TW201438020A - Flash memory adaptor and the flash memory storage device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A flash memory adaptor for adapting a host device and a flash memory device, including a first interface unit, a second interface unit, a controller, and a buffer is illustrated. The first interface unit is configured for connecting to a host connecting unit of the host device, and the second interface unit is configured for connecting a memory connecting unit of the flash memory device. The controller is coupled with the first and the second interface unit, receives a command from the host device, and access to the flash memory device for read/write data through the second interface unit. The buffer is for buffering data transferred from/to the flash memory device, wherein the controller processes the data in the buffer and transfers processed data to the host device or the flash memory device according to the command.

Description

Flash memory adapter and flash memory storage device

The invention relates to an adapter and a storage device, and in particular to an adapter and a storage device for a flash memory.

The flash memory storage device has become a popular and commonly used memory for various electronic devices because of its characteristics of non-volatile, fast access, erasable and re-writable. However, due to the increasing number of application products, the specifications of flash memory are constantly being updated. For example, the number of data lines is increased to increase the throughput and speed of each data, or the standards for error checking and correction of data are becoming more and more important. improve.

However, the electronic products used to access the flash memory device are not necessarily designed to change with the update frequency of the flash memory, resulting in some electronic products not compatible with the new flash memory device, or unable to The flash memory device is enabled to perform its intended access performance, so that the user cannot smoothly control the access of the flash memory device to the electronic device.

The embodiment of the invention provides a flash memory adapter for transferring a host device and a flash memory storage device, the controller comprising: a first interface unit, a second interface unit, a control unit, and a temporary Save the unit. The first interface unit is configured to connect to a corresponding device connection unit on the host device, and the second interface unit is configured to connect to a corresponding memory connection unit on the flash memory storage device. The control unit is coupled to the first interface unit and the second interface unit, and receives an access instruction generated by the host device, and The interface unit reads or writes data to the flash memory storage device. The temporary storage unit is coupled to the control unit for temporarily storing data read from or written to the flash memory storage device. The control unit processes the data in the temporary storage unit to transfer the processed data to the host device or to the flash memory storage device according to the access command.

In addition, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a flash memory storage device for accessing data by a host device, including a flash memory unit and a flash memory adapter. The flash memory adapter is coupled to the flash memory unit and includes a first interface unit, a second interface unit, a control unit, and a temporary storage unit. The first interface unit is connected to the corresponding device connection unit on the host device, and the second interface unit is connected to the flash memory unit. The control unit is coupled to the first interface unit and the second interface unit, receives an access instruction generated by the host device, and reads or writes data to the flash memory unit through the second interface unit. The temporary storage unit is coupled to the control unit for temporarily storing data read from or written to the flash memory unit. The control unit processes the data in the temporary storage unit to transfer the processed data to the host device or to the flash memory unit according to the access instruction.

In summary, the flash memory adapter provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be used by the host device to access data of the fast memory unit. Thereby, the host device can read and write data with various new specifications of the flash memory storage medium through the adapter controlled by the control unit without any change.

[First Embodiment]

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a flash memory adapter of the present invention. The flash memory adapter 10 is used to connect the electronic device 20 and the flash memory storage device 30. The electronic device 20 accesses the data of the flash memory storage device 30 through the flash memory adapter 10.

The flash memory adapter 10 can include at least a first interface unit 100, a second interface unit 102, a control unit 104, and a temporary storage unit 106. The first interface unit 100 , the second interface unit 102 , and the temporary storage unit 106 are respectively coupled to the control unit 104 . The electronic device 20 then includes at least a device processing unit 200 and a device connection unit 202 for connecting to the first interface unit 100. The device processing unit 200 is coupled to the device connection unit 202. The flash memory storage device 30 includes a flash memory unit 300 for storing data, and a memory connection unit 302 for connecting to the second interface unit 102.

