Patents by Inventor Jeffrey A. Craig

Jeffrey A. Craig has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6049899
    Abstract: Soft errors occur during normal use of a solid-state memory such as EEPROM or Flash EEPROM. A soft error results from the programmed threshold voltage of a memory cell being drifted from its originally intended level. The error is initially not readily detected during normal read until the cumulative drift becomes so severe that it develops into a hard error. Data could be lost if enough of these hard errors swamps available error correction codes in the memory. A memory device and techniques therefor are capable of detecting these drifts and substantially maintaining the threshold voltage of each memory cell to its intended level throughout the use of the memory device, thereby resisting the development of soft errors into hard errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Zilog, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel L. Auclair, Jeffrey Craig, John S. Mangan, Robert D. Norman, Daniel C. Guterman, Sanjay Mehrotra
  • Patent number: 5905900
    Abstract: A computer system, and particularly a handheld mobile client system, in which an energy management control program having a plurality of cooperating components permits a designer to choose from among a plurality of foci for energy management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 18, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James L. Combs, Jeffrey A. Craig, Brent Alan Miller
  • Patent number: 5657332
    Abstract: Soft errors occur during normal use of a solid-state memory such as EEPROM or Flash EEPROM. A soft error results from the programmed threshold voltage of a memory cell being drifted from its originally intended level. The error is initially not readily detected during normal read until the cumulative drift becomes so severe that it develops into a hard error. Data could be lost if enough of these hard errors swamps available error correction codes in the memory. A memory device and techniques therefor are capable of detecting these drifts and substantially maintaining the threshold voltage of each memory cell to its intended level throughout the use of the memory device, thereby resisting the development of soft errors into hard errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 12, 1997
    Assignee: SanDisk Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel L. Auclair, Jeffrey Craig, John S. Mangan, Robert D. Norman, Daniel C. Guterman, Sanjay Mehrotra
  • Patent number: 5532962
    Abstract: Soft errors occur during normal use of a solid-state memory such as EEPROM or Flash EEPROM. A soft error results from the programmed threshold voltage of a memory cell being drifted from its originally intended level. The error is initially not readily detected during normal read until the cumulative drift becomes so severe that it develops into a hard error. Data could be lost if enough of these hard errors swamps available error correction codes in the memory. A memory device and techniques therefor are capable of detecting these drifts and substantially maintaining the threshold voltage of each memory cell to its intended level throughout the use of the memory device, thereby resisting the development of soft errors into hard errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 2, 1996
    Assignee: SanDisk Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel L. Auclair, Jeffrey Craig, John S. Mangan, Robert D. Norman, Daniel C. Guterman, Sanjay Mehrotra
  • Patent number: 5471478
    Abstract: A file structure employed in a flash electrically erasable and programmable read only memory ("EEPROM") system and aspects of forming and using certain data fields within such a file structure. An array of rows and columns of EEPROM memory cells is divided into blocks of cells that are separately addressable for the purpose of erasing an entire block of cells at the same time. Each block contains several rows of cells with certain columns thereof storing a sector of data, typically 512 bytes of data, and other columns of cells within the same rows being used as spare cells to replace any defective sector data cells and store overhead (header) information about the block and the data sector. Such overhead information includes pointers to locations of any defective sector data cells within the block, whether the block has been mapped out in favor of another block, error correction codes for the sector data and the header information, and other similar types of information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 28, 1995
    Assignees: SunDisk Corporation, Western Digital Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Mangan, Robert D. Norman, Jeffrey Craig, Richard Albert, Anil Gupta, Jeffrey D. Stai, Karl M. J. Lofgren
  • Patent number: 5438573
    Abstract: A file structure employed in a flash electrically erasable and programmable read only memory ("EEPROM") system and aspects of forming and using certain data fields within such a file structure. An array of rows and columns of EEPROM memory cells is divided into blocks of cells that are separately addressable for the purpose of erasing an entire block of cells at the same time. Each block contains several rows of cells with certain columns thereof storing a sector of data, typically 512 bytes of data, and other columns of cells within the same rows being used as spare cells to replace any defective sector data cells and store overhead (header) information about the block and the data sector. Such overhead information includes pointers to locations of any defective sector data cells within the block, whether the block has been mapped out in favor of another block, error correction codes for the sector data and the header information, and other similar types of information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Assignees: SunDisk Corporation, Western Digital Corporation
    Inventors: John S. Mangan, Robert D. Norman, Jeffrey Craig, Richard Albert, Anil Gupta, Jeffrey D. Stai, Karl M. J. Lofgren
  • Patent number: 5438272
    Abstract: A network-under-test of a device is tested relative to other networks of the device by probing the network-under-test with a probe; generating a voltage which is applied across the network-under-test via the probe for developing a transient voltage between the network-under-test and the other networks of the device for stressing leakage resistance between the network-under-test and the other networks; and determining if the stressed leakage resistance is acceptable for determining integrity of the network-under-test relative to the other networks of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1994
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey A. Craig, Ka-Chiu Woo
  • Patent number: D402493
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1998
    Inventors: Jeffrey Craig Cothren, Jeffrey A. Kalatsky
  • Patent number: D422830
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Inventors: Jeffrey Craig Cothren, Jeffrey A. Kalatsky