Patent ID: 7031215

Claim:
A method of transferring data to a memory device in either a first operating mode or a second operating mode, the method comprising: in the first operating mode: transferring the data to each of N serial-to-parallel converters in the form of M bits of data applied in sequence to each of the N serial-to-parallel converters so that M sets of N-bit parallel data are applied to the N serial-to-parallel converters; transferring the data from each of the N serial-to-parallel converters to the memory device in the form of one set of M-bit parallel data so that N×M bits of parallel data are collectively transferred to the memory device from the N serial-to-parallel converters; and in the second operating mode: transferring the data to each of 2N serial-to-parallel converters in the form of M bits of data applied in sequence to each of the 2N serial-to-parallel converters so that M sets of 2N-bit parallel data are applied to the 2N serial-to-parallel converters; and transferring the data from each of the 2N serial-to-parallel converters to the memory device in the form of two sets of M/2-bit parallel data each so that a first set of N×M bits of parallel data are collectively transferred to the memory device from the 2N serial-to-parallel converters and a second set of N×M bits of parallel data are subsequently collectively transferred from the 2N serial-to-parallel converters.