The device connection unit 202 may be incompatible with the memory connection unit 302. For example, the device connection unit 202 is a Serial Peripheral Interface unit, and the memory connection unit 302 is a reverse gate flash memory ( NAND Flash) interface unit, the number of the two interface pins is different from the pin signal configuration. Alternatively, the device connection unit 202 is an old type of flash memory interface unit, and the memory connection unit 302 is a relatively new type of flash memory interface unit, and the number of pins and the signal configuration may be different from each other. Therefore, if there is no transfer of the flash memory adapter 10, the host device 20 may not be able to smoothly access the data in the flash memory storage device 30.

Therefore, the first interface unit 100 and the second interface unit 102 of the flash memory adapter 10 are different interfaces of the corresponding device connection unit 202 and the memory connection unit 302, respectively. Specifically, the first interface unit 100 and the The two interface units 102 can each be constructed of a plurality of universal output input pins to accommodate different interface specifications.

The control unit 104 is a control processing center of the flash memory adapter 10, and receives an access instruction issued by the device processing unit 200 of the host device 20 through the first interface unit 100, and accordingly, from the host device 20 The data is written to the flash memory unit 300 of the flash memory storage device 30, or the data read from the flash memory storage device 30 is received from the second memory unit 102 via the access command.

The flash memory storage device 30 may have higher speed and performance for data access and management requirements for data reading and writing than the host device 20, for example, the memory connecting unit 302 includes 16 or more data lines, each time. More than 16 bits of data can be output, but the device connection unit 202 may only have 8 data lines for transmitting information, and only 8 bits of data can be transmitted at a time, which may cause data loss. Therefore, the control unit 104 may temporarily store the data read from the flash memory unit 300 in the temporary storage unit 106, and perform verification processing on the data in the temporary storage unit 106, and then transmit the corresponding information corresponding to the device connection unit 202. An interface unit 100 is transmitted to the host device 20 in a manner compatible with the host device 20.

Further, the flash memory adapter 10 of the present embodiment may further include a memory unit 108, such as a non-volatile read-only memory, for recording the firmware of the adapter 10. The control unit 104 can configure the plurality of general-purpose input and output pins described above as the pins of the first interface unit 100 and the pins of the second interface unit 102 according to the firmware. In addition, the control unit 104 can control other components in the flash memory adapter 10 to check the data to be accessed or manage the memory blocks of the flash memory unit 300 according to the firmware.

Therefore, the flash memory adapter 10 of the present embodiment may further include a flash memory conversion unit 110, an error check correction unit 112, and a bad block management unit 114 respectively coupled to the control unit 104.

The flash memory conversion unit 110 can be a Flash Translate Layer (FTL) unit for managing the logical address and physical address mapping of the memory block in the flash memory unit 300. Mapping). The flash memory conversion layer unit may include a wear leveling and a memory space collection mechanism. The former configures the address of the data to be written according to the total endurance of each memory block to consume the number of erasures of each memory block on average, and the latter is effective when erasing the data of the memory block. The data is moved to other blocks to release the complete memory space.

The error check correction unit 112 may be an Error Checking and Correcting circuit chip for verifying the correctness of the received data, for example, verifying the data according to an error correction code, and discovering the data. Amend it if there is an error.

The Bad Block Management (BBM) unit 114 can detect and mark the damaged memory blocks in the flash memory unit 300, thereby improving the performance of the flash memory storage device 30.

In addition, the flash memory adapter 10 of the present embodiment may even include a watchdog circuit, an encryption unit, or other control or management elements associated with the data read and write to the flash memory unit 300.

By performing the various control and processing mechanisms described above by the flash memory adapter 10, the host device 10 does not need to process the data of the flash memory storage device 30, and the control unit 104 will perform the firmware according to the firmware. The verified data is transmitted to the host device 20 or according to the configured data line. Flash memory storage device 30. Therefore, even if the host device 20 does not have any flash memory control module or has a flash memory control module that cannot effectively control the newer flash memory storage device 30, the host device 20 does not need to be used for the host device 20. Any modification or design can also be performed by the flash memory adapter 10 to read and write data from the flash memory storage device 30 which may otherwise be incompatible or has a high processing demand.

[Second embodiment]

Please refer to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a flash memory storage device of the present invention. The flash memory storage device 40 can be directly connected to the host device 50 for data access by the host device 50.

