KR102315314B1 - Apparatus and method for controlling eeprom - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an EEPROM control apparatus and method for increasing the reusable number of EEPROMs. The present invention provides a memory unit comprising a plurality of data blocks; and a control unit that writes data to the data block and controls the memory unit to perform a bit update that unidirectionally corrects some bits of a data block previously stored in the memory unit when a new data block is written. Provides an EEPROM control device.

Description

EEPROM CONTROL DEVICE AND METHOD {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING EEPROM}

The present invention relates to an EEPROM control apparatus and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an EEPROM control apparatus and method for increasing the reusable number of EEPROMs.

EEPROM (Electrically Erasable PROM) is a type of non-volatile memory device. Once the contents are stored, they are stored for a relatively long time and are mainly used for reading and using, or for storing set values that should not be erased even when the power is turned off. It is a device useful as a memory.

In a vehicle, data for vehicle diagnosis and operation, such as failure/diagnosis/learning data, are stored in the EEPROM built into the vehicle. control so that

EEPROM emulation is a technology that divides the data to be saved into a certain size, assigns an ID, and stores it in the EEPROM. In this case, the currently stored data in the previous block is copied and moved to the last block, and then data is written or stored in the EEPROM by deleting the previous block to store the continuously changed data. However, EEPROM has a limit in the number of Erase Cycles for erasing data. Therefore, when data is frequently changed, new blocks are continuously stored and deleted, so the Erase Cycle continues to increase, which increases the durability of the EEPROM. There is a problem with decreasing.

In the related art, as in FIG. 1 , data of a block to be newly stored is compared with data of a block currently in use (S110-S130), and in the case of the same, data of a block currently being used is used as it is (S140), In this case, the number of erase cycles was reduced by writing a new block to the EEPROM (S150).

However, in the case of the prior art, as data is compared and processed in block units, even if there is a block identical to the block to be newly stored among the blocks used in the past, it cannot be utilized, so there is a limit in reducing the number of erase cycles. .

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1826778 (2018.02.01)

An object of the present invention is to provide an EEPROM control apparatus and method capable of increasing the reusable number of EEPROMs by reducing the number of EEPROM Erase Cycles.

The present invention provides a memory unit comprising a plurality of data blocks; and a control unit that writes data to the data block and controls the memory unit to perform a bit update that unidirectionally corrects some bits of a data block previously stored in the memory unit when a new data block is written. Provides an EEPROM control device.

In an embodiment, the controller may bit update some bits of a DATA field of a data block currently being used having the same ID field as that of the new data block.

Also, the controller may bit update some bits of a DATA field of a data block marked for deletion having the same ID field as that of the new data block.

Also, the data block may include an ID field, a STATUS field, a SIZE field, and a DATA field.

Also, when there is no data block having the same ID field as that of the new data block, the controller may newly store the new data block.

In an embodiment, when there is a data block marked for deletion having the same ID field and the same DATA field as the new data block, the controller may change the STATUS field of the data block marked for deletion and reuse it.

In addition, if there is a data block marked for deletion having the same ID field as the new data block, but cannot be reused by updating the bit for the data block marked for deletion or changing the STATUS field, the new data block A new block can be saved.

The present invention also provides an EEPROM control method for writing EEPROM data, comprising: (a) comparing an ID field of a data block stored in a memory with a data block to be newly stored for each ID field; (b) determining whether a bit update is possible for a currently used data block or a data block marked for deletion; and (c) performing the bit update on the currently used data block or the data block marked for deletion when the bit update is possible.

In an embodiment, in step (c), the bit update may modify at least some bits of the data block in one direction.

In addition, in the step (c), when the bit update of the currently used data block is possible, only the DATA field of the currently used data block may perform the bit update.

Also, in step (c), when the bit update for the data block marked for deletion is possible, the STATUS field of the data block marked for deletion may be changed and the bit update may be performed on the DATA field.

In one embodiment, the method comprises: (d) when it is impossible to update the bit for the currently used data block, if there is a data block having the same ID field and the DATA field among the data blocks marked for deletion, the STATUS field is set It may further include; reusing the data block marked for deletion by changing it.

According to the present invention, when EEPROM data is deleted and stored, the number of EEPROM reuse is increased by reducing the number of EEPROM Erase Cycles as the EEPROM data is updated in a way that each data bit is checked and managed in units of data bits. has the effect of making

1 is a diagram showing a data recording method using an EEPROM emulation function according to the prior art.
2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an EEPROM control device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a memory unit included in an EEPROM control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 and 5 are diagrams exemplarily illustrating processing of data blocks in an EEPROM control apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a view for explaining a method of writing data according to an EEPROM control method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components are given the same reference numerals as much as possible even though they are indicated on different drawings. In addition, in describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known configuration or function may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto and may be variously implemented by those skilled in the art without being limited thereto.

