Erasure pointer error correction

• US 20050268203A1
• Filed: 05/26/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ovonyx Memory Technology, LLC (Micron Technology, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Swaminathan, Shuba, Radke, William H., Keays, Brady L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,322,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/10 Adding special bits or symbols to the coded information, e.g. parity check, casting out 9's or 11's
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1048 using arrangements adapted for a specific error detection or correction feature
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/132 Algebraic geometric codes, e.g. Goppa codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/1515 Reed-Solomon codes

Abstract

Improved memory devices, circuitry, and data methods are described that facilitate the detection and correction of data in memory systems or devices in combination with a stored record of known flaws, errors, or questionable data bits of a read memory row or block to allow for more efficient processing and correction of these errors. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes an erasure pointer that can store the location of N bad or questionable bits in the memory segment that is currently being read, where for each bit stored by the erasure pointer the embodiment also contains 2^N ECC generators to allow the read data to be quickly checked with the know bad bits in each possible state. This allows the read data to then be easily corrected on the fly before it is transferred by selecting the bad bit state indicated by the ECC generator detecting an uncorrupted read.

Claims

1. A memory system, comprising:

at least one memory device, wherein the at least one memory device contains a memory array with a plurality of memory cells arranged in one or more data segments, where each data segment contains an ECC code; and

a memory control circuit coupled to the at least one memory device, wherein the memory control circuit comprises,

a data buffer,

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer, and

two or more ECC generator/checkers circuits, where the data buffer and the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data segment.

2. The memory system of claim 1, wherein 2^N ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive the selected read data segment, where N is a maximum number of bad bits recorded for each segment of the at least one memory device.

3. The memory system of claim 2, wherein the memory control circuit is adapted to correct the selected read data segment as it is read from the at least one memory device utilizing the 2 ECC generator/checker circuits such that each ECC generator circuit evaluates the selected read data segment where the N bad bits are in a differing selected state in each ECC generator/checker and where the memory control circuit selects the state of the N bad bits to transfer through the host transfer circuit with the selected read data segment that matches the selected state of the N bad bits utilized in a correctly evaluating ECC generator/checker.

4. The memory system of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory device is a non-volatile memory device.

5. The memory system of claim 4, wherein the at least one non-volatile memory device of the memory system is one of a NOR architecture Flash memory device, a NAND architecture Flash memory device, a Polymer memory device, a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) memory device, a Ovionics Unified Memory (OUM) memory device, Nitride Read Only Memory (NROM) memory device, and a Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) memory device.

6. The memory system of claim 1, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

7. The memory system of claim 1, wherein at least one memory device is a DRAM memory device.

8. A memory device comprising:

a memory array containing a plurality of memory cells arranged into a plurality of segments, each segment containing ECC codes;

a data buffer;

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer; and

two or more ECC generator/checker circuits, where the data buffer and the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data segment.

9. The memory device of claim 8, wherein 2^N ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive the selected read data segment, where N is a maximum number of bad bits recorded for each segment of the memory array.

10. The memory device of claim 9, wherein the memory device is adapted to correct the selected read data segment as it is read from the memory array utilizing the 2^N ECC generator/checker circuits such that each ECC generator circuit evaluates the selected read data segment where the N bad bits are in a differing selected state in each ECC generator/checker and where the memory device selects the state of the N bad bits to transfer through the host transfer circuit with the selected read data segment that matches the selected state of the N bad bits utilized in a correctly evaluating ECC generator/checker.

11. The memory device of claim 8, wherein memory array is a non-volatile memory array.

12. The memory device of claim 11, wherein the non-volatile memory array is one of a NOR architecture Flash memory array, a NAND architecture Flash memory array, a Polymer memory array, a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) memory array, a Ovionics Unified Memory (OUM) memory array, Nitride Read Only Memory (NROM) array, and a Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) memory array.

13. The memory device of claim 8, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

14. The memory device of claim 8, wherein the memory array contains a plurality of memory cells arranged into a plurality of sectors in a plurality of erase blocks, wherein each erase block of the plurality of erase blocks contains a plurality of physical row pages, each physical row page containing one or more data sectors and one or more ECC code areas.

15. A Flash memory system, comprising:

at least one Flash memory device, wherein the at least one Flash memory device contains a memory array with a plurality of floating gate memory cells arranged into a plurality of sectors in a plurality of erase blocks, wherein each erase block of the plurality of erase blocks contains a plurality of physical row pages, each physical row page containing one or more paired data sectors and ECC codes; and

a Flash memory control circuit coupled to the at least one Flash memory device, wherein the Flash memory control circuit comprises,

a data buffer,

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer, and

two ECC generator/checker circuits, where the data buffer and the two ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data sector and ECC code.

