Appeal No. 1996-2481 Page 2
Application No. 07/828763
BACKGROUND
The invention at issue in this appeal relates to memory
management. An erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)
is erased by exposure to an ultraviolet light. In contrast, a
flash-erasable programmable read-only memory (FEPROM), also
called an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
(EEPROM), is erased by application of a certain voltage. A
“block-erasable” FEPROM comprises blocks of memory that can be
erased independently of each other. The invention provides
memory management for allocating free space, deallocating
allocated space, counting the number of erasures of a block,
ensuring that each block has been erased about the same number
of times, selecting a block in which to store data next, and
reclaiming deallocated space for a block-erasable FEPROM.
Claim 1, which is representative for our purposes,
follows:
1. A manager for a computer memory comprising:
a block allocation routine, the memory divided
into blocks of memory locations, each block having
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