block (p165) on the physical sector Y to be actually written is empty, FIG.
7 (c), the new block data (p16
4) is written to the first block (p165) on the physical sector Y, and the first block (p166) on the physical sector X
The block information control unit 26 manages the block information in order to determine which block of the first block (p165) on the physical sector Y and the data written therein is valid.

From the second block of physical sector X, M
The block data (p168) up to the No. block is associated with the No. 2 block to the No. M block of the virtual sector G.

In this case, the new block data (p16
The total memory access time T3 required until the end of the write processing in 4) is

[Equation 3] Becomes

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the structure of the pointer type block information table 25 according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 28, this pointer type block information table 25 is used in place of the flag type block information table 25 shown in FIG. 6, and in the memory control device, a random block program in a sector, that is, Nonvolatile memory 1 for which block information management processing for each physical block is prohibited, and block information table 2 used when a random block program is prohibited for the nonvolatile memory 1 by itself
It is 5.

This pointer type block information table 25
Then, under the control of the block information control unit 26, information on the range of continuous physical blocks that have not been written or have been written is registered (p171) and updated (p172) using the physical sector address as an index value and corresponding to this index. ) And deletion (p173), and the table value, that is, the information of the physical block, is the written final physical block address value or the unwritten leading physical block address value for each physical sector.

For example, when registering an unwritten head physical block address value in the pointer type block information table 25, the relationship between the physical sector address B and the physical block address value shown in p174 is that the physical sector address B is The physical block address β to the last block indicates that the physical block address is unused, and the relationship between the physical sector address and the physical block address value shown in p175 indicates that the physical sector address A is unused from the physical block address α to the last block of the sector. It shows that it is in a state.

When the final physical block address that has been written is registered in the pointer type block information table 25, the relationship between the physical sector address and the physical block address value shown in p174 is the physical sector address B.
Indicates that the physical block address is in use from the first block to the physical block address β, and the relationship between the physical sector address and the physical block address value shown in p175 is that the physical sector address A is in use from the first block to the physical block address α. It is shown in. However, if all physical blocks are unused, for example, "-
An unused physical block address value, such as 1 ", shall be assigned.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the virtual sector and each physical block of the physical sector in the pointer type block information table 25 according to the above-mentioned embodiment. FIG. 29A shows a physical sector having one virtual sector. It is a figure which shows the case where each physical block of a sector was matched, and the figure (b).
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where a virtual sector is associated with each physical block of a plurality of physical sectors.

The correspondence between the virtual sector and each physical block of the physical sector is as follows. In the pointer type sector address conversion table 23 shown in FIG. 28, the virtual sector K (p
181) is assumed to be associated with the physical sector addresses A and B in the order of registration from the oldest, the virtual sector K corresponds to the physical sector addresses A and B as shown in p174 and p175 of FIG. When attached, it shows the correspondence between each block of the virtual sector and each physical block of the physical sector.

It should be noted that the block address value common to the virtual sector and the physical sector is an unused start block offset address value registered, and "α" and "β" are other than the maximum physical block address "M". Block address value.

As shown in FIG. 29A, "α">
In the case of “β”, as shown in p182, blocks 0 to β−1 of virtual sector K correspond to blocks 0 to β−1 of physical sector address B, and p
As indicated by 183, the “β” block through the “α−1” block correspond to the “β” block through the “α−1” block of the physical sector address A, and as indicated by p184, “α” through “α”. Up to M "blocks are associated with unused blocks.

Further, as shown in FIG. 29B, "α"
When ≦ “β”, as shown in p185, the “0” block to the “β-1” block of the virtual sector K correspond to the “0” block to the “β-1” of the physical sector address B. Also, as shown in p186, the blocks from "β" to "M" are associated with unused blocks.

That is, in the case shown in FIG. 29A, the range of the block address of the physical sector address A associated with the virtual sector K is the range of the physical sector address B also associated with the virtual sector K. In this case, each virtual block of the virtual sector K is associated with each physical block belonging to the physical sector address A and the physical sector address B in order to avoid duplication. Since the range of the block address of the physical sector address A associated with each other is included in the range of the physical sector address B also associated with the virtual sector, each virtual block of the virtual sector K corresponds to each physical sector of the physical sector address A. It is associated with only each physical block belonging to the physical sector address B without being associated with a block. It will be.

FIG. 30 is a flow chart showing the memory erase processing by the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 30, first, a memory erase command (erase command) is given from the system control unit 4 to the memory management unit 2 of the memory management unit 2 via the command bus 11, and the virtual memory address bus 12 is also supplied. When the virtual memory address is transferred to the memory control unit 21 via the, the virtual memory address is divided into the virtual sector address A and the virtual block address B by the memory control unit 21 (step D1).