16. The Flash memory system of claim 15, wherein a record of one known bad/questionable bit, if any, is recorded for each sector of each Flash memory device.

17. The Flash memory system of claim 16, wherein the Flash memory control circuit is adapted to correct the selected read data sector as it is read from the at least one Flash memory device utilizing the two ECC generator/checker circuits such that each ECC generator circuit evaluates the selected read data sector where the known bad/questionable bit, if any, recorded for the selected read data sector is in a differing state in each ECC generator/checker and where the Flash memory control circuit selects the state of the known bad/questionable bit to transfer through the host transfer circuit indicated by a correctly evaluating ECC generator/checker of the two ECC generator/checker circuits.

18. The Flash memory system of claim 15, wherein the at least one Flash memory device of the memory system is a one of NAND Flash memory device and a NOR Flash memory device.

19. The Flash memory system of claim 15, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

20. A memory controller comprising:

a host interface;

a memory device interface for one or more memory devices, wherein each of the one or more memory devices has a plurality of segments, and wherein each segment of the plurality of segments contains an ECC code;

a data buffer coupled to the memory device interface;

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer and to the host interface; and

two or more ECC generator/checker circuits, where the data buffer and the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data segment.

21. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein N is a maximum number of bad bits recorded for each segment of the at least one memory device.

22. The memory controller of claim 21, wherein the memory controller is adapted to correct the selected read data segment as it is read from the one or more memory devices utilizing the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits such that each ECC generator circuit evaluates the selected read data segment where the N bad bits are in a differing selected state in each ECC generator/checker and where the memory controller selects the state of the N bad bits with the selected read data segment that matches the selected state of the N bad bits utilized in a correctly evaluating ECC generator/checker that evaluates a correct read data segment.

23. The memory controller of claim 21, wherein 2^N ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data segment.

24. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the memory controller is adapted to correct the read data segment in one of the data buffer and the host transfer hardware.

25. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the memory controller is a non-volatile memory controller.

26. The memory controller of claim 25, wherein the non-volatile memory controller is adapted to present an interface that is compatible with a mass storage device.

27. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the memory controller further comprises a microprocessor.

28. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the microprocessor is adapted to execute an ECC correction algorithm if none of the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits evaluates a correct read data segment.

29. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the memory controller further comprises an erasure pointer coupled to the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits.

30. The memory controller of claim 29, wherein the erasure pointer is adapted to be loaded with a location of a selected number of bad bits by a microprocessor.

31. The memory controller of claim 20, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

32. A system comprising:

a host coupled to a memory system, wherein the memory system comprises;

at least one memory device, wherein the at least one memory device contains a memory array with a plurality of memory cells arranged in one or more data segments, where each data segment contains an ECC code; and

a memory control circuit coupled to the at least one memory device, wherein the memory control circuit comprises,

a data buffer,

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer, and

two or more ECC generator/checker circuits, where the data buffer and the two or more ECC generator/checker circuits are coupled to receive a selected read data segment.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the host is one of a processor and an external memory controller.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the memory system is a non-volatile memory system.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the memory system is adapted to appear to the host as a mass storage device.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the host interface to the memory system is one of a PCMCIA-ATA, a Compact Flash (CF), a USB Flash, and a multimedia card (MMC) compatible interface.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the at least one non-volatile memory device of the memory system is one of a NOR architecture Flash memory device, a NAND architecture Flash memory device, a Polymer memory device, a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) memory device, a Ovionics Unified Memory (OUM) memory device, Nitride Read Only Memory (NROM) memory device, and a Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) memory device.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

39. A method of operating a memory system comprising:

reading a data segment of a plurality of segments from a selected memory device of one or more memory devices, where the location of one to N bad/questionable bits of each data segment are recorded, and wherein each segment of the plurality of segments contains an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits;

selecting a correct state of the N bad/questionable bits from a correctly evaluating ECC check; and

correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the one or more memory devices are non-volatile memory devices.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the one or more non-volatile memory devices are one of a NOR architecture Flash memory device, a NAND architecture Flash memory device, a Polymer memory device, a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) memory device, a Ovionics Unified Memory (OUM) memory device, Nitride Read Only Memory (NROM) memory device, and a Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) memory device.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

43. The method of claim 39, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in 2^N parallel ECC checks, where each of the 2^N parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by iteratively evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in an ECC check, where each iteration of the ECC check evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

recording likely state of the N bad/questionable bits; and

prioritizing iteration based on the likely state of the N bad/questionable bits.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

executing an error correction algorithm in a processor or hardware circuit, where the error correction algorithm is prioritized to evaluate solutions based on the likely state of the N bad questionable bits.

47. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

executing an error correction algorithm in a processor or a hardware correction circuit, where the number of corrupted bits the error correction algorithm can correct for is extended utilizing the location of the N bad questionable bits.

