Patent ID: 8218381

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a set of storage elements; a respective bit line associated with each storage element, the respective bit lines include selected and unselected bit lines; and one or more control circuits, the one or more control circuits, to perform an iteration of a multiple-iteration programming operation for the set of storage elements: (a) step up voltages of the unselected bit lines, and sense voltages of the selected bit lines, to determine, for each selected bit line, whether the selected bit line: (i) is not coupled up to at least a first level in response to the step up, indicating that there is no adjacent unselected bit line, or (ii) is coupled up to the at least the first level in response to the step up, indicating that there is at least one adjacent unselected bit line, and (b) subsequently, provide voltages of the selected bit lines at respective levels which are based on the sensing, and concurrently apply a program pulse to the set of storage elements.