The flash memory storage device 40 of the present embodiment includes a flash memory adapter 42 and a flash memory unit 44. The flash memory adapter 42 includes at least a first interface unit 420, a second interface unit 422, a control unit 424, and a temporary storage unit 426.

The first interface unit 420 is configured to connect to the device connection unit 502 of the host device 50 to transmit an access instruction of the device processing unit 500 of the host device 50. The device connection unit 502 can be, for example, a serial peripheral interface unit or an old type of flash memory interface unit. The first interface unit 420 is a serial peripheral interface unit or a flash memory unit corresponding to the device connection unit 502.

The flash memory unit 44 is coupled to the control unit 404 via the second interface unit 422 for the control unit 404 to read or write data to the flash memory unit 408 in accordance with the received access command.

The flash memory unit 408 can be a reverse flash memory. The chip, the second interface unit 402 is a corresponding anti-gate flash memory interface unit.

The control unit 424 receives the access instruction of the host device 50 through the first interface unit 420, and accordingly writes the data from the host device 50 to the flash memory unit 44, or from the second interface according to the access command. Unit 422 receives the material read from flash memory unit 44.

Since the read/write speed, the amount of data, or the specification of the data check required for accessing the data of the flash memory unit 44 may exceed the processing capability of the host device 50, the flash memory adapter 42 can be set to be fast. In the flash memory storage device 40, the control unit 424 connects the host device 50 and the flash memory unit 44 through the first interface unit 420 and the second interface unit 422, respectively. After the host device 50 is connected to the flash memory storage device 40 through the device connection unit 502 and the first interface unit 420, the control unit 424 can write the host device 50 according to the access instruction of the host device 50. The data of the flash memory unit 44 is temporarily stored in the temporary storage unit 426, and the data in the temporary storage unit 426 is checked, and the available state of the storage block of the flash memory unit 44 is confirmed to write the data. Flash memory unit 44.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the flash memory adapter 42 may further include components such as a memory unit 428, a flash memory conversion unit 430, an error check correction unit 432, and a bad block management unit 434.

The memory unit 428 can be, for example, an electronically programmable erasable read-only memory chip or other non-volatile memory chip, and stores the firmware for the control unit 404 to perform processing on the data.

The flash memory conversion unit 430 can be a flash memory conversion layer control unit including a strobe number equalization mechanism and a memory space recovery mechanism. The storage block of the flash memory unit 44 is configured to store data. The error check correction unit 432 is used to check the integrity of the data read from the host device 50 and from the flash memory unit 44, and is corrected when an error is detected. The bad block management unit 434 is used to mark the failed storage blocks in the flash memory unit 44 to maintain the performance of the flash memory unit 44.

The memory unit 428, the flash memory conversion unit 430, the error check correction unit 432, and the bad block management unit 434 described in this embodiment respectively correspond to 108, 110, 112, and 114 in the previous embodiment, so that the foregoing The same functions and features described are not repeated here.

The flash memory adapter 42 of the present embodiment may further include a unit such as a watchdog circuit unit, a power management unit, or an encryption unit, and perform corresponding functions according to the control of the control unit 404, respectively, to maintain fast. The operation of the flash memory storage device 40 and the transfer of data between the host device 50 and the flash memory storage device 40.

With the above-mentioned flash memory storage device 40, the existing host device 50 does not need to be modified or otherwise designed, and the flash memory adapter 42 replaces the buffer, mapping and inspection required for the host device 50 to process data reading and writing. After the work, the host device 50 can read and write data to the new type of flash memory storage device 40.