48. The method of claim 39, wherein correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits further comprises one of correcting the read data segment as it is transferred from the memory system and correcting the read data segment before transferring the read data segment from the memory system.

49. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

executing an error correction algorithm in a processor or a hardware correction circuit if no ECC check evaluates correctly.

50. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

presenting an interface to the memory system compatible with a mass storage device.

51. A method of operating a memory device comprising:

reading a data segment of a plurality of segments from a memory array, where a location of one to N bad/questionable bits of each data segment are recorded and where each data segment has an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in two or more parallel ECC checks, where each of the two or more parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state;

selecting a correct state of the N bad/questionable bits from a correctly evaluating ECC check; and

correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the memory array of the memory device is a one of NAND Flash memory array and a NOR Flash memory array.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

54. The method of claim 51, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in two or more parallel ECC checks, where each of the two or more parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state further comprises error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in 2^N parallel ECC checks, where each of the 2^N parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in two or more parallel ECC checks, where each of the two or more parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state further comprises evaluating the read data segment with one recorded bad bit in two parallel ECC checks, where a first ECC check evaluates the read data segment with the recorded bad bit in the state in which it was read and a second ECC check evaluates the read data segment with the recorded bad bit inverted from the state in which it was read.

56. A method of operating a memory controller comprising:

receiving a data segment of a plurality of segments from a selected memory device of one or more memory devices, where the location of one to N bad/questionable bits of each data segment are recorded, and wherein each segment of the plurality of segments contains an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits;

selecting a correct state of the N bad/questionable bits from a correctly evaluating ECC check; and

correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein at least one of the one or more memory devices is a non-volatile memory device.

58. The method of claim 56, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

59. The method of claim 56, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in 2^N parallel ECC checks, where each of the 2^N parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

60. The method of claim 56, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by iteratively evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in an ECC check, where each iteration of the ECC check evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

61. The method of claim 56, wherein correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits further comprises one of correcting the read data segment as it is transferred from the memory controller and correcting the read data segment before transferring the read data segment from the memory controller.

62. The method of claim 56, further comprising:

executing an error correction algorithm in a processor or a hardware correction circuit if no ECC check evaluates correctly.

63. A method of correcting errors in a read data segment comprising:

reading a data segment, where the location of one to N bad/questionable bits of the data segment are recorded, and wherein the read data segment contains an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits;

selecting a correct state of the N bad/questionable bits from a correctly evaluating ECC check; and

correcting the read data segment to correspond to the correct state of the N bad/questionable bits.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

65. The method of claim 63, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in 2^N parallel ECC checks, where each of the 2^N parallel ECC checks evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

66. The method of claim 63, wherein error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment in one or more ECC checks for each possible state of the one to N bad/questionable bits further comprises error checking the read data segment by iteratively evaluating the read data segment and ECC code in an ECC check, where each iteration of the ECC check evaluates the read data segment with the N bad/questionable bits in a differing state.

67. The method of claim 63, further comprising:

executing an error correction algorithm if no ECC check evaluates correctly.

68. A memory system, comprising:

at least one memory device, wherein the at least one memory device contains a memory array with a plurality of memory cells arranged in one or more data segments, where each data segment contains an ECC code;

a memory control circuit coupled to the at least one memory device, wherein the memory control circuit comprises,

a data buffer,

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer, and

a ECC generator/checker circuit, where the data buffer and the ECC generator/checker circuit are coupled to receive a selected read data segment, and where N is a maximum number of bad bits recorded for each segment of the at least one memory device; and

wherein the memory control circuit is adapted to error check and correct the selected read data segment as it is read from the at least one memory device by iteratively evaluating the read data segment and the ECC code in the ECC generator/checker, where each iteration evaluates the read data segment with the N bad bits in a differing state and correcting the read data segment to correspond to match the state of the N bad bits in a correctly evaluating iteration.

69. The memory system of claim 68, wherein the at least one memory device is a non-volatile memory device.

70. The memory system of claim 69, wherein the at least one non-volatile memory device of the memory system is one of a NOR architecture Flash memory device, a NAND architecture Flash memory device, a Polymer memory device, a Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) memory device, a Ovionics Unified Memory (OUM) memory device, Nitride Read Only Memory (NROM) memory device, and a Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM) memory device.

