Patent ID: 8516187

Claim:
A method for transferring one or more data words from a volatile memory subsystem to a non-volatile memory subsystem, each of the one or more data words having a bitwidth equal to a bitwidth of the volatile memory subsystem and having a plurality of data word portions including a first data word portion and a second data word portion, the method comprising: in a first mode of operation, communicating data words between the volatile memory subsystem and a host system; and in a second mode of operation, transferring one or more first data word portions from the volatile memory subsystem into a buffer, each transferred first data word portion being smaller in bitwidth than the bitwidth of the entire data word; transferring one or more second data word portions from the volatile memory subsystem into the buffer, each transferred second data word portion being smaller in bitwidth than the bitwidth of the entire data word; and transferring data words from the buffer into the non-volatile memory subsystem an entire data word at a time or multiple data words in their entirety at a time.