Silicon Motion Assigned Twenty-Three Patents

Storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,113,102) developed by Wu, Jyun-Han, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for a “data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device with a controller using a central processing unit (CPU) in a multi-stage architecture is shown. The processing systems of the different stages communicate with each other. In a first processing system, a command controller is provided to implement the first processing system as a transmitting end, and the command controller includes a plurality of command queues. When a first command is queued in a first command queue for transmission, a first processor of the first processing system fills a second command into a second command queue for transmission.”

The patent application was filed on May 20, 2019 (16/416,327).

Storage device and method
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,099,775) developed by Tseng, I-Ling, Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and data storage method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes at least one non-volatile memory and a controller with two-layer architecture. The two-layer architecture includes a front end coupled to a host and a back end coupled to the non-volatile memory. The controller includes a command processor and at least one non-volatile memory controller. The command processor is arranged on the front end to communicate with the host, and it schedules the operation of the data storage device based on an external command from the host. The non-volatile memory controller is arranged on the back end, and it controls the non-volatile memory based on the schedule of the command processor. When the non-volatile memory increases, the non-volatile memory controller also increases correspondingly while the amount of command processors remains the same.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2018 (15/915,183).

Computer program product for executing host input-output commands
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,086,805) developed by Chiu, Shen-Ting, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for “apparatus and method and computer program product for executing host input-output commands.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention introduces a method for executing host input-output (IO) commands, performed by a processing unit of a device side, at least including: in response to different types of host IO commands, using multiple stages of a generic framework to drive a frontend interface to interact with a host side for transmitting user data read from a storage unit to the host side, and receiving user data to be programmed into the storage unit from the host side.”

The patent application was filed on April 21, 2020 (16/854,652).

Storage device and operating non-volatile memory
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,086,636) developed by Chung, Chien-Chung, Taipei, Taiwan, Lin, Mei-Ting, Gukeng Township, Taiwan, and Yang, Chen-Ning, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for “data storage device and method for operating non-volatile memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device waking up from a sleep mode rapidly is disclosed. The data storage device uses a controller to operate a non-volatile memory. The controller has a microprocessor and a volatile memory. The microprocessor loads boot code from the non-volatile memory to a not-always-on area of the volatile memory according to a script loaded on an always-on area of the volatile memory. The microprocessor executes the boot code loaded on the not-always-on area to load an in-system program from the non-volatile memory to the not-always-on area for execution of the in-system program. The script loaded on the always-on area is loaded from the non-volatile memory, and the non-volatile memory is searched to load the script to the always-on area in response to powering on a data storage device containing the non-volatile memory from a power-off state.”

The patent application was filed on May 8, 2020 (16/869,956).

Storage device and control method for non-volatile memory
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,080,203) developed by Shen, Yang-Chih, Taoyuan, Taiwan, and Chang, Shih-Chang, Miaoli County, Taiwan, for “data storage device and control method for non-volatile memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “High performance data storage device is disclosed, which has a memory controller dynamically updating mapping information on the temporary storage to manage physical space information mapped to a logical address recognized by a host. The memory controller uses a first bit to an N.sub.th bit of the physical space information to indicate a physical space of the non-volatile memory or a cache address of the data cache space, without using additional bits to map the physical space information to the non-volatile memory or the data cache space, where N is a number greater than one. Among numbers formed by the first to the N.sub.th bit, the memory controller uses numbers corresponding to non-existent physical space of the non-volatile memory to map the physical space information to the non-volatile memory or the data cache space.”

The patent application was filed on September 17, 2019 (16/573,409).

Device and method for virtual storage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,073,988) developed by Chang, Cheng-Yue, Chen, Jian-Ying, Chu, Yung-Hua, Chiu, Kuan-Kai, Yen, Po-Hsun, Yu, Tsung-Lin, and Zhong, Ming-Xun, Taipei, Taiwan, for “device and method for virtual storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A device and a method for virtual storage are provided. The device includes a physical processor, a hypervisor and a physical storage. The hypervisor is executed on the physical processor and configured to create at least one client virtual machine and a controller virtual machine. The physical storage is clustered with physical storage of at least another device via the controller virtual machine to form a storage cluster. The controller virtual machine is further configured to define a virtual storage pool in the storage cluster and create at least one virtual storage controller virtual machine to interface the at least one client virtual machine with the virtual storage pool so that the at least one client virtual machine accesses the virtual storage pool via the at least one virtual storage controller virtual machine and the controller virtual machine. The method is applied to the device to implement the operations.”

