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:
Jan. 20, 2015
Filed:
Dec. 20, 2007
Darlene G. Hamilton, Lyle, WA (US);
Mark W. Randolph, San Jose, CA (US);
Don Carlos Darling, San Jose, CA (US);
Ron Kornitz, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Darlene G. Hamilton, Lyle, WA (US);
Mark W. Randolph, San Jose, CA (US);
Don Carlos Darling, San Jose, CA (US);
Ron Kornitz, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Spansion LLC, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Providing for extended data retention of flash memory devices by program state rewrite is disclosed herein. By way of example, a memory cell or group of memory cells can be evaluated to determine a program state of the cell(s). If the cell(s) is in a program state, as opposed to a natural or non-programmed state, a charge level, voltage level and/or the like can be rewritten to a default level associated with the program state, without erasing the cell(s) first. Accordingly, conventional mechanisms for refreshing cell program state that require rewriting and erasing, typically degrading storage capacity of the memory cell, can be avoided. As a result, data stored in flash memory can be refreshed in a manner that mitigates loss of memory integrity, providing substantial benefits over conventional mechanisms that can degrade memory integrity at a relatively high rate.