Patent ID: 8082382

Claim:
A memory device having selectable density configurations, the device comprising: a memory array comprising a plurality of memory cells, each memory cell configured to store a selectable quantity of data bits, the memory array organized into memory blocks; and control circuitry, coupled to the memory array, that controls selection of the density configuration in response to a configuration command that is received in one of a write command or a read command comprising density configuration information wherein the control circuitry is configured to execute one of two different read and write routines in response to the density configuration information and the control circuitry is further configured to store the density configuration information in a volatile configuration register and transfer the density configuration information to non-volatile memory at power down, wherein the configuration register is configured to be loaded from an initial row of the memory array, and further wherein each memory block is assigned a plurality of configuration bits of the configuration register such that each memory block is configured to have multiple densities.