The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 14, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 29, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:
Peter K Hazen, Auburn, CA (US);
Michael J Castillo, Provo, UT (US);
Assignee:
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
36518504 ; 36518533 ; 365226 ; 365228 ;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for protecting data stored in a nonvolatile memory. First, a locking signal is initiated to indicate to the memory that write and erase operations are to be prevented. Next, in response to this locking signal, the supply voltage that supports write and erase operations in the memory is lowered below a threshold value. In doing so, protection circuitry that is contained within the memory prevents write and erase operations in the memory.