Patent ID: 7356659

Claim:
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory formed on a semiconductor substrate comprising: a memory cell array containing a plurality of nonvolatile memory cells; a decoder driver to select a nonvolatile memory cell addressed from the memory cell array; and an access right check circuit supplied with an input command and an input address, the access right check circuit being provided in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory, wherein the access right check circuit compares access control information about an access control area limiting a specified access in the memory cell array with the input command and the input address supplied to the access right check circuit, provides control to select a nonvolatile memory cell specified by the input address via the decoder driver when the input command and the input address do not comply with an access limited for an address control area, and provides control not to select a nonvolatile memory cell specified by the input address via the decoder driver when the input command and the input address comply with an access limited for the address control area; the access control information includes address information about an access-limited area and a limited access mode; and information included in the access control information is specifiable by means of a command.