Next, the sector address conversion control unit 24 reads the sector address conversion table 23, collates the sector address conversion table 23 with the virtual sector address A, and associates them with the virtual sector address A. It is judged whether or not there is a physical sector address group C composed of one or a plurality of physical sector addresses (steps D2 and D3).

When it is judged "NO" in step D3, that is, when there is no physical sector address group C associated with the virtual sector address A, the virtual sector address A is not associated with any physical sector, That is, since there is no erase target, the termination process is performed.

On the other hand, if it is judged "YES" in step D3, that is, if there is the physical sector address group C associated with the virtual sector address A, it is registered in the block information table 25 via the block information control unit 26. All block information of the physical sector address group C to be erased is erased, that is, updated to "0" (step D4).

Then, the physical sector address group C is deleted from the sector address conversion table 23 via the sector address conversion control unit 24 (step D5).

By this memory erase processing, the virtual sector address A is not associated with all physical sector addresses. At this time, when the virtual sector address A is read, the corresponding physical block address group does not exist, so that each block data of the appropriate physical sector address that has been erased is transferred.

That is, by this memory erase processing,
By only deleting the information on the virtual sector address to be erased from the sector address conversion table 23 and the block information table 25, and not erasing the data of the associated physical sector address group on the memory,
Erase processing speed is improved.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a memory copy process and a memory move process in the sector address conversion table 23 provided in the memory control device according to the above embodiment.

This memory copy processing is also performed on the virtual sector address of the copy destination while keeping the physical sector address group associated with the virtual sector address of the copy source left associating with the virtual sector address of the copy source. This is a process of associating, and by this memory copy process, all physical block information associated with the copy source virtual sector address is also associated with the copy destination virtual sector address.

The memory move process is a process of removing the association of the physical sector address group associated with the source virtual sector address with the source virtual sector address and associating it with the destination virtual sector address. This means that all the physical block information associated with the source virtual sector address is associated with the destination virtual sector address by this memory migration processing.

Here, it is assumed that the transfer source virtual sector, the transfer destination virtual sector, and the means for designating copy or move do not matter.

First, the memory copy processing by the memory controller will be described.

As shown in FIG. 31, in the sector address conversion table 23, the transfer source virtual sector address A is associated with "3", "8" and "N" of the physical sector address group (p191), and When the transfer destination virtual sector address B is associated with another physical sector address group (p192) and all block data associated with the virtual sector address A is copied to the virtual sector address B, that is, system control The memory copy command is given from the unit 4 to the memory management unit 2 of the memory management unit 2 via the command bus 11, and the virtual memory addresses of the copy source and the copy destination are sent to the memory control unit 21 via the virtual memory address bus 12. When transferred, it is associated with the virtual sector address B, that is, p192
The block information of all the physical blocks of the physical sector address group shown in (1) is deleted, and all the data of the physical sector address group shown in p191, that is, the physical sector address “3”,
All physical block addresses belonging to “8” and “N” and associated with the virtual sector address A and their block information are associated with the virtual sector address B.

At this time, since the virtual sector address B is associated with the same physical sector as the virtual sector address A, when changing the block data of the physical sector, all block data of the physical sector to be changed is changed. It is assumed that the processing is performed using the copied new physical sector and the registration in the sector address conversion table 23 is replaced.

Next, the memory move processing by the memory controller will be described.

Similarly, the sector address conversion table 23
In the sector address conversion table 23,
The transfer source virtual sector address C is associated with “9”, “2” and “5” of the physical sector address group (p193), and the transfer destination virtual sector address D is different from the physical sector address group (p194). When all the block data associated with the virtual sector address B are moved to the virtual sector address B in the case of being associated with each other, that is, the memory control unit of the memory management unit 2 from the system control unit 4 via the command bus 11. 2 is given a memory move instruction and the source and destination virtual memory addresses are transferred to the memory control unit 21 via the virtual memory address bus 12, they are associated with the virtual sector address D, that is, p194. The block information and of all physical blocks of the physical sector address group shown are deleted and p
All data of the physical sector address group indicated by reference numeral 193, that is, all physical block addresses that belong to the physical sector addresses “9”, “2”, and “5” and that are associated with the virtual sector address C, and their block information. Is associated with the virtual sector address D and the virtual sector address C is not associated with the physical sector address group (p193).

That is, when all block data is copied from any virtual sector to any virtual sector by the memory copy process or memory move process, or all block data is moved from any virtual sector to any virtual sector. Even in such a case, data copy or data movement on the non-volatile memory 1 does not occur, so that the processing can be speeded up.

