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Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method and apparatus is disclosed for use in a digital system having a host coupled to at least two nonvolatile memory devices. The host stores digital information in the nonvolatile memory devices and reads the stored digital information from the nonvolatile memory devices. The memory devices are organized into blocks of sectors of information. The method is for erasing digital information stored in the blocks of the nonvolatile memory devices and comprises assigning a predetermined number of blocks, in sequential order, to each of the nonvolatile memory devices, each block having a predetermined number of sectors. The method further comprises forming `super` blocks, each `super` block comprising a plurality of blocks, identifying a particular `super` block having at least two blocks, a first block being located in a first nonvolatile memory device and a second block being located in a second nonvolatile memory device for erasure of the particular `super` block and erasing the first and second selected blocks of the particular `super` block so that erasure of the second block is performed without waiting for completion of the erasure of the first block; and indicating the status of the first and second nonvolatile memory devices to be busy during erasure of the first and second selected blocks, wherein the speed of erase operations in the digital system is substantially increased thereby increasing the overall performance of the digital system.

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First Claim