KR100759590B1 - Method for initializing flash memory of mobile device and recording medium recorded program according to the method - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for initializing a flash memory of a mobile device and a recording medium storing a program thereof are provided to reduce booting time of the mobile device by initializing the flash memory without a memory test. A bad block list is set to null in initial booting without checking the flash memory(S200). It is checked whether the mobile device is the idle state after the mobile device is booted(S210). If the mobile device is the idle state, each block of the flash memory is sequentially checked and a number of bad blocks is added to the bad block list(S232). If a write task to the predetermined block of the flash memory is requested, a flash memory initialization flag is checked. If the flag is false, the block is checked and the block number is added to the bad block list when the block is bad. If the flag is true, the requested write task is performed.

Description

Method for initializing flash memory of mobile device and recording medium recorded program according to the method}

1 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a booting process of a portable device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a flash memory initialization method of a portable device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a process of performing a requested operation to a flash memory of a portable device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a method of initializing a flash memory mounted on a mobile phone and the like and a recording medium on which a program in which the method is implemented is recorded. More specifically, the mobile phone efficiently initializes the flash memory mounted on a mobile phone while minimizing a boot time. To initialize a flash memory.

Portable devices, including mobile phones, are equipped with NAND flash memory for storing large amounts of data. Therefore, when the portable device is turned on, the firmware or operating system (OS) of the portable device initializes hardware mounted in the portable device and performs preparation for servicing the user application. In general, booting time refers to the time from when the portable device is powered on to when the user application can be serviced, and minimizing the booting time of the portable device is one of very important tasks.

However, one of the initialization operations that takes a lot of time when booting using the firmware or the operating system of the portable device is the initialization operation for the NAND flash memory. The initialization operation for the NAND flash memory checks each block in the memory to determine whether a bad block exists, and generally takes time linearly proportional to the size of the memory. For example, it takes about four seconds to initialize a 32MB NAND flash memory.

In recent years, the capacity of NAND flash memory mounted in portable devices is gradually increasing, and considering the importance of fast boot time, the development of an effective algorithm for initializing NAND flash memory is urgently needed. It is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention to solve the above problems is to provide a method that can reduce the boot time of a portable device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient initialization method for a flash memory mounted on a portable device while reducing the boot time of the portable device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium in which a program in which the above-described methods are implemented is recorded.

A feature of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem relates to a method of initializing a flash memory of a portable device,

(a) setting the bad block list to NULL and setting the 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'FALSE' without performing a bad check on the flash memory at the initial boot,

(b) checking whether the portable device is idle after booting,

(c) If the portable device is in an idle state, each block of the flash memory is sequentially checked for badness, and the bad block is added to the bad block list.

(d) When the badness check of all blocks of the flash memory is finished, the step of setting the 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'TRUE' includes checking the flash memory when the portable device is in an idle state and initial booting of the portable device. Reduce time.

The flash memory initialization method having the above-described characteristics

(e) if a 'write operation' is requested to a specific block of flash memory, check the flash memory initialization flag,

(f) if the flag is 'FALSE', checking whether the corresponding block is bad or adding the corresponding block to the bad block list if the corresponding block is bad;

(g) If the flag is 'TRUE', the method further includes performing a requested operation to perform a 'write operation' requested to the memory.

The flash memory initialization method having the above-described characteristics

(e) if a 'read operation' is requested for a specific block of flash memory, further comprising performing the requested operation immediately without checking the flash memory initialization flag, thereby performing a 'read operation' requested to the memory. Perform.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a recording medium having recorded thereon a program for initializing a flash memory of a portable device.

(a) a procedure of setting a bad block list to NULL and a 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'FALSE' without performing a bad check on the flash memory at the initial boot,

(b) determining whether the portable device is idle after booting,

(c) if the portable device is idle, sequentially check each block in the flash memory for badness, and if the block is bad, add the block to the bad block list;

(d) When the badness check of all blocks of the flash memory is finished, the procedure of setting the 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'TRUE' is sequentially performed to inspect the flash memory when the portable device is in an idle state. Reduce initial boot time.

The program of the recording medium having the above-mentioned characteristics

(e) a process of checking the flash memory initialization flag if a 'write operation' is requested to a specific block of flash memory;

(f) if the flag is 'FALSE', a process of checking whether a block is bad or adding a block to the bad block list if the block is bad;

(g) If the flag is 'TRUE', the procedure to perform the requested operation is performed.

Hereinafter, a method of initializing a flash memory of a portable device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The initialization method of the flash memory according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the initialization operation for the flash memory is performed in the idle state after booting, rather than performing the initialization operation for the portable device.

1 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating a process of initializing a portable device according to a method of initializing a flash memory according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, an initialization process of a portable device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

First, the initialization operation of the firmware or the operating system of the portable device is executed by turning on the portable device (step 100). While initializing the hardware device, the list of bad blocks is set to null and the 'flash memory initialization flag' is set to 'FALSE' without performing a process of initializing the flash memory (step 110). Next, after initializing the execution environment of the application program (step 120), the initialization operation of the firmware or the operating system is terminated (step 130).

As described above, during the initialization operation of the portable device, by setting the defective block of the flash memory without the inspection process for the defective block of the flash memory, fast booting is possible.

On the other hand, according to the flash memory initialization method according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the portable device is in an idle state, a bad block list creation operation for the flash memory will be described sequentially. 2 is a flowchart sequentially illustrating an initialization process for a flash memory that is performed when the portable device is in an idle state.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, the current block number is set to '0' (step 200). Next, it checks whether the portable device is in an idle state, and waits until it is idle if it is not idle, and if it is in the idle state, it performs the initialization operation that checks whether each block of the flash memory is a bad block. (Step 210).