Therefore, according to the memory control device having the above-mentioned configuration, one virtual sector is associated with a plurality of physical sectors by the sector address conversion table 23 and the block information table 25, and the write operation is performed by the memory write process. The physical sector address in which an appropriate unwritten block exists is detected from the physical sector address group associated with the virtual sector address to be written, and the physical read operation is performed by the memory read process. A physical sector address in which an appropriate written block exists is detected from the sector address group, and a virtual address in which a plurality of physical sector addresses are associated with each other in the sector address conversion table 23 and the block information table 25 by memory combination processing. Sector address is one physical Data address and the associated, also,
The memory erase process deletes the physical sector address group corresponding to the virtual sector address to be erased, and the memory copy process and the memory move process associate information between the virtual sector address and the physical sector address on the sector address conversion table 23. Is rewritten, the processing time for reading and writing the memory can be shortened and the memory resources can be efficiently used.

[0193]

As described above, according to the memory management system of the first aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors. The block information management means manages the block information indicating the usage status of the physical blocks belonging to the physical sector associated by the sector address management means, and the sector address detection means manages the physical sector managed by the sector address management means. Of the physical sector detected by the sector address detecting means and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detecting means, and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detecting means is managed by the address generating means and the block information managing means. Based on the address of the physical block Physical memory addresses Te is generated, so that the data processing to the memory is carried out.

According to the memory management method of the second aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors to manage the block information. Means manages block information indicating a use state of a physical block belonging to a physical sector associated by the sector address management means, based on information indicating presence / absence of use, and manages the sector address management means by the sector address management means. Address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means by the address generation means, and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means is managed based on the address of the physical sector and the physical block managed by the block information management means. Physical block managed by means Physical memory address is generated based on the address, so that data processing for the memory is made.

According to the memory management system of claim 3 of the present invention, the sector address management means associates the address of the virtual sector with the address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors to manage the block information. Means manages the block information indicating the use state of each physical block belonging to the physical sector associated by the sector address management means, based on the address range of the physical block in the physical sector, and the sector address detection means performs the sector address management means. The address of the required physical sector is detected based on the address of the physical sector managed by the block information management means and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means, and the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means. To block information management means Ri and physical memory address is generated based on the address of the managed physical blocks, so that data processing for the memory is made.

Further, according to the memory management system of the fourth aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector,
The block information management means searches for block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector address management means, and the sector address detection means searches for an unused state based on the block searched by the block information management means. The physical blocks of
The physical sector address to which the searched unused state block belongs is detected, and the physical address is generated based on the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detecting means and the address of the physical block managed by the block information managing means. The memory address is generated, and the memory write process for the memory is performed.

According to the memory management method of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the sector address management means searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector,
The block information management means searches for block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector address management means, and the sector address detection means searches for an unused state based on the block searched by the block information management means. The physical blocks of
When the physical sector address to which the searched unused state block belongs is not detected, the sector address setting means associates the physical sectors in which all the physical blocks to which they belong to the unused state with the virtual sector, and the address generating means. The physical memory address is generated based on the address of the physical sector set by the sector address setting means and the address of the physical block managed by the block information management means, and the memory write process for the memory is performed.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to shorten the processing time for reading and writing the non-volatile memory and to efficiently use the memory resources.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a memory control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a memory management unit provided in the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a sector address conversion table provided in the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of associating a virtual memory and a physical memory with a sector address conversion table provided in the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of correspondence between virtual sectors and physical sectors according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a block information table provided in the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a memory write process (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a memory write process (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example in which a physical sector address D in which an unwritten block exists is detected in the memory write process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which a physical sector address D including an unwritten block cannot be detected in the read processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a process of updating block information in the block information table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a process of registering a new physical sector address in the block information table according to the embodiment and a process of updating block information accompanying this registration process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a memory read process (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a memory read process (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a physical sector address D in which a written block exists in the memory read process according to the embodiment.
The figure which shows the example which is detected.

