Patent ID: 8576641

Claim:
A method of providing non-volatile memory in an integrated circuit, the method comprising: storing a plurality of data blocks in volatile memory elements of the integrated circuit, wherein each data block of the plurality of data blocks comprises a plurality of data bits; detecting a power-on condition; reading back the plurality of data bits associated with a data valid block of the plurality of data blocks in response to the detecting of the power-on condition; determining, by a control circuit based upon a degradation of the plurality of data bits associated with the data valid block, whether values read back for the plurality of data bits associated with the data valid block indicate valid data in the data valid block; and reading back, for another data block of the plurality of data blocks, stored data bits to determine a value for the other data block if it is determined that the values read back for the plurality of data bits associated with the data valid block indicate that valid data is in the data valid block.