Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
   This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/869,022, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,082 filed on Jun. 16, 2004, and entitled FLASH MEMORY SYSTEM AND DATA WRITING METHOD THEREOF, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which, in turn, claims foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 2003-50502, filed on Jul. 23, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a flash memory system, and more particularly, to a method of writing and reading data and parity codes in a flash memory system. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   In general, a flash memory device is a kind of nonvolatile electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (“EEPROM”), which does not have to be refreshed. 
   The flash memory device can be categorized as either NOR or NAND type. While a NOR flash memory device accepts a small amount of data at high speed, a NAND flash memory device accepts a large amount of data. 
   Programming and erasing of a typical NAND flash memory entail controlling of the threshold voltage of a memory cell by injecting and emitting electrons into and from a floating gate. 
   This NAND flash memory comprises a register, which is typically referred to as a “page buffer,” to write a large amount of data in a short amount of time. 
   Data that has been externally input is written in a memory cell array via the page buffer, and data that has been read from the memory cell array is externally output via the page buffer. Accordingly, data is typically written and read in and from the flash memory in units of the size of the page buffer. 
   Meanwhile, in a system including a NAND flash memory device, data is written along with a parity code for the data in order to check and/or correct data errors. 
   A controller generates a parity code for a certain amount of data and writes the data along with the parity code in the flash memory device. Thereafter, the controller reads the parity code from the flash memory device and checks whether or not the data has errors. 
   With a recent increase in the size of the page buffer of the flash memory, a unit for processing parity codes has also increased. Normally, a parity code is generated for data having a size equal to the size of the page buffer. 
   That is, the unit of processing parity codes corresponds to data having a size equal to the size of the page buffer. Thus, with increasing the size of the page buffer, hardware for generating parity codes becomes more complicated or overall processing time increases. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides a flash memory system, which increases the efficiency of writing and reading data and parity codes into and from a flash memory device to expedite overall data processing time, and a data writing method thereof. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flash memory system comprising a flash memory device and a controller. The flash memory device includes a memory cell array and a page buffer for writing externally input data into the memory cell array. The controller divides data into two or more groups of data, each of which has a smaller size than the size of the page buffer, and serially transmits each group of data and a parity code for the group of data to the flash memory device. 
   The controller comprises a memory control portion and an Error Correcting/Correction Code (“ECC”) circuit. The memory control portion transmits a predetermined command, the data, an address for the data, and a control signal to the flash memory device, and the ECC circuit generates the parity code. 
   According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a flash memory system comprising a flash memory device and a controller. The flash memory device includes a memory cell array and a page buffer for writing and reading data in and from the memory cell array. The controller serially transmits to the flash memory device two or more consecutive data-parity code groups, each of which includes a certain amount of data and a parity code for the data. Herein, each data-parity code group has a smaller size than the size of the page buffer. 
   According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of writing data into a flash memory system including a flash memory device. The method comprises (a) transmitting a predetermined command and an address signal to the flash memory device; (b) transmitting data to the flash memory device; and (c) generating a parity code for the data and transmitting the parity code to the flash memory device. Herein, steps (b) and (c) are repeated twice or more. 
   In steps (b) and (c), the data and the corresponding parity code are serially written in a page buffer of the flash memory device. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a flash memory system according to the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a detailed block diagram of a memory cell array and a page buffer of a flash memory device shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a method of writing data in the flash memory system according to the present invention; and 
       FIGS. 4A and 4B  illustrate methods of writing data in a flash memory system according to contrastive examples to the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. Like reference numerals are used to denote like elements throughout the drawings. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , a flash memory system  100  comprises a controller  110  and a flash memory device  120 . 
   The controller  110  comprises a processor  112 , a memory control portion  114 , and an Error Correcting/Correction Code (“ECC”) circuit  118 . The processor  112  controls the operation of the controller  110 , and the memory control portion  114  interfaces the controller  110  with the flash memory device  120 . 
