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Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Agata Intini

Angelo Di Sena

A method controls write/erase operations in a memory device, such as a NAND flash memory. The method includes dividing the memory device in physical blocks, wherein each physical block is comprised of a number of pages; considering the memory device as comprising consecutive virtual blocks, each virtual block including consecutive sectors; associating to each virtual block a virtual block number; selecting the size of the virtual blocks equal to a multiple of the size of the physical blocks; and creating a virtual-to-physical mapping table having entries. Each entry in the mapping table stores a pointer to a root node of a tree structure that links logically a set of physical blocks in the memory device.

Controlling operation of flash memories

A method controls write/erase operations in a memory device including memory blocks that are exposed to wear as a result of repeated erasures. The method includes: storing the erase counts of the memory blocks, creating a chain storing the erase counts of the memory blocks that are available for writing at a certain instant of time, and selecting for writing, out of the blocks in the memory device available for writing, the block having the lowest erase count in the chain.

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Putignano, Italy

Agata Intini