Patent ID: 8386887

Claim:
A Flash-based memory module having high-speed serial communication, comprising: a plurality of input/output (I/O) modules, each I/O module configured to communicate with an external device over one or more external communication links; a plurality of Flash-based memory cards, each Flash-based memory card comprising a plurality of Flash memory devices, each Flash memory device having a physical memory space that is divided into blocks, each block being further divided into pages, each page representing an individually addressable memory location on which memory operations are performed, multiple such memory locations being erasable at the same time in one-block groupings; and a plurality of crossbar switching elements, each crossbar switching element being connected to a respective one of the Flash-based memory cards and configured to allow each one of the I/O modules to communicate with the respective one of the Flash-based memory cards; wherein each I/O module is connected to each crossbar switching element by a high-speed serial communication link, each high-speed serial communication link allowing each I/O module to transmit and receive bits representing commands, instructions and/or data to and from each crossbar switching element; and wherein each crossbar switching element is connected to the respective one of the Flash-based memory cards by a plurality of parallel communication links, each parallel communication link connecting one crossbar switching element to one of the Flash memory devices of the respective one of the Flash-based memory cards.