Patent ID: 7117332

Claim:
A reading method to a flash memory from a data-access requesting component, wherein the flash memory includes a plurality of storage sectors, and a read operation to one sector of the storage sectors needs a plurality of stages handled by an access controller, the reading method comprising: performing a first read operation to read a current sector of the storage sectors; starting to perform a second read operation to a next sector of the storage sectors when the first read operation is not completed yet; and starting to perform a third read operation to read a further next sector of the storage sectors when the first read operation and the second read operation are not completed yet, wherein the second read operation starts before the first read operation ends thereby decreasing the time required to perform read operations and increasing overall system performance, wherein the stages includes a first stage for finding a sector of the storage sectors to be read, a second stage for transmitting an information to be read from the flash memory into the access controller, and a third stage for transmitting an information to be read in the access controller into the data-access requesting component, wherein the second stage for the first read operation is overlapping with the first stage for the second read operation.