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:
May. 18, 2010
Filed:
Mar. 27, 2008
Szu I Yeh, Hsinchu, TW;
Hsin Jen Huang, Hsinchu, TW;
Chien Cheng Lin, Hsinchu, TW;
Chia Hao Lee, Hsinchu, TW;
Chih Nan Yen, Hsinchu, TW;
Fuja Shone, Hsinchu, TW;
Szu I Yeh, Hsinchu, TW;
Hsin Jen Huang, Hsinchu, TW;
Chien Cheng Lin, Hsinchu, TW;
Chia Hao Lee, Hsinchu, TW;
Chih Nan Yen, Hsinchu, TW;
Fuja Shone, Hsinchu, TW;
Skymedi Corporation, Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A method for managing defect blocks in a non-volatile memory essentially comprises the steps of detecting defect blocks in the non-volatile memory, storing addresses of the defect blocks in a table block of the non-volatile memory, and setting the non-volatile memory to be read-only if the quantity of defect blocks in the non-volatile memory exceeds a threshold and no free blocks remain in the non-volatile memory. In a preferred embodiment, the free pages in the defect block continue to be programmed before setting the non-volatile memory to be read-only.