Spansion Assigned Patent

Spansion, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,498,162) developed by Allan Parker, Matthew Ronald Croft, and Pedro A. Sanchez, Austin, TX, for a “method, apparatus, and manufacture for flash memory write algorithm for fast bits.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method, apparatus, and manufacture for a memory device is provided. The memory device includes memory cells that each store two bits, and a memory controller. During write operations, for each bit in each memory cell that is to be programmed, the memory controller determines whether both bits of the memory cell are being programmed. While controlling an application of programming pulses to the memory cell to program the bit, if both bits of the memory cell are being programmed, the memory controller causes the application of each programming pulse to the bit to occur for a reduced duration. Otherwise, the memory controller causes the application of each programming pulse to the bit to occur for a standard duration. The reduced duration is less than three-fourths of the standard duration.”

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2011 (13/098,364).