The patent application was filed on December 12, 2019 (16/711,662).

Computer program and method and apparatus for adjusting equalization
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,070,403) developed by Shih, Fu-Jen, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “computer program product and method and apparatus for adjusting equalization.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The invention introduces a non-transitory computer program product for adjusting equalization when executed by a processing unit of a storage device. The non-transitory computer program product includes program code to: repeatedly adjust a parameter of an equalizer after a symbol decoding error is detected until an adjustment failure is detected or successive waveforms output from the equalizer belong to an eye open state.”

The patent application was filed on July 31, 2020 (16/944,986).

Mapping table updating method for storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,068,391) developed by Hsu, Kuei-Sung, Sun, Jian-Wei, and Chou, Ting-Heng, Jhubei, Taiwan, for a “mapping table updating method for data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A mapping table updating method executable by a data storage device is provided. The data storage device includes a non-volatile memory and a controller. The mapping table updating method includes steps of: step A: configuring the controller to process a command issued by a host, and determine whether to trigger a partial garbage collection procedure when the command is a write command, when it is determined to trigger the partial garbage collection procedure, then performing step B: copying partial valid data in at least one source block to a destination block according to a segmentation condition, and step C: updating a logical-to-physical address mapping table of the data storage device according to a logical address of the copied partial valid data and a physical address in the destination block where the partial valid data is located, and returning to perform the step A.”

The patent application was filed on August 16, 2019 (16/542,311).

Storage devices and data processing methods for shortening time required for host device to wait for initialization of storage device
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,068,177) developed by Ke, Kuan-Yu, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “data storage devices and data processing methods for shortening time required for a host device to wait for initialization of the data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a memory device and a memory controller. The memory device includes multiple memory blocks. The memory blocks include multiple table blocks configured to store tables and multiple data blocks configured to store data. The memory controller is configured to receive a predefined command which is a command from a host device to instruct the memory controller to perform initialization of the data storage device. The initialization of the data storage device includes a plurality of processing procedures which include a first portion of processing procedures and a second portion of processing procedures. The memory controller is configured to perform the first portion of processing procedures in response to the predefined command. After the first portion of processing procedures has been finished, the memory controller is configured to notify the host device that the data storage device is ready.”

The patent application was filed on October 23, 2019 (16/661,289).

Storage device and data retrieval
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,061,764) developed by Lin, Chin-Chi, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Ho, Kun-Lin, Taichung, Taiwan, for “data storage device and data retrieval method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory includes a plurality of dies, and each of the dies includes a first memory plane and a second memory plane, wherein each of the first memory plane and the second memory plane includes a plurality of physical pages. The controller retrieves data of a first physical page of the first memory plane and data of a second physical page of the second memory plane in response to a read command which is arranged to read a target page.”

The patent application was filed on November 24, 2015 (14/951,052).

Storage devices and data processing methods of skipping editing of fields in H2F table when consecutive addresses are present in F2H table
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,055,231) developed by Ke, Kuan-Yu, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “data storage devices and data processing methods of skipping editing of fields in H2F table when consecutive addresses are present in F2H table.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a memory device and a memory controller. The memory controller selects a predetermined memory block to receive data and records multiple logical addresses in a first mapping table. When the predetermined memory block is full, the memory controller edits a second mapping table based on the first mapping table. When editing the second mapping table, the memory controller determines whether M consecutive logical addresses have been recorded in the first mapping table. When the memory controller determines that M consecutive logical addresses have been recorded in the first mapping table, the memory controller edits the second mapping table according to a data compression rate, R, such that one or more fields, which correspond to one or more logical addresses recorded in the first mapping table, of the second mapping table are skipped and not edited. M and R are positive integers greater than 1.”

The patent application was filed on April 15, 2020 (16/849,214).

Storage device and control for non-volatile memory
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,055,004) developed by Jhan, Bo-Yan, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and control method for non-volatile memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A high-performance data storage device is disclosed, including a non-volatile memory, a controller, and a temporary storage. Sub mapping tables divided from a logical-to-physical address mapping table according to logical address groups are stored in mapping blocks allocated in the non-volatile memory. The controller limits the number of mapping blocks by garbage collection, and performs garbage collection on a source mapping block in sections. During each garbage collection section, the controller downloads valid sub mapping tables from the source mapping block to the temporary storage and then programs the valid sub mapping tables from the temporary storage to a destination mapping block. The temporary storage is repeatedly used to store valid sub mapping tables downloaded in the different garbage collection sections.”

