Patent ID: 8713380

Claim:
A method of reading a block of data with controlled error rate from a non-volatile memory, comprising: (a) organizing the non-volatile memory into blocks of memory cells that are erasable as a unit, each block for storing a plurality of pages; (b) determining an optimum read threshold voltage for reading all pages of the block by selecting a predetermined trial read threshold voltage for reading sample pages in the block that after checking for error rates are all within the controlled error rate; (c) if not all the sample pages are within the controlled error rate, repeating (b) by selecting a different predetermined trial read threshold voltage for the optimum read threshold voltage until all the sample pages are within the controlled error rate; and (d) if all the sample of pages are within the controlled error rate, reading the entire block relative to the optimum read threshold voltage without further checking the error rate of the pages in the block.