Patent ID: 7552274

Claim:
A method of data storage within a Flash Memory System comprising the steps: a. mapping a non-volatile memory medium within the Flash Memory System into a plurality of independently addressable, independently programmable and independently erasable memory blocks including a plurality of Dedicated Data Blocks and a plurality of Dedicated Overhead Blocks comprising a first Dedicated Overhead Block and a second Dedicated Overhead Block; b. mapping each of the plurality of Dedicated Overhead Blocks into a plurality of consecutively addressed Overhead Segments, wherein the plurality of segments within each Dedicated Overhead Block are addressed according to an identical set of distinct segment addresses, each segment comprising a Physical Address Register and a Flag Field; and c. correlating the first Dedicated Overhead Block to a first group of Virtual Logical Block Addresses including a first Virtual Logical Block Address, wherein user data and overhead data are segregated in separate memory blocks, such that the user data are stored only in the plurality of dedicated data blocks and the overhead data are separately stored only in the plurality of dedicated overhead blocks and the erasure of one the plurality of memory blocks only erases data selected from either a Dedicated Data Block or a Dedicated Overhead Block.