Patent ID: 7471576

Claim:
A method of transferring data from a register to signal lines in an electrically programmable memory, the memory including a plurality of memory cells forming a plurality of memory pages, and a page buffer that includes the register, the signal lines selectively transferring the data stored in the register to the memory cells of a selected one of the memory pages and an output interface of the memory, the method comprising the steps of: at least temporarily storing in the register data read from or to be written to the memory cells of the selected one of the memory pages; and buffering outputs of the register so as to decouple the outputs of the register from the signal lines, wherein the signal lines include bitlines that are each coupled to some of the memory cells and data lines that are coupled to the output interface of the memory, and the buffering step comprises selectively driving the bitlines or the data lines according to a data word that is stored in the register.