Structure and method for correction of defective analog data in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory

Abstract

A nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes a memory unit, memory control unit, defect position detection unit, and data correction unit. The memory unit has a plurality of memory cells to discretely store an analog signal such as an image signal as analog data in the form of an analog value. The memory control unit sequentially selects the memory cells as a read out target of the memory unit in response to a predetermined clock. The defect position detection unit detects, on the basis of defect position information indicating a position of defective analog data included in the analog data read out from the memory unit, whether a memory cell corresponding to the defect position is selected by the memory control unit, and outputs a detection output. The data correction unit corrects the analog data at the defect position in accordance with the detection output from the defect position detection unit by using another analog data of the analog signal stored in said memory unit.