71. The memory system of claim 68, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

72. A memory controller comprising:

a host interface;

a memory device interface for one or more memory devices, wherein each of the one or more memory devices has a plurality of segments, and wherein each segment of the plurality of segments contains an ECC code;

a data buffer coupled to the memory device interface;

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer and to the host interface;

a ECC generator/checker circuit, where the data buffer and the ECC generator/checker circuit are coupled to receive a selected read data segment, and where N is a maximum number of bad bits recorded for each segment of the at least one memory device; and

wherein the memory controller is adapted to error check and correct the selected read data segment as it is read from the at least one memory device by iteratively evaluating the read data segment and the ECC code in the ECC generator/checker, where each iteration evaluates the read data segment with the N bad bits in a differing state and correcting the read data segment to correspond to match the state of the N bad bits in a correctly evaluating iteration.

73. The memory controller of claim 72, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

74. The memory controller of claim 72, wherein the memory controller is adapted to correct the read data segment in one of the data buffer and the host transfer hardware.

75. The memory controller of claim 72, wherein the memory controller is adapted to utilize the likely state of the N bad bits to set the order of the differing states of the N bad bits in the iteration.

76. The memory controller of claim 72, wherein the memory controller is a non-volatile memory controller.

77. A memory controller, comprising:

a data buffer,

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer

a processor;

an ECC generator/checker circuit, where the data buffer and the ECC generator/checker circuit are coupled to receive a read data segment from at least one memory device, where the read data segment contains an ECC code;

wherein N is a maximum number of bad bit locations and likely states recorded for the read data segment of the at least one memory device; and

wherein the memory controller is adapted to execute an error correction algorithm to correct a read data segment that the ECC generator/checker has evaluated as corrupt and where the error correction algorithm is configured to evaluate correction solutions based on the likely state of the N bad bits.

78. The memory controller of claim 77, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

79. The memory controller of claim 77, wherein the memory controller is a non-volatile memory controller.

80. A memory controller comprising:

a host interface;

a memory device interface for one or more memory devices, wherein each of the one or more memory devices has a plurality of segments, and wherein each segment of the plurality of segments contains an ECC code;

a data buffer coupled to the memory device interface;

a host transfer circuit coupled to the data buffer and to the host interface;

a ECC generator/checker circuit, where the data buffer and the ECC generator/checker circuit are coupled to receive a selected read data segment, and where N is a maximum number of bad bit locations recorded for each segment of the at least one memory device; and

wherein the memory controller is adapted to execute an error correction algorithm to correct a read data segment that the ECC generator/checker has evaluated as corrupt and where the error correction algorithm is configured to evaluate correction solutions utilizing the locations of the recorded bad bits of the selected read data segment.

81. The memory controller of claim 80, wherein the memory controller is a non-volatile memory controller.

82. The memory controller of claim 80, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

83. The memory controller of claim 80, wherein the likely state of the N bad bits are recorded and the error correction algorithm is configured to evaluate correction solutions based on the likely state of the N bad bits.

84. The memory controller of claim 80, wherein the memory controller is adapted to correct the read data segment in one of the data buffer and the host transfer hardware.

85. A method of correcting errors in a read data segment comprising:

reading a data segment, where the location of one to N bad/questionable bits of the data segment are recorded, and wherein the segment contains an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment with an ECC block code check; and

error correcting the read data segment with an ECC block code error correction algorithm if the read data segment error checks as corrupt utilizing the locations one to N recorded bad/questionable bits as input to extend a maximum number of corrupt bits that are correctable by the ECC block code error correction algorithm utilizing the ECC code of the read data segment.

86. The method of claim 85, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.

87. The method of claim 85, wherein error correcting the read data segment with an ECC block code error correction algorithm if the read data segment error checks as corrupt utilizing the locations one to N recorded bad/questionable bits as input to extend a maximum number of corrupt bits that are correctable by the ECC block code error correction algorithm utilizing the ECC code of the read data segment further comprises error correcting the read data segment with an ECC block code error correction algorithm if the read data segment error checks as corrupt utilizing the locations one to N recorded bad/questionable bits as input to extend a maximum number of corrupt bits that are correctable by the ECC block code error correction algorithm utilizing the ECC code of the read data segment, where the error correction algorithm is configured to evaluate correction solutions based on a recorded likely state of the N bad bits.

88. A method of correcting errors in a read data segment comprising:

reading a data segment, where the location and likely state of one to N bad/questionable bits of the data segment are recorded, and wherein the segment contains an ECC code;

error checking the read data segment by evaluating the read data segment with an ECC block code check; and

error correcting the read data segment with an ECC block code error correction algorithm if the read data segment error checks as corrupt utilizing the locations and state of the one to N recorded bad/questionable bits as input to generate a correction and where the error correction algorithm is configured to evaluate correction solutions based on the likely state of the N bad bits.

89. The method of claim 88, wherein the ECC code is one of a Hamming code, a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code, a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hochquenghem (BCH) code, a circular redundancy check code (CRC-32), a Golay code, a Reed-Muller code, a Goppa code, and a Denniston code.