2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an EEPROM control device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a memory unit included in the EEPROM control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the EEPROM control apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a memory unit 100 and a control unit 200 .

In an embodiment, the memory unit 100 is configured of a plurality of data blocks in which data is stored, and may preferably be an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM).

Referring to FIG. 3 , the data blocks constituting the memory unit 100 include an ID field 110 in which ID information for identifying and managing each data block is stored, and a STATUS field in which information on the usage state of the block is stored. ( 120 ), a SIZE field 130 in which size information of data is stored and a DATA field 140 in which data is stored may be included.

When the data to be stored is stored in the memory unit 100, the control unit 200 divides the data into a predetermined size and assigns an ID to store the ID in the ID field 110, and sets the size information of the data in the SIZE field. At 130 , data is stored in the DATA field 140 . At this time, the control unit 200 divides the memory unit 100 into predetermined blocks and stores data. This function of the control unit 200 is referred to as "EEPROM Emuation".

In an embodiment, the STATUS field 120 is a bit value that is changed as the state of each data block is changed by the controller 200, and indicates whether each data block is currently stored and in use or marked for deletion. , or information indicating whether the state is being reused.

The control unit 200 updates the value of the STATUS field 120 according to the current use state by changing the state value of the STATUS field 120 whenever a data block in use is marked for deletion or a data block marked for deletion is reused. can

For example, assuming that the size of the STATUS field 120 is 1 byte (8 bits), when the first data block is stored, the bit value of the STATUS field 120 is 00000000 (hereinafter, '0b' is displayed for convenience of explanation). ) can be stored as If the data block currently in use needs to be marked for deletion as another data block is used thereafter, one of the bit values in the STATUS field 120 of the first stored and currently used data block is changed from 0 to 1 to 00000001 (after , may have a value of '1b') for convenience of description. Also, when a data block marked for deletion is reused in this way, one of the bit values of the STATUS field 120 of the corresponding data block is changed from 0 to 1, and at this time, the STATUS field 120 of the corresponding data block is set to 00000011 (hereinafter, denoted as '11b' for convenience of description) may have a bit value. In the same way, if the data block with the STATUS field 120 value of '11b' is marked for deletion again, one of the bit values of the STATUS field 120 is changed from 0 to 1, and at this time, the STATUS of the corresponding data block is changed. The field 120 may have a bit value of 00000111 (hereinafter, referred to as '111b' for convenience of description).

As such, when each data block is newly stored, the STATUS field 120 has a bit value of 0, and when the state is changed (deleted or reused), one of the bit values is changed from 0 to 1, so each data The STATUS field 120 of the block may have an even number of 1's as bit values in the case of a data block currently being used or reused by the block, and an odd number of 1's in the case of a block currently marked for deletion. That is, according to the number of 1s included in the STATUS field 120 of each data block, it is possible to determine whether the corresponding data block is currently in use or marked for deletion.

Meanwhile, the size (1 byte) of the above-described STATUS field 120 and the positions of bits changed in each step are for illustration only and are not necessarily limited to the above-described embodiment.

Again, let us return to the description of FIG. 2 .

The control unit 200 performs logical operations and simultaneously controls the overall operation of the memory unit 100, records and stores data in data blocks, and determines whether there are reusable data blocks among data blocks marked for deletion. If there is a data block, the memory unit 100 may be controlled to reuse it.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the control unit 200 not only determines whether the data blocks are the same to determine whether they can be reused, but also compares each bit of the data block and corrects a specific bit by modifying the existing data block. The memory unit 100 may be controlled to be reused by partially modifying (referred to as 'bit update' in the following description).

Bit updates are described in more detail.

In the case of EEPROM, data is processed in units of blocks, and unidirectional modification is possible in units of bits. For example, it may be possible to change '0' to '1' in bit information, but it may not be possible to change '1' to '0'. In some cases, it may be possible to change '1' to '0' in bit information, but it may not be possible to change '0' to '1'.

In the description of the present invention, it is assumed that change of '0→1' is possible and change of '1→0' is not possible.

If the current data is '0011b' and the data to be newly stored is '1011b', only the first first digit of the current data may be changed from '0' to '1' and stored as '1011b'. This is the bit update described earlier. If this is expressed as a logical expression, when the existing DATA is DATA1 and the new DATA is DATA2, bit update can be performed in the case of "(DATA1 xor DATA2)&(DATA1)==0".

