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:
Feb. 29, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 19, 1998
Manabu Inoue, Akishima, JP;
Takao Okubo, Ome, JP;
Shigeru Kadowaki, Akishima, JP;
Satoru Nakanishi, Fuchu, JP;
Masamichi Kishi, Tachikawa, JP;
Shigeru Suzuki, Kokubunji, JP;
Yasuro Kubota, Higashiyamato, JP;
Hironori Iwasaki, Fuchu, JP;
Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Hitachi ULSI Engineering Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Hitachi Tohbu Semiconductor, Ltd., Saitama-ken, JP;
Abstract
A non-volatile memory, such as a flash memory card, using a rewritable non-volatile memory is provided with an improved write-protect arrangement. The non-volatile memory includes a collectively electrically erasable and writable memory (e.g., a flash memory), a reset IC for generating a power-on reset signal upon turn-on of the power supply, and a card controller for performing control between each flash memory device and a memory card interface. The flash memory is set with a write protect save register written with an address of an area desired to be subjected to write protect, the write protect save register belonging to an attribute area, and a protect range is set from the system. Since the address to be write-protected is itself written in the non-volatile flash memory, the address will continue to be stored, even if the power is turned off. A method for software write protection control is also provided.