Methods for adaptively programming flash memory devices and flash memory systems incorporating same

A method for rapidly programming at least two bits per cell, in a population of pages belonging to respective erase sectors in flash memory, the population of pages defining a multiplicity of cells, the method comprising:

• for at least one cell,
• initially programming at least one first bit into the cell thereby to induce one of a first plurality of program levels in the cell, said first plurality of program levels including an erase level, and
• subsequently programming at least one second bit into the cell, thereby to induce one of a second plurality of program levels in the cell, said second plurality exceeding said first plurality in number, wherein said second plurality of program levels includes at least one of the program levels in said first plurality of program levels other than the erase level.

A system for rapidly programming at least two bits per cell, in a population of pages belonging to respective erase sectors in flash memory, the population of pages defining a multiplicity of cells, the system comprising:

• a bit programmer operative to initially program at least one first bit into at least one cell thereby to induce one of a first plurality of program levels in the cell, said first plurality of program levels including an erase level, and for at least one cell, to subsequently program at least one second bit into the cell, thereby to induce one of a second plurality of program levels in the cell, said second plurality exceeding said first plurality in number, wherein said second plurality of program levels includes at least one of the program levels in said first plurality of program levels other than the erase level.

A method for programming data into a first plurality of rows within a second plurality of erase sectors of a flash memory device using a programming process having at least one selectable parameter, the method comprising:

• characterizing each of at least one row subsets, each row subset comprising at least one row from among said first plurality of rows, thereby to generate at least one row subset characteristic value;
• and
• programming data into at least a portion of at least one individual row belonging to at least one row subset, using a programming process having at least one selectable parameter, said at least one selectable parameter being set at least partly in accordance with the row subset characteristic value characterizing a row subset to which said individual row belongs.

A system for programming data into a first plurality of rows within a second plurality of erase sectors of a flash memory device using a programming process having at least one selectable parameter, the system comprising:

• a row subset analyzer operative to characterize each of at least one row subsets, each row subset comprising at least one row from among said first plurality of rows, thereby to generate at least one row subset characteristic value;
• and
• a row subset-dependent programmer operative to program data into at least a portion of at least one individual row belonging to at least one row subset, using a programming process having at least one selectable parameter, said at least one selectable parameter being set at least partly in accordance with the row subset characteristic value characterizing a row subset to which said individual row belongs.