With bit updates, if some bits of an existing data block can be modified, some bits of an existing data block can be partially modified and reused through bit updates, rather than erasing the existing data block and storing a new data block. As a result, data reusability can be further improved.

4 and 5 are diagrams exemplarily illustrating processing of data blocks in an EEPROM control apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to (a) of FIG. 4 , the STATUS of the data block ID2 is 0b, and in the currently used state, DATA is to be changed from '0xF0' to 'OxF1'. In this case, if the '0' of the last digit in the DATA is changed to '1', the DATA to be stored is satisfied, and the bit update described above is possible. Therefore, STATUS is maintained as it is, and the last digit of DATA is bit updated and stored as current data.

Referring to FIG. 4(b), after the data block ID2 of FIG. 4(a) is modified, the DATA of ID2 is to be changed from '0xF1' to '0xF0'. At this time, the last digit of DATA, '1', cannot be bit updated with '0'. Accordingly, the previous data block ID2 is marked for deletion (STATUS is corrected to '1b'), and ID2 is newly generated and stored as current data.

FIG. 4(c) shows the initial data block 100a, the first modified data block 100b modified through the process shown in FIG. 4(a), and the process shown in FIG. 4(b). The secondary correction data block 100c that has been re-corrected is illustrated by way of example. The change from the first data block 100a to the first correction data block 100b was performed by bit updating the DATA of the data block of ID2. However, the bit update is not possible in the change from the primary correction data block 100b to the secondary correction data block 100c, so for ID2 of the primary correction data block 100b, the STATUS is corrected to '1b' and a new ID2 was created and saved.

Fig. 5 (a) shows the state of Fig. 4 (b). FIG. 5B shows that DATA of the data block of ID2 with STATUS of 0b and DATA of 0x0F is changed to 0xF2. If DATA is to be changed to 0xF2, bit update is performed on 0x0F of the previous data and the DATA cannot be changed to 0xF2.

In this case, new data having DATA of 0xF2 may be created and stored. However, in FIG. 5(b), since some of the previously marked data for deletion have DATA of 0xF1, the data marked for deletion may be bit updated and reused.

That is, the STATUS of the block having 0xF1 DATA previously marked for deletion is changed to the current data (eg, changed to 11b), the bit is updated and stored as current data, and the previous data is marked for deletion by changing the STATUS.

FIG. 5(c) shows the secondary correction data block 100c shown in FIG. 5(a) and the tertiary correction data block 100d modified again through the process shown in FIG. 5(b). is exemplarily shown.

In order to change the DATA of the data block of ID2 to 0xF2, the STATUS of the data block of ID2 marked for deletion (STATUS 1b) in the secondary modified data block 100c is corrected to '11b', and the bit is updated for DATA to OxF2 was modified to For the previous data of ID2 in the secondary corrected data block 100c, STATUS was corrected to '1b' and marked for deletion.

According to the present invention, there is an advantage in that the number of erase cycles can be significantly reduced by allowing the erase-marked data block to be used for bit update.

6 is a view for explaining a method of writing data according to an EEPROM control method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The control unit 200 starts the process of storing data in the memory unit 100, first searches for a currently used data block stored in the memory unit 100, and compares it with a data block to be newly stored (S200) . The control unit 200 determines whether there is a data block having the same ID field as the ID field of the data block to be newly stored (S202).

If there is no data block having the same ID field, the data block to be newly stored is sequentially stored in the next block of the last stored data block (S204). In this case, since the data block for the new ID that has not been previously stored in the memory unit 100 is newly stored, the data blocks used in correspondence with the existing ID are used as they are and are not marked for deletion.

If there is a data block having the same ID, it is determined whether the data is the same by comparing the DATA field 140 of the data block currently being used and the data block to be newly stored among the data blocks having the same ID (S206) ).

If DATA is the same as a result of comparison, the currently used data block continues to use the currently used data block without storing the new data block in a separate block ( S208).

If the DATA is not the same, it is determined whether it can be changed to a data block to be newly stored through bit update of the DATA of the currently used data block ( S210 ). If bit update is possible, the DATA of the currently used data block is bit updated and stored (S212).

If the bit update is not possible, a data block to be newly stored is compared with a reusable data block among data blocks marked for deletion (S214). The reusable data block is a block stored in the memory unit 100 in a state marked for deletion and is identical to a data block to be newly stored and an ID. Also, the reusable data block may be a block whose reuse count has not been exhausted.