   The ECC circuit  118  generates parity codes to check and/or correct the errors of data to be written in the flash memory device  120 . The ECC circuit  118  is realized by hardware. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the controller  110  may further comprise an SRAM  116  for writing data. 
   The flash memory device  120  comprises a memory cell array  122  and a page buffer  124 . Although not shown in detail in  FIG. 1 , the memory cell array  122  comprises a plurality of word lines, a plurality of bit lines, and a plurality of memory cells that are respectively arranged in intersecting portions between the word lines and the bit lines. 
   The memory cells of the memory cell array  122  are connected to the page buffer  124  via the bit lines. Data that has been externally input is written in the memory cell array  122  via the page buffer  124 , and data that has been read from the memory cell array  122  is externally output via the page buffer  124 . 
     FIG. 2  is a detailed block diagram of the memory cell array  122  and the page buffer  124  of the flash memory device  120 . In  FIG. 2 , reference numeral  131  denotes a page, which refers to a plurality of memory cells connected to a single word line. 
   Thus, the memory cell array  122  comprises a plurality of pages  131 . The page buffer  124  is comprised of a data field and a spare field. In a typical flash memory device, the data field and the spare field refer to spaces for writing data and parity codes, respectively. Each page of the memory cell array  122  also is comprised of a data field and a parity field. 
   The controller  110  is connected to the flash memory device  120  via an input/output (“I/O”) bus IO and a control bus CON. The I/O bus IO is comprised of a plurality of signal lines, for example, 8 or 16 signal lines. 
   Commands CMD, addresses ADDR, and data DATA are transmitted via the I/O bus IO. Control signals are transmitted via the control bus CON to inform whether a signal that is transmitted via the I/O bus IO is a command CMD, an address ADDR, or data DATA. 
     FIG. 3  illustrates a method  300  of writing data in the flash memory system shown according to the present invention.  FIG. 3  shows a process of writing data and parity codes in the flash memory device  120 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , a first command CMD 1 , an address ADDR, data DATA 1 -DATAn and PARITY 1 -PARITYn, and a second command CMD 2  are serially transmitted to the flash memory device  120 . The first command CMD 1  may be a data loading command. The address ADDR refers to an address of a memory cell array to which data will be input. 
   The data refers to a plurality of groups of data DATA 1 -DATAn as well as parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn for the respective groups of data DATA 1 -DATAn. More specifically, in the flash memory system  100  of the present invention, the controller  110  transmits a portion (e.g., a group) of data DATA 1 -DATAn, which has a size that can be processed by the ECC circuit  118 , to the flash memory device  120 . Thereafter, the controller  110  transmits a portion of the parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn for the portion (e.g., the group) of data DATA 1 -DATAn to the flash memory device  120 . 
   In other words, it is not that the transfer of all of the data corresponding to the size of the data field of the page buffer  124  is followed by the transfer of the parity codes for all of the data, but that all of the data is divided into two or more smaller groups and the transfer of each group of data is followed by the transfer of the parity code for the group such that respective groups of data and parity codes for the respective groups of data are alternately transmitted to the flash memory device  120 . 
   Therefore, a first group of data DATA 1 , a first parity code PARITY 1  for the first group of data DATA 1 , a second group of data DATA 2 , a second parity code PARITY 2  for the second group of data DATA 2 , . . . , an nth group of data DATAn, and an nth parity code PARITYn are serially generated from the controller  110  and input to the flash memory device  120 . 
   The first through nth parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn correspond to the first through nth groups of data DATA 1 -DATAn, respectively. The page buffer  124  serially accepts the transmitted data or parity codes irrespective of the data field and the spare field. Each of the first through nth groups of data DATA 1 -DATAn may have the same size. 
   If it is supposed that the data field of the page buffer  124  has a size of N bytes (here, N is a natural number more than 1), each group of data may have a size of bytes of N divided by the number of groups. Here, the number of groups is a natural number more than 2. 
