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. 31, 2017
Filed:
Sep. 04, 2013
Macronix International Co., Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Yu-Ming Chang, Pingtung, TW;
Yung-Chun Li, New Taipei, TW;
Hsing-Chen Lu, Hsinchu, TW;
Hsiang-Pang Li, Hsingchu, TW;
Cheng-Yuan Wang, Taipei, TW;
Yuan-Hao Chang, Taipei, TW;
Tei-Wei Kuo, New Taipei, TW;
MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A method for managing block erase operations is provided for an array of memory cells including erasable blocks of memory cells in the array. The method comprises maintaining status data for a plurality of sub-blocks of the erasable blocks of the array. The status data indicate whether the sub-blocks are currently accessible and whether the sub-blocks are invalid. The method comprises, in response to a request to erase a selected sub-block of a particular erasable block, issuing an erase command to erase the particular block if the other sub-blocks of the particular erasable block are invalid, else updating the status data to indicate that the selected sub-block is invalid.