Patent ID: 8924633

Claim:
A method for erasing data stored in a nonvolatile memory, the method comprising: writing a number M of words of data in a first storage location of plurality of storage locations in a first page of the nonvolatile memory; in association with the writing to the first storage location, performing during a first time period a first erase operation on a second page of the nonvolatile memory; writing M words of data in each of at least one second storage location of the plurality of storage locations in the first page of the nonvolatile memory; in association with the writing to the at least one second storage location, performing during at least one second time period a second erase operation on the second page of the nonvolatile memory, wherein the first time period and the at least one second time period are non adjoining time periods, wherein a duration of the first erase operation is shorter than a time duration needed to reliably erase the data stored in the second page, wherein the sum of the durations of the first time period and the at least one second time period is equal to or longer than the time duration needed to erase the data stored in the second page, and wherein an erase operation is performed on the second page every time M words of data are written to a storage location of the plurality of storage locations of the first page, the data stored in the second page is reliably erased in a number N of erase operations that is equal to or less than a ratio of the number P of words of storage space in the first page to the number M of words of data written in each writing operation such that the second page of the nonvolatile memory is determined to be reliably erased when the P words of storage space in the first page have been written to.