   For example, it is supposed that the data field of the page buffer  124  has a size of 2K bytes and the spare field has a size of 64 bytes (i.e., the page buffer  124  has a total size of (2K+64) bytes) and a unit of processing parity codes is 512 bytes, the data and the parity codes are written in the page buffer  124  in the order of 512-byte first data, a 16-byte first parity code, 512-byte second data, a 16-byte second parity code, 512-byte third data, a 16-byte third parity code, 512-byte fourth data, and a 16-byte fourth parity. Next, a second command CMD 2  is transmitted to the flash memory device  120 . 
   Data reading is performed in the same manner as data writing. In the foregoing example, in which the unit for processing parity codes is 512 bytes, when data is read from the flash memory device  120 , the reading of the 512-byte first data DATA 1  is directly followed by the reading of the corresponding first parity code PARITY 1 . Thus, during the reading of the 512-byte second data DATA 2 , it is possible to check the errors of the first data DATA 1  using the first parity code PARITY 1 . 
   Accordingly, if it is checked and found that the first data DATA 1  has errors, the present reading operation is stopped such that data is read again, so as to cope with the errors promptly. 
   As described above, when the page buffer  124  has a larger size than the unit of processing parity codes, a group of data corresponding to the unit of processing parity codes is written in the page buffer  124  and then the corresponding parity code generated by the ECC circuit  118  is written in the page buffer  124 . Thereafter, the next group of data corresponding to the unit of processing parity codes and the corresponding parity code are serially written in the page buffer  124 . By repeating this writing operation, it is not required to accumulate parity codes all together in the page buffer  124 . 
   During the data reading, a group of data corresponding to the unit of processing parity codes and the corresponding parity code are serially read from the page buffer  124 , thereby expediting error checking time and facilitating an error checking process. The effect of the present invention becomes clearer in comparison with the following contrastive example. 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B  illustrate methods  400  and  450 , respectively, of writing data in a flash memory system according to contrastive examples to the present invention. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4A , after a controller  110  transmits a first command CMD 1  and an address ADDR 1  to a flash memory device  120 , consecutive data DATA 1 -DATAn are serially written in the page buffer  124 . Thereafter, consecutive parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn are serially transmitted, and, finally, a second command CMD 2  is transmitted to the flash memory device  120 . 
   That is, after the controller  110  transmits all of the data DATA 1 -DATAn corresponding to the size of a data field to the flash memory device  120  such that the data DATA 1 -DATAn are written in the data field, all of the parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn are transmitted and written in a spare field. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4B , a controller  110  transmits consecutive data DATA 1 -DATAn using a first command CMD 1 , an address ADDR 1 , and a second command CMD 2  such that the data DATA 1 -DATAn are serially written in one page of a memory cell  122  via a page buffer  124 . Thereafter, the controller  110  transmits consecutive parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn corresponding to the data DATA 1 -DATAn using the first command CMD 1 , a second address ADDR 2 , and the second command CMD 2  again, such that the parity codes PARITY 1 -PARITYn are written in another page of the memory cell  122  via the page buffer  124 . 
   In the contrastive example methods shown in  FIGS. 4A and 4B , if the page buffer  124  has a larger size than a unit of processing parity codes, to write parity codes in the spare field or another page of the memory cell  122 , a parity code generated for each unit of processing parity codes should be stored in an additional memory device of the controller  110  and then transmitted to the flash memory device  120 . This may increase the burden of data processing. 
   Further, during the data reading, the reading of a portion of the data corresponding to the size of a page is followed by the reading of parity codes for the portion of the data, or data and parity codes are non-serially read. Thus, time taken to check errors increases. 
   In the present invention, a flash memory system interleaves the writing of data and the writing of parity codes for the data irrespective of a data field and a spare field of a page buffer, thereby reducing overall writing time. Also, each parity code is generated for a relatively small amount of data to greatly reduce the burden of the ECC circuit. 
   While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

Technology Category: 3