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:
Jun. 22, 2004
Filed:
May. 14, 2001
Chao-I Chang, San Jose, CA (US);
Ji Yun Zhang, Fremont, CA (US);
Integrated Memory Logic, Inc., Campbell, CA (US);
Abstract
A flash memory controller with a volatile program and data memory is disclosed. The controller loads microcode and data into the program and data memory from a flash memory array upon powerup of the controller. If an error occurs during the download or the microcode does not exist in the flash memory array, then the controller loads microcode and data into the program and data memory from the host computer. In some embodiments of the invention, an initial code is downloaded to the controller so that an evaluation of the configuration of the controller and the flash memory can be communicated to a host computer. The host computer then downloads for storage into the flash memory a tailored microcode and restarts the controller so that the tailored microcode is loaded from the flash memory and executed. In some embodiments, a protection circuit is provided to protect the microcode from accidentally being erased from the flash memory. Additionally, in some embodiments, an interleaved data structure is utilized to minimize wait times during read and write operations to the flash memory.