Patent ID: 8327238

Claim:
A method determining whether a unit of data of a memory circuit of a memory system has been erased, comprising: reading at least a portion of the unit of data, the portion including associated error correction code for the unit of data, from an array of non-volatile memo cells of the memory circuit using associated read circuitry of the array; and using logic circuitry of the memory system, subsequently performing a process including: based upon the associated error correction code as read from the array and without generating a new error correction code check syndrome based on the unit of data, quantifying the level of corruption of the content of the unit of data and, based upon the associated error correction code, determining whether the level of corruption is acceptable; in response to determining that he level of corruption is acceptable, correcting the data content; and based on the corrected data content, determining whether the data content of the unit of data was erased.