As described above, in the present invention, when a specific data block is marked for deletion or reused so that the usage state is changed, one of the bit values of the STATUS field 120 of the corresponding data block is changed from 0 to 1. It can indicate the status of use. In this way, if the bit value is changed from 0 to 1 according to the usage status, after the data block is reused or marked for deletion several times (the number of reuse depends on the size of the STATUS field 120), the STATUS field 120 All bit values of is changed to 1, so reuse may no longer be possible. In this case, since the number of reuse has been exhausted, it is not determined as a reusable block.

If a reusable data block exists in step S214 and a reusable data block identical to the data block to be newly stored exists, the existing data block is reused (S216). In this case, the currently used data block is marked for deletion and the bit value of the STATUS field 120 of the reusable data block is changed and reused without storing the data block to be newly stored in a separate block.

On the other hand, if the reusable data block exists in step S214 but is not the same as the data block to be newly stored, it is determined whether the reusable data block can be bit-updated (S218).

When bit update is possible, after bit updating the DATA of the reusable data block, the STATUS field 120 is modified and stored (S220).

However, when the bit update is not possible, the data block to be newly stored is stored and the currently used data block is marked for deletion (S222).

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the data of the data block to be newly stored is not the same as the data of the data block currently being used, if there is a data block having the same data among the data blocks marked for deletion, the STATUS of the previously stored data block By changing only the value of the field 120 , the used data block can be changed without newly stored in an empty block. In addition, when bit update is possible for a data block currently being used or when a bit update is possible for a reusable data block, it can be used by changing a data block to be newly stored through bit update.

Accordingly, according to the present invention, the number of times of data storage can be reduced through reuse of data marked for deletion and bit update, and thus the number of erase cycles of the EEPROM can be reduced.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various modifications, changes, and substitutions are possible within the range that does not depart from the essential characteristics of the present invention by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains. will be. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention and the accompanying drawings are for explaining, not limiting, the technical spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments and the accompanying drawings. . The protection scope of the present invention should be construed by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent range should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

10: EEPROM control unit
100: memory unit
200: control unit
110: ID field
120: STATUS field
130: SIZE field
140: DATA field

Claims (12)

a memory unit composed of a plurality of data blocks; and
a controller that writes data to the data block and controls the memory unit to perform a bit update that unidirectionally corrects at least some bits of a data block previously stored in the memory unit when a new data block is written;
including,
The control unit determines whether the bit update is possible for the data block marked for deletion having the same ID field as the new data block, and when the bit update is possible for the data block marked for deletion, a STATUS field for the data block marked for deletion and bit-updating some bits of the DATA field,
When the usage state of the data block is changed, the control unit changes one of the bit values of the STATUS field of the data block whose state is changed from 0 to 1, and when all bit values of the STATUS field are changed to 1, it cannot be reused. An EEPROM control device, characterized in that it is determined as a data block. The method of claim 1,
and the control unit bit-updates some bits of a DATA field of a data block currently being used having the same ID field as that of the new data block. delete The method of claim 1,
and the controller newly stores the new data block when there is no data block having the same ID field as the new data block. delete 5. The method of any one of claims 1, 2 and 4,
and the control unit changes and reuses the STATUS field of the data block marked for deletion when there is a data block marked for deletion having the same ID field and the same DATA field as the new data block. 7. The method of claim 6,
If there is a data block marked for deletion having the same ID field as the new data block, but cannot be reused by updating the bit for the data block marked for deletion or changing the STATUS field, the new data block EEPROM control device, characterized in that the new storage. An EEPROM control method for writing EEPROM data, the method comprising:
(a) comparing, by the EEPROM control apparatus, an ID field of a data block to be newly stored for each ID field with an ID field of a data block stored in a memory;
(b) determining, by the EEPROM control device, whether a bit update that corrects at least some bits in one direction is possible for a data block currently being used or a data block marked for deletion;
(c) performing, by the EEPROM control device, the bit update on the currently used data block or the data block marked for deletion when the bit update is possible;
including,
In step (c), when the bit update is possible for the data block marked for deletion, the STATUS field is changed for the data block marked for deletion and some bits of the DATA field are bit updated;
changing, by the EEPROM control device, one of bit values of the STATUS field of the data block whose state is changed from 0 to 1 when the usage state of the data block is changed; and
and determining, by the EEPROM control device, as a non-reusable data block when all bit values of the STATUS field are changed to 1. delete 9. The method of claim 8,
In step (c), if the bit update is possible for the currently used data block, the EEPROM control method characterized in that the bit update is performed only on the DATA field of the currently used data block. delete 11. The method of any one of claims 8 and 10,
(d) when the EEPROM control device is unable to update the bit for the currently used data block, if there is a data block having the same ID field and the same DATA field among the data blocks marked for deletion, the STATUS field is changed to delete the data block Reusing the marked data block; EEPROM control method further comprising a.

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