TH38754A - Storage devices, data processing systems, and methods for writing and reading data - Google Patents

Abstract

DC60 (26/11/41) This invention provides a storage device for outputting data in such a way that whether or not error correction is present can be distinguished, and provides a data processing system in which the storage device provides data to the data processing device in such a way that whether or not area management information is error corrected can be distinguished, and in which the data processing device distinguishes whether or not area management information is error corrected in order to perform predefined data processing. Furthermore, it provides a method for processing data for the storage device and for the data processing system. If any error is corrected by the error correction processor 26, in the area management information read from flash memory 21, the controller 27 provides the area management information to the error correction processor 26 and appends an indicator indicating the fact of the error correction to the corrected area management information to output the resulting data. This invention provides a storage device for outputting data in such a way that whether or not error correction is present can be distinguished, and provides a data processing system in which the storage device provides data to the data processing device in such a way that whether or not area management information is error corrected can be distinguished, and in which the data processing device distinguishes whether or not area management information is error corrected. The data processing unit distinguishes whether the area management message has been corrected or not in order to perform the predefined data processing. It also provides a data processing method for storage devices and for the data processing system. If any error is corrected by the error correction unit 26, in the area management message read from flash memory 21, controller 27 provides the area management message to the error correction unit 26 and appends an indicator indicating the fact of error correction to the corrected area management message for output.

Claims (14)

1. Storage Device: This device processes data stored in its memory. It includes registers for retrieving data from memory by the controller, a converter for retrieving the area management indicator corresponding to the retrieved data, and an error correction unit connected to the converter for detecting and correcting errors in the area management indicator. The converter transforms the indicator into area management information and appends the indicator to the information once the error is corrected. An interface unit outputs data from registers and area management information from the converter to an external processing unit. 2. The storage device under claim 1 also includes an error correction unit for detecting and correcting errors in the data stored in the said registers. 3. The storage device under claim 1, where the error correction unit will correct errors in the area management indicator when the duplicate message bits are not the same. 4. Storage device under claim 1 where such memory is flash memory composed of a number of blocks, each block consisting of a number of pages. 5. The data processing method for items stored in a storage device involves the following steps: retrieving the data from the storage device's memory; storing the retrieved data in registers; retrieving the area management indicator corresponding to the retrieved data into a converter; the area management indicator contains redundant message bits for error correction; detecting and correcting errors in the area management indicator using an error correction unit; converting the area management indicator into area management information; appending the indicator to the area management information once the error is corrected in the area management indicator by the error correction unit; and outputting the data from the registers and the corresponding area management information from the converter to the data processing device. 6. The method under Claim 5, which also includes steps for detecting and correcting errors in the data stored in the said registers, using error correction codes. 7. The method under Claim 5, whereby the error correction unit will correct errors in the area management indicator when the duplicate information bits are not the same. 8. Method under claim 5 where such memory is flash memory composed of a number of blocks, each block consisting of a number of pages. 9. The data processing unit processes data sent from a storage device. It includes an interface unit for retrieving the data sent from that storage device and the associated spatial management message. This spatial management message specifies a block of memory in the storage device where the data and spatial management message are stored. The data processor detects an indicator attached to the spatial management message. This indicator indicates that an error in the spatial management message has occurred in the storage device. The data processor then determines whether the block of memory in the storage device where the retrieved data is stored is available. If the indicator is detected, the data processor updates the spatial management message there. If the block is found to be unavailable, the interface unit outputs the data and the updated spatial management message to the storage device for storage in a different memory block. 10. The method of processing data emitted from a storage device uses a data processing device. This includes the steps of retrieving the emitted data from the storage device and the associated memory management message; the memory management message indicates the block of memory in the storage device where the data and memory management message are stored; the detection of an indicator attached to the memory management message, where an error in the memory management message is detected and corrected by the storage device; and determining whether the memory block in the storage device where the emitted data is stored is available when the indicator is detected, and updating the memory management message if the block is unavailable, and then exporting the updated data and memory management message to the storage device for storage in a different memory block. 11. Storage devices for processing data stored in memory include registers for storing data retrieved by the controller from memory, a converter for retrieving area management information corresponding to the data, and the conversion of area management information into area management identifiers with redundant information bits for error correction, and a controller for writing area management identifiers to memory. 12. The storage device under claim 11 shall also include an error correction unit for detecting and correcting errors in the data stored in the said registers. 13. The storage device under claim 11 also includes an error correction code unit connected to the said conversion unit for detecting and correcting errors in the indicator, managing the area when the duplicate message bits are not the same. 14. A storage device under claim 11 where such memory is flash memory composed of blocks, each block consisting of a certain number of pages.