The patent application was filed on January 20, 2020 (16/747,109).

Computer storage node of shared storage system for abnormal behavior detection/analysis
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,042,459) developed by Chen, Jian-Ying, Taipei, Taiwan, and Yang, Po-An, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “method and computer storage node of shared storage system for abnormal behavior detection/analysis.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method utilized in a computer storage node includes: providing user interface device to be operated by an operator, providing sensor module to sense operation parameter of computer storage node to generate first detection signal and second detection signal following first detection signal, receiving first detection signal to control display panel of user interface device to display data pattern of first detection signal on display panel according to a time scale, using first portion of first detection signal corresponding to a partial pattern of the data pattern to generate reference signal when the operator uses user interface device to mark a region on display panel to select the partial pattern, receiving second detection signal sent from sensor module after the reference signal is generated, and comparing characteristics of reference signal with characteristics of second detection signal to perform behavior analysis operation.”

The patent application was filed on May 10, 2019 (16/408,477).

Storage device and writing logical-to-physical mapping table
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,036,646) developed by Hsu, Che-Wei, Taichung, Taiwan, and Ku, Hui-Ping, Zhubei, Taiwan, for “data storage device and method of writing logical-to-physical mapping table thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device is provided. The data storage device includes: a flash memory, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a memory controller. The flash memory stores a logical-to-physical mapping (L2P) table that is divided into a plurality of group-mapping tables. The memory controller receives a host command from a host, wherein the host command includes one or more pieces of data and one or more corresponding logical addresses. The memory controller writes the data of the host command into active blocks of the flash memory. In response to the memory controller changing the active blocks into unsaved data blocks and a number of the unsaved data blocks being greater than or equal to an unsaved data block count threshold, the memory controller segmentally updates mapping relationships of the data in the unsaved data blocks, and writes the updated group-mapping tables into the flash memory.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019 (16/560,033).

High efficiency garbage collection, associated storage device and controller
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,030,093) developed by Chou, Ting-Heng, and Sun, Jian-Wei, Taipei, Taiwan, for “high efficiency garbage collection method, associated data storage device and controller thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A high efficiency garbage collection method, an associated data storage device and a controller thereof are provided. The high efficiency garbage collection method includes: starting and executing a garbage collection procedure, determining whether a Trim command from a host device is received, in response to the Trim command being received, determining whether target data of the Trim command is stored in a source block of the garbage collection procedure, in response to the target data being stored in the source block, determining whether the target data stored in the source block has been copied to a destination block of the garbage collection procedure, and in response to the target data stored in the source block having been copied to the destination block, changing at least one physical address of the target data of the Trim command to a Trim tag in a logical-to-physical address mapping table.”

The patent application was filed on June 18, 2019 (16/445,136).

Storage device with lighting module and control
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (11,003,390) developed by Hu, Ching-Hsin, Taipei, Taiwan, and Liu, Tsai-Fa, New Taipei, Taiwan, for “data storage device with a lighting module and control method for the lighting module.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device is shown, which has a data storage module and a lighting module with the lighting module controlled by a host through the data storage module. The data storage module has a non-volatile memory and a controller that operates the non-volatile memory in response to the host. The lighting module has a lighting decoration. When the host outputs a command that carries the lighting request regarding the lighting decoration, the controller is switched to operate the lighting decoration to emit light according to the lighting request.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019 (16/560,059).

Storage and associated method for saving storage space and eliminating data errors
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,992,322) developed by Yang, Tsung-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Hsu, Sheng-I, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “data storage system and associated method for saving storage space and eliminating data errors.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage system includes a processing circuit, a lookup table (LUT) and a decoding circuit. The processing circuit is arranged to receive a first logical block address (LBA) from a host. The LUT is arranged to store a storage address mapping to the first LBA. The decoding circuit is arranged to utilize the storage address to read storage data from a storing circuit, and decode a first data sector in the storage data according to an error checking and correcting code in the storage data, and the first data sector at least comprises a second LBA.”

The patent application was filed on January 16, 2020 (16/745,255).

Storage and method for operating non-volatile memory
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,990,497) developed by Pao, Yi-Hua, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “data storage system and method for operating non-volatile memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device equipped with a plurality of thermometers configured to detect temperature of different regions of a non-volatile memory. A controller of the data storage device is configured to operate the non-volatile memory to heat up a target region of the non-volatile memory according to a regional temperature detected by a target thermometer corresponding to the target region.”