[Possible effects of the examples]

According to the embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned flash memory storage device and the flash memory adapter can allow the existing host device to access the newer flash memory storage device with the original specifications, and overcome the flash. The storage medium of the memory is rapidly changing, making the host device incompatible with the new flash Memory storage media issues. Thereby, the flash memory storage medium can be accessed without changing the design of the host device, and the user of the host device can be used as the existing host end, in addition to avoiding the cost increase required to redesign the host device. The device accesses data of various new or old flash memory storage media.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

10,42‧‧‧Flash Memory Adapter

100,420‧‧‧ first interface unit

102,422‧‧‧Second interface unit

104,424‧‧‧Control unit

106,426‧‧‧ temporary storage unit

108, 428‧‧‧ memory unit

110,430‧‧‧Flash memory conversion unit

112,432‧‧‧Error checking correction unit

114,434‧‧‧Bad Block Management Unit

20, 50‧‧‧ host device

200,500‧‧‧Device Processing Unit

202,502‧‧‧Device connection unit

30,40‧‧‧Flash memory storage device

300‧‧‧Flash memory unit

302, 44‧‧‧ memory connection unit

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a flash memory adapter provided by the present invention; and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a flash memory storage device provided with a flash memory adapter provided by the present invention. Figure.

10‧‧‧Flash Memory Adapter

100‧‧‧First interface unit

102‧‧‧Second interface unit

104‧‧‧Control unit

106‧‧‧Scratch unit

108‧‧‧ memory unit

110‧‧‧Flash memory conversion unit

112‧‧‧Error checking correction unit

114‧‧‧Bad Block Management Unit

20‧‧‧ host device

200‧‧‧Device Processing Unit

202‧‧‧Device connection unit

30‧‧‧Flash memory storage device

300‧‧‧Flash memory unit

302‧‧‧Memory connection unit

Claims (11)

A flash memory adapter for transferring a host device and a flash memory storage device, the controller comprising: a first interface unit for connecting a corresponding device on the host device a connection unit; a second interface unit for connecting a corresponding memory connection unit on the flash memory storage device; a control unit coupled to the first interface unit and the second interface unit to receive the host An access command generated by the end device, and the data is read or written to the flash memory storage device through the second interface unit; and a temporary storage unit coupled to the control unit for temporarily storing the data The flash memory storage device reads or writes data of the flash memory storage device; wherein the control unit processes the data in the temporary storage unit to process the processed data according to the access instruction And transferred to the host device or written to the flash memory storage device. The flash memory adapter of claim 1, wherein the first interface unit and the second interface unit are different interfaces. The flash memory adapter of claim 1, further comprising: a memory unit coupled to the control unit to record a set of control programs, wherein the control unit executes the root control program to process The data in the temporary storage unit. The flash memory adapter of claim 1, further comprising: An error check correction unit is coupled to the control unit, and according to an error code for checking the data in the temporary storage unit, and correcting the error of the data according to the error code. The flash memory adapter of claim 1, further comprising: a flash memory conversion unit coupled to the control unit for averaging the plurality of memory areas of the flash memory device The number of erases of the block. The flash memory adapter of claim 1, further comprising: a bad block management unit coupled to the control unit for managing a plurality of memory blocks of the flash memory device Damaged block. The flash memory adapter of claim 2, wherein the first interface unit is a serial peripheral interface unit, and the second interface unit is a NAND interface unit. A flash memory storage device for accessing data by a host device, comprising: a flash memory unit; and a flash memory adapter coupled to the flash memory unit, including: a first interface unit for connecting to a corresponding device connection unit on the host device; a second interface unit connecting the flash memory unit; a control unit coupled to the first interface unit and the second The interface unit receives an access command generated by the host device, and reads or writes data to the flash memory unit through the second interface unit; a temporary storage unit coupled to the control unit for temporarily storing data read from or written to the flash memory unit; wherein the control unit is configured to the data in the temporary storage unit Processing is performed to transfer the processed data to the host device or to the flash memory unit according to the access instruction. The flash memory storage device of claim 8, wherein the first interface unit and the second interface unit are different interfaces. The flash memory storage device of claim 8, wherein the flash memory adapter further comprises: a memory unit coupled to the control unit to record a set of control programs, wherein the The control unit executes the root control program to process the data in the temporary storage unit. The flash memory storage device of claim 8, wherein the flash memory adapter further comprises: an error check correction unit coupled to the control unit, according to the check in the temporary storage unit An error code of the data, and correcting the error of the data; a block management unit coupled to the control unit for averaging the number of erases of the plurality of memory blocks of the flash memory device; and a bad The block management unit is coupled to the control unit for managing damaged blocks among the plurality of memory blocks of the flash memory device.