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:
Sep. 21, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 14, 1997
Mickey Lee Fandrich, Placerville, CA (US);
Richard Joseph Durante, Citrus Heights, CA (US);
Geoffrey Alan Gould, El Dorado Hills, CA (US);
Timothy Wade Goodell, Elk Grove, CA (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method of queuing erase commands for a nonvolatile memory utilizes placeholder commands to prevent the depth of an operation queue from limiting the number of block erase commands that can be queued at one time. The method includes the step of storing a first erase command in the operation queue. The first erase command is designated as a placeholder erase command if no placeholder command is stored in the operation queue. Each of the first and placeholder erase commands designates at least one block of the nonvolatile memory to be erased. Each block has a corresponding status indicator. If a placeholder erase command is already stored in the operation queue, then 1) the corresponding status indicator for the block designated by the first erase command is set to indicate that the first erase command is an absorbed erase command, and 2) the first erase command is removed from the operation queue. If a program command designating the same block as any of the placeholder and absorbed erase commands is stored in the operation queue, then 1) an erase operation for the same block is performed; 2) the corresponding status indicator for the same block is cleared; and 3) the program command is executed. If the program command does not designate the same block as any of the placeholder and absorbed erase commands, then 1) the program command is executed; and 2) the program command is removed from the operation queue.