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. 20, 2014
Filed:
Apr. 23, 2012
Applicants:
Zac Shepard, San Jose, CA (US);
Steven T. Sprouse, San Jose, CA (US);
Chris Nga Yee Avila, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Neil David Hutchison, Campbell, CA (US);
Inventors:
Zac Shepard, San Jose, CA (US);
Steven T. Sprouse, San Jose, CA (US);
Chris Nga Yee Avila, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Neil David Hutchison, Campbell, CA (US);
Assignee:
SanDisk Technologies Inc., Plano, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 12/00 (2006.01); G06F 12/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 12/0238 (2013.01);
Abstract
In a nonvolatile memory array, blocks that contain only obsolete data are modified by adding charge to their cells, increasing the charge level from the programmed charge levels that represented obsolete data to elevated charge levels. The increase in overall charge in such blocks lessens the tendency of such blocks to impact data retention in neighboring blocks.