Patent ID: 7266017

Claim:
In a data storage system having an array of memory cells that individually include an element that stores an electrical charge level that is alterable in response to appropriate voltage conditions being applied to the cell in order to set a variable threshold level thereof into a range that is determinable by reading the cell, the array being organized into blocks of cells that are electrically resetable together to a common threshold level, a method of operation, comprising: simultaneously electrically resetting the memory cells in a number of said blocks less than all of the blocks in the array, applying said appropriate voltage conditions in parallel to a plurality of said memory cells within one of the reset blocks in accordance with a chunk of user data, thereby to alter the charge levels on the storage elements of said plurality of memory cells, determining the threshold level ranges in which individual ones of said plurality of memory cells lie, and terminating the application of appropriate voltage conditions to individual ones of said plurality of memory cells upon their being determined to have reached desired threshold level ranges while continuing to apply said appropriate voltage conditions to others of said plurality of cells until all of the plurality of cells are determined to have reached their desired threshold level ranges corresponding to said chunk of user data.