Patent ID: 8230157

Claim:
A memory device comprising: a plurality of memory units; a data separator that separates data into a plurality of groups; and a selector configured to rotate each of the plurality of groups and transmit a plurality of data sets, respectively, to corresponding ones of the plurality of memory units such that each of the plurality of memory units receives a different one of the plurality of data sets, each of the plurality of data sets including at least two of the plurality of groups, wherein each of the plurality of memory units includes one or more multi-bit cell arrays, and one or more page buffers each corresponding to one of the one or more multi-bit cell arrays, respectively, and configured to receive a data set from among the plurality of data sets transmitted by the selector, and wherein each of the one or more page buffers is configured to perform a plurality of programming operations, the plurality of programming operations each corresponding to a different number of threshold voltages with respect to the other programming operations from among the plurality of programming operations, and wherein, for each of the one or more page buffers, the page buffer is configured to program the received data set in the multi-bit cell array corresponding to the page buffer by using a different one of the plurality of page programming operations for each of the at least two groups included in the received data set, the page programming operations used to program the at least two groups included in the received data set being used in a different order with respect to the other page buffers.