Patent ID: 7447076

Claim:
A non-volatile memory system, comprising: a first set of select gates; a second set of select gates; a plurality of word lines including a first word line adjacent said first set of select gates and a last word line adjacent said second set of select gates; a plurality of non-volatile storage elements coupled to said plurality of word lines; and managing circuitry in communication with said plurality of non-volatile storage elements, said managing circuitry programs said storage elements beginning with said first word line and ending with said last word line by changing a threshold voltage of selected ones of said storage elements in accordance with a target memory state, said managing circuitry reads said non-volatile storage elements beginning with said last word line and ending with said first word line, said managing circuitry applies one or more compensations when reading each word line except said last word line based on reading a word line adjacent to said each word line in a direction of said second set of select gates, said managing circuitry temporarily stores data from said plurality of non-volatile storage elements in a memory beginning with data from non-volatile storage elements coupled to said last word line and ending with data from non-volatile storage elements coupled to said first word line; and an output, said managing circuitry provides data from said non-volatile storage elements coupled to said plurality of word lines to said output in a sequence beginning with data from non-volatile storage elements coupled to said first word line and ending with data from non-volatile storage elements coupled to said last word line.