Check whether the current block number is the last block number, and if the current block number is the last block number, set the flash memory initialization flag to 'TRUE' (step 220) and then terminate the bad block list creation operation (step 220). 222).

If the current block number is not the last block number, it is checked whether the current block is bad (step 230). If the current block is a bad block, the current block number is added to the bad block list (step 232). After increasing the current block number by 1, the process returns to step 210 to check whether the corresponding block is defective (step 234).

As described above, in the flash memory initialization method according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bad block list for the NAND flash memory is created when the portable device is in an idle state, and the bad block is performed when the portable device must perform some operation. Temporarily stop creating a list. As such, by creating a bad block list when the portable device is in an idle state, booting time of the portable device can be reduced without additional load on the portable device.

On the other hand, when the above-described bad block list creation operation is completed and the flash memory initialization flag is set to 'TRUE', the read and write operations for the flash memory by the portable device are processed as it is. However, when the above-described bad block list creation operation is not terminated and the flash memory initialization flag is 'FALSE', when a read and write operation for the flash memory is requested, after checking whether the corresponding block is a bad block or not, You have to do it. Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 3, a process in the case where a read and write operation is requested from the portable device will be described sequentially.

First, when a read / write operation to the flash memory is requested, the state of the flash memory initialization flag is checked (step 300). If the flag is 'TRUE', the process ends after performing the requested read / write operation (step 310).

If the requested task is a 'read operation' without the flag being 'TRUE', the process ends after performing the requested read operation (step 310).

If the flag is not 'TRUE' and the requested operation is 'write operation', it is checked whether the block number for which the write operation is requested is included in the bad block list (step 312). If the requested block number is included in the bad block list, the process ends after notifying that the write operation has not been performed (step 314).

Next, the block number for which the write operation is requested is compared with the current block number (step 320). If the block number for which the write operation is requested is smaller than the current block number, the operation is terminated after performing the corresponding operation (step 310). If the block number for which a write operation is requested is larger than the current block number, since the creation operation of the bad block list for the memory has not been completed yet, a bad check is performed on the corresponding block (step 330). If the corresponding block is a bad block, the block is added to the bad block list (step 340), then the notification is not performed that the write operation is terminated (step 350). In this case, when the write operation is not performed normally, an error value indicating that the writing operation is not normally performed to the upper application is returned.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, this is merely an example and is not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art do not depart from the essential characteristics of the present invention. It will be appreciated that various modifications and applications which are not illustrated above in the scope are possible. And differences relating to such modifications and applications should be construed as being included in the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

By the flash memory initialization method according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the booting time of the portable device. In addition, by performing the flash memory initialization operation in the idle state of the portable device, the boot time of the portable device may be reduced, and the bad block list may be efficiently written.

Claims (9)

In the method of initializing the flash memory of the portable device, (a) setting the bad block list to null without performing a bad check on the flash memory at initial booting; (b) checking whether the portable device is idle after booting; (c) if the portable device is in an idle state, sequentially checking each block of the flash memory for badness and adding a number of bad blocks to the bad block list; The flash memory initialization method of the portable device, characterized in that for reducing the initial boot time of the portable device by checking the flash memory when the portable device is idle. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises setting the 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'FALSE', Step (c) further comprises the step of setting the "flash memory initialization flag" to "TRUE" when the failure check of all the blocks of the flash memory is finished, the flash memory initialization method of the portable device. The method of claim 2, wherein the flash memory initialization method is (d) if a 'write operation' is requested to a specific block of flash memory, checking the flash memory initialization flag; (e) if the flag is 'FALSE', checking whether the corresponding block is bad or adding the corresponding block number to the bad block list if the corresponding block is bad; (f) if the flag is 'TRUE', performing the requested operation Flash memory initialization method of a portable device characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 2, wherein the flash memory initialization method is (d) if a 'read operation' is requested for a specific block of the flash memory, the flash memory initialization of the portable device further comprising the step of immediately performing the requested operation without checking the flash memory initialization flag. Way. A portable device to which the flash memory initialization method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is applied. As a program to initialize the flash memory of a portable device, (a) a procedure of setting a bad block list to null and setting a 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'FALSE' without performing a bad check on the flash memory at initial booting; (b) determining whether the portable device is idle after booting; (c) if the portable device is idle, sequentially checking each block of the flash memory for badness and adding a number of bad blocks to the bad block list; (d) setting a 'flash memory initialization flag' to 'TRUE' when all the blocks of the flash memory have been checked for defects; And sequentially performing operation to check the flash memory when the portable device is in an idle state, thereby reducing the initial boot time of the portable device.  The method of claim 6, wherein the program is (e) checking a flash memory initialization flag if a 'write operation' is requested to a particular block of flash memory; (f) if the flag is 'FALSE', checking whether the corresponding block is bad or adding the number of the corresponding block to the bad block list if the corresponding block is bad; (g) if the flag is 'TRUE', performing the requested operation; And a recording medium further comprising.  The method of claim 6, wherein the program is (e) if a 'read operation' is requested for a specific block of flash memory, the recording medium further performing a procedure of immediately performing the requested operation without checking the flash memory initialization flag. The method of claim 7, wherein step (f), If the flag is 'FALSE', it is checked whether the corresponding block is included in the bad block list. If the corresponding block is included in the bad block list, it is terminated after notifying that writing has not been performed. step, If the block is not included in the bad block list, comparing a block number currently being checked for a block number with a write operation requested; And If the current block number is smaller than the block number for which the write operation is requested, the operation is terminated after performing the operation. If not, the write operation performs a bad check on the requested block and if the block is a bad block, Adding the number of blocks to the bad block list and ending; And a recording medium.

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