Patent ID: 7877566

Claim:
A command protocol method for a nonvolatile memory device, the command protocol method comprising: sending a first read command for one or more first pages of data to said nonvolatile memory device; sending a first data address to said nonvolatile memory device, said nonvolatile memory device reading one or more first pages of data in accord with said first read command beginning at said first data address and loading said one or more first pages of data one page at a time from a memory array within said nonvolatile memory device into a data register that transfers the one or more first pages of data into a first level of a cache memory of said nonvolatile memory device with multiple page capacity, said cache memory having multiple levels within said nonvolatile memory device, said cache memory being separate from said data register, said data register having a capacity to store a single page of data, said data register and said cache memory controlled by control logic within said nonvolatile memory device such that said control logic controls the reading; transferring the one or more first pages of data from the first level of the cache memory to a second level of the cache memory; sending a second read command for one or more second pages of data to said nonvolatile memory device before receiving an entirety of the first pages of data located beginning at said first data address; and sending a second data address to said nonvolatile memory device before receiving the entirety of first pages of data located beginning at said first data address, the nonvolatile memory device reading one or more second pages of data in accord with the second read command beginning at said second data address and loading the one or more second pages of data one page at a time via the data register into said first level of said cache memory while simultaneously outputting the one or more first pages of data from the second level of said cache memory to an input-output circuit within said nonvolatile memory device.