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. 12, 2018
Filed:
Jul. 12, 2017
Nxp Usa, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Fuchen Mu, Austin, TX (US);
Botang Shao, Austin, TX (US);
NXP USA, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A non-volatile memory is arranged to have a plurality of sectors. Each sector of the plurality of sectors includes a plurality of record locations. A memory controller includes an erase counter, a failed sector flag, and a retired sector flag for each of the plurality of sectors. If a record location of a sector fails to program, another location in the sector is selected to be programmed. The failed sector flag is set if a predetermined number of selected record locations of the sector fails to program. If the failed sector flag is set for a particular sector twice, and an erase count is greater than a predetermined erase count, then the retired sector flag is set for the failed sector indicating the sector is to be permanently retired from use. A new sector of the plurality of sectors becomes the current active sector for record programming operations. The method for retiring a sector occurs dynamically, during operation of the non-volatile memory.