Patent ID: 7259989

Claim:
A non-volatile memory device, comprising: a non-volatile memory array that includes a plurality of pages, each of the pages having a plurality of non-volatile memory cells located in a first region and which store data, and another plurality of non-volatile memory cells located in a second region and which store control data associated with the data; a plurality of first word lines, each of the first word lines being connected to a row of the non-volatile memory cells located in the first region of a respective one of the plurality of pages; a plurality of second word lines, each of the second word lines being connected to a row of the non-volatile memory cells located in the second region of a respective one of the plurality of pages; a read out unit configured to read out data from the plurality of pages; and a data buffer configured to temporarily store data that has been read out from the pages by the read out unit; wherein the read out unit when reading out the control data, uses the second word lines but does not use the first word lines, so as to read out the control data from the second regions across two or more of the plurality of pages at one time without accessing the first regions across the two or more of the plurality of pages.