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:
Oct. 31, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Dongsheng Xing, Fremont, CA (US);
Assignee:
Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
36518511 ; 36518529 ; 36518533 ;
Abstract
In a non-volatile memory array where the memory cells in a sector are programmed together and a plurality of sectors form a segment which are erased together, through the use of a free list linking entries in a register with each entry in a register corresponding to a free segment, a free list table is created which readily simplifies searches for segments that are available for erasure. In addition, through the creation of a segment number table and a count index, determination of particular valid sectors in particular segments can be readily identified.