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. 24, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 30, 2002
Hideyuki Furukawa, Kawasaki, JP;
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
A data buffer of a memory controller receives first program data, whose size is smaller than that of a page buffer, from a system, and holds the received data. A data adding circuit of the memory controller adds mask data to the first program data, to generate second program data whose size is equal to that of the page buffer. Since the mask data are not programmed to memory cells, only the first program data, which are supplied from the system, are programmed to pages of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory. Namely, even when the size of the page buffer of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory is large, it is possible to maintain interchangeability with an exiting system only by using the memory controller of the present invention.