Zone boundary adjustment for defects in non-volatile memories

A memory system circuit, comprising:

• a memory comprising a plurality of blocks of non-volatile storage elements wherein the storage elements within individual ones of the blocks are simultaneously erasable, and
• a controller that controls programming of data into addressed blocks, reading data from addressed blocks and erasing data from one or more of addressed blocks at a time, wherein the memory is organized into logical zones each comprised of one or more blocks for address translation, and wherein the correspondence of blocks to zones is dynamically adjustable by controller.

A method of operating a non-volatile memory system comprising a plurality of blocks of non-volatile storage elements wherein the storage elements within individual ones of the blocks are simultaneously erasable, and a memory controller circuit that controls programming of data into addressed blocks, reading data from addressed blocks and erasing data from one or more of addressed blocks at a time wherein the non-volatile storage elements are organized by the controller into logical zones each comprised of one or more blocks for address translation, the method comprising:

• identifying one or more of said blocks as defective;
• and
• assigning a first correspondence of blocks to zones by the controller based on distribution of the identified defective blocks.

A memory system circuit, comprising:

• a memory comprising a plurality-of blocks of non-volatile storage elements wherein the storage elements within individual ones of the blocks are simultaneously erasable,
• a controller that controls programming of data into addressed blocks, reading data from addressed blocks and erasing data from one or more of addressed blocks at a time, wherein the non-volatile is organized into logical address sections as seen by the controller, wherein the correspondence between physical blocks and logical address sections is adaptable by the controller in response to defects in the memory.