Patent ID: 11894073
Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G

Claim 17:
18. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein the memory cells comprise a plurality of blocks, the method further including the steps of:
determining whether all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line in response to a proactive refresh operation being triggered;
ending reprogramming the memory cells associated with the at least one edge word line without erasing the memory cells associated with the at least one edge word line in response to determining all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line;
proceeding to check one of the plurality of blocks for the at least one edge word line in response to determining not all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line;
determining whether each of the plurality of word lines of the one of the plurality of blocks is the at least one edge word line and whether the memory cells connected to the at least one edge word line contain the data;
returning to determining whether all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line in response to determining at least one of the each of the plurality of word lines of the one of the plurality of blocks is not the at least one edge word line and the memory cells connected to the at least one edge word line does not contain the data;
returning to determining whether all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line in response to determining the edge higher data state quantity is not less than an edge higher data state threshold; and
returning to determining whether all of the plurality of blocks have been checked for the at least one edge word line following reprogramming the memory cells associated with the at least one edge word line without erasing the memory cells associated with the at least one edge word line.