The patent application was filed on August 26, 2020 (17/003,528).

Write control, associated storage device and controller
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,990,325) developed by Hsiao, Yu-Han, Changhua County, Taiwan, Shen, Yang-Chih, Taoyuan, Taiwan, and Yeh, Huan-Jung, Hsinchu County, Taiwan, for “write control method, associated data storage device and controller thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A write control method, an associated data storage device and the controller thereof are provided. The write control method includes: receiving one or more commands from a host device and executing the one or more commands, and performing determining operations to generate determining results, in response to the determining results, starting performing write collection, collecting and handling one or more write commands to buffer data of the one or more write commands through a buffer memory, and performing other determining operations to generate other determining results, in response to the other determining results, according to a quantity of one or more collected and handled write commands, determining whether data thereof has filled up a write buffer region of the buffer memory, and in response to the data having filled up the write buffer region, flushing the write buffer region to write the data therein into a non-volatile memory.”

The patent application was filed on October 2, 2019 (16/590,398).

Controlling storage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,976,958) developed by Chen, Chun-Chieh, Hsinchu, Taiwan, for “method for controlling storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for controlling a storage device is provided. The method may include: transmitting an initial command conforming to a first communications protocol and a data payload including a command parameter conforming to a second communications protocol to the storage device, transmitting a setting command conforming to the first communications protocol to the storage device, transmitting a confirmation command conforming to the first communications protocol to the storage device, and according to a data payload corresponding to the confirmation command, confirming whether the initial command, the setting command, and the confirmation command are successfully executed.”

The patent application was filed on July 4, 2018 (16/027,354).

Storage device using general purpose input/output (GPIO) and eFUSE circuit for configuration of ROM code
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,976,944) developed by Chung, Chien-Chung, Yu, Da-Ru, Taipei, Taiwan, and Su, Wei-Chia, Tainan, Taiwan, for a “data storage device using general purpose input/output (GPIO) and electronic fuse (eFUSE) circuit for configuration of read only memory, ROM) code.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing configuration management, an associated data storage device and the controller thereof are provided. The method may include: reading a read-only memory (ROM) code from a ROM to execute the ROM code, during executing the ROM code, detecting a first set of states of a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) circuit to perform a first portion of system configuration settings of the ROM code according to the first set of states, during executing the ROM code, detecting a second set of states of an electronic fuse (eFuse) circuit to perform a second portion of system configuration settings of the ROM code according to the second set of states, and executing at least one program code to make the data storage device be ready for being accessed by a host device.”

The patent application was filed on November 20, 2019 (16/690,057).

Performing pipeline-based accessing management in storage server
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,963,385) developed by Tseng, Guo-Fu, Chang, Cheng-Yue, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Chiu, Kuan-Kai, Taipei, Taiwan, for “method and apparatus for performing pipeline-based accessing management in a storage server with aid of caching metadata with cache module which is hardware pipeline module during processing object write command.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for performing pipeline-based accessing management in a storage server and associated apparatus are provided. The method includes: in response to a request of writing user data into the storage server, utilizing a host device within the storage server to write the user data into a storage device layer of the storage server and start processing an object write command corresponding to the request of writing the user data with a pipeline architecture of the storage server, utilizing the host device to input metadata corresponding to the user data into at least one pipeline within the pipeline architecture, and utilizing the host device to cache the metadata with a first cache module of the pipeline, for controlling the storage server completing the request without generating write amplification of the metadata, wherein the first cache module is a hardware pipeline module outside the storage device layer.”

The patent application was filed on September 25, 2019 (16/581,769).

Computer and user interface for performing automatic test upon storage
Silicon Motion, Inc., Jhubei, Taiwan, has been assigned a patent (10,956,291) developed by Chou, Li-Ling, New Taipei, Taiwan, and Yang, Shang-Ta, Taoyuan, Taiwan, for “method, computer apparatus, and user interface for performing automatic test upon storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method of automatic test upon storage devices, connected to user interface of computer apparatus via external connection port(s), includes: providing user interface which can be controlled by user to input at least one set of setting parameters for execution of testing task of at least one test software tool, automatically configuring information of at least one field for the execution of the testing task according to the at least one set of setting parameters, automatically executing the at least one test software tool to perform the testing task upon the multiple storage devices according to the information of the at least one field, and automatically storing result of the testing task and displaying the result on the user interface for user.”

The patent application was filed on November 3, 2019 (16/672,506).