FIG. 16 is a physical sector address D in which a written block exists in the memory read process according to the embodiment.
The figure which shows the example which is detected.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a registration process of a new physical sector address in the block information table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a memory coupling process (No. 1) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a memory coupling process (No. 2) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a memory coupling process (No. 3) by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a registration process and a deletion process in the block information table in the memory combination process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of detecting a physical sector address D in which a written block exists in the memory combination processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example in which a physical sector address D in which a written block is present is not detected in the memory combination processing according to the embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of detection of the latest written block in the memory combination process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a registration process and a deletion process in the sector address conversion table in the memory combination process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing processing in the case of arbitrarily selecting a physical block address to be combined in the memory combination processing according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example when overwriting is performed on a virtual sector in which arbitrary data is written to all blocks in the memory control device according to the embodiment of the present invention. ) Is a diagram showing a state before writing the first data to the virtual sector, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a process before writing the second data to the physical sector when writing the first data to the virtual sector, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a process for a physical sector when writing the data of FIG.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing the configuration of a pointer type block information table according to the embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a correspondence between virtual sectors and physical blocks of a physical sector in the pointer type block information table according to the embodiment. FIG. 29A shows each physical sector having one virtual sector. It is a figure showing the case where it is matched with a physical block, and the figure (b) is a figure showing the case where a virtual sector is matched with each physical block of a plurality of physical sectors.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing a memory erase process by the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a memory copy process and a memory move process in the sector address conversion table provided in the memory control device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a diagram showing an example of overwriting a virtual sector in which arbitrary data is written to all blocks in the conventional memory control device. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a state before writing data to, and FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a process for a physical sector when writing data to a virtual sector.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Non-volatile memory 2 ... Memory management unit 3 ... Memory interface 4 ... System control unit 11 ... Command bus 12 ... Virtual memory address bus 13 ... Data bus 14 ... Memory access command bus 15 ... Physical memory address bus 16 ... Memory data bus 17 ... Memory bus 21 ... Memory control unit 22 ... Data buffer 23 ... Sector address conversion table 24 ... Sector address conversion control unit 25 ... Block information table 26 ... Block information control unit

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A physical memory composed of a plurality of physical sectors of erase units each having a plurality of physical blocks of write units, and a plurality of virtual sectors associated with the physical sectors of the physical memory. A memory management method for managing reading and writing of data using a virtual memory having a sector, comprising sector address management means for associating an address of a virtual sector with an address of the single or a plurality of physical sectors, A block information management unit that manages block information indicating a use state of a physical block belonging to a physical sector associated by the address management unit, a physical sector managed by the sector address management unit, and a block information management unit managed by the block information management unit. Sector address that detects the address of the required physical sector based on the physical block Output means, and address generation means for generating a physical memory address based on the address of the physical sector detected by the sector address detection means and the address of the physical block managed by the block information management means. Memory management method. 2. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the block information management unit manages a usage state of each physical block based on information indicating whether or not the physical block is used. Memory management method. 3. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the block information management unit manages a usage state of each block based on an address range of a physical block in a physical sector. Memory management method. 4. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the sector address management means further searches for a physical sector associated with an arbitrary virtual sector, and the block information management means further comprises: The sector information management unit searches the block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector address management unit, and the sector address detection unit determines an unused physical block based on the physical block searched by the block information management unit. A memory management method characterized by searching a block and detecting a physical sector address to which the searched unused physical block belongs. 5. The memory management system according to claim 4, wherein when the sector address detecting means does not detect an unused physical block, all physical blocks to which the physical block belongs are in an unused state. A memory management system comprising sector setting means for associating a physical sector with a virtual sector. 6. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the sector address management means further erases a correspondence between a virtual sector and a physical sector, and the block information management means further comprises a virtual A memory management method characterized by converting all block information of an address of a physical sector associated with an address of a sector into block information indicating an unused state. 7. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the sector address management unit further assigns an address of a physical sector associated with an address of an arbitrary virtual sector to an address of another virtual sector. A memory management method characterized by associating. 8. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the sector address management unit further associates an address of a physical sector associated with an address of an arbitrary virtual sector with an address of another virtual sector. Memory management method characterized by reattaching. 9. The memory management system according to claim 1, wherein the sector address management means further searches for a physical sector associated with a virtual sector, and the block information management means further comprises: The block information of an arbitrary physical block belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector address management unit is searched, and the sector address detection unit finds a physical block in use based on the physical block searched by the block information management unit. A memory management method characterized by performing a search and detecting a physical sector address to which the searched physical block in the used state belongs. 10. The memory management system according to claim 1, further comprising sector setting means for associating a physical sector in which all physical blocks to which the physical block belongs belong to a virtual sector, the block information management means. Reflects the block information of the physical blocks belonging to a plurality of physical sectors associated with the virtual sector by the sector address management means on the physical block belonging to the new physical sector associated with the virtual sector by the sector setting means. Rewriting the block information of the physical block belonging to the reflection source physical sector to block information indicating an unused state, and further, the sector address management means further erases the association between the virtual sector and the reflection source physical sector. Memory management method characterized by. 11. The memory management system according to claim 1, further comprising sector search means for searching a physical sector associated last among a plurality of physical sectors associated with a virtual sector. Then, the block information management means reflects the block information of the physical blocks belonging to a plurality of physical sectors associated with the virtual sector by the sector address management means in the physical blocks belonging to the physical sector searched by the sector search means. Rewriting the block information of the physical block belonging to the physical sector excluding the physical sector searched by the sector search unit in the physical sector of the reflection source to block information indicating an unused state, the sector address management unit, Further, the sector search means searches the virtual sector and the physical sector of the reflection source. Memory management method, characterized by erasing the correspondence between physical sector excluding the physical sector.