Patent ID: 7633808

Claim:
A flash memory comprising: (a) a plurality of cells, including a target cell and a neighbor cell of the target cell; and (b) a controller, the controller: (i) obtains a preliminary estimate of a threshold voltage of each said cell by comparing said threshold voltage to at least one nominal reference voltage that is common to all the cells, and (ii) based on said preliminary estimates, determines at least one respective reference voltage for each said cell, said at least one respective reference voltage being specific to said each cell, where the controller, to determine at least one respective reference voltage for the target cell, assigns a respective reference voltage which is greater than the at least one nominal reference voltage to the target cell when the threshold voltage of the neighbor cell is greater than the at least one nominal reference voltage, and assigns a respective reference voltage which is less than the at least one nominal reference voltage to the target cell when the threshold voltage of the neighbor cell is less than the at least one nominal reference voltage.