US6233193B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Dynamic random access memory system with a static random access memory interface and methods for using the same
Assignee: FOOTHILLS IP LLC
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Filing: 1999-04-20
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Granted: 2001-05-15
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Expires: 2019-04-20
Abstract
Abstract A memory 700 having an array 701 of rows and columns of dynamic memory cells 301, cells 301 of each row coupled to a refresh wordline 303 a and an access wordline 303 b and cells 301 of each column coupled to a refresh bitline 302 a and an access bitline 302 b. Refresh circuitry 711, 712, refreshes selected rows of cells corresponding to a refresh wordline 303 a and a corresponding one refresh bitline 302 a. Access circuitry accesses selected cells of a selected row using corresponding access wordline 303 b and corresponding one of the access bitlines 302 b. The access circuitry includes a new address detector of 709 for detecting receipt of a new address of said memory, a row decoder 702 for selecting access wordline in response to receipt of the new address and access sense amplifiers 703 and an access column decoder 704 accesses at least one cell along the selected wordline 303 b using the corresponding access bitline 302 b.
Inventors
- 👤 Walland Bart Holland
- 👤 Stephen Seitsinger
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 07:19
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11C; G11C7/00; G11C11/00; G11C11/21; G11C11/34; G11C11/40; G11C11/401; G11C11/406
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 30
Claim 1
Independent Claim
209 words
A memory comprising: an array of rows and columns of dynamic memory cells, said cells of each said row coupled to an access wordline and a refresh wordline and said cells of each said column coupled to an access bitline and a refresh bitline, said access and refresh bitlines being independently prechargeable; refresh circuitry for refreshing a selected one of said rows of cells using a corresponding refresh wordline and a corresponding refresh bitline; access circuitry for accessing selected cells of a selected one of said rows of cells using a corresponding one of said access wordlines and corresponding one of said access bitlines, said access circuitry comprising: a new address detector for detecting receipt of a new address by said memory; a row decoder for selecting said access wordline in response to receipt of said new address; access sense amplifiers and an access column decoder for accessing at least one cell along said selected access wordline using said corresponding access bitline; and precharging circuitry for precharging said access bitlines concurrent with refreshing of a said row of cells using a corresponding refresh bitline and precharging said refresh bitlines concurrent with accessing selected cells of a selected one of said rows using corresponding ones of said access bitlines .
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
209 words
A memory comprising: an array of rows and columns of dynamic memory cells, said cells of each said row coupled to an access wordline and a refresh wordline and said cells of each said column coupled to an access bitline and a refresh bitline, said access and refresh bitlines being independently prechargeable; refresh circuitry for refreshing a selected one of said rows of cells using a corresponding refresh wordline and a corresponding refresh bitline; access circuitry for accessing selected cells of a selected one of said rows of cells using a corresponding one of said access wordlines and corresponding one of said access bitlines, said access circuitry comprising: a new address detector for detecting receipt of a new address by said memory; a row decoder for selecting said access wordline in response to receipt of said new address; access sense amplifiers and an access column decoder for accessing at least one cell along said selected access wordline using said corresponding access bitline; and precharging circuitry for precharging said access bitlines concurrent with refreshing of a said row of cells using a corresponding refresh bitline and precharging said refresh bitlines concurrent with accessing selected cells of a selected one of said rows using corresponding ones of said access bitlines .
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
44 words
The memory of claim 1 wherein said refresh circuitry comprises a comparator for comparing at least a portion of said new address with a refresh address and selectively enabling refresh of one of said rows of cells selected by said refresh address in response.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
14 words
The memory of claim 1 wherein said memory cells comprise 2-transistor, 1-capacitor memory cells.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
57 words
The memory of claim 1 wherein said refresh circuitry comprises: a refresh row decoder for selecting a refresh row in response to a refresh address; a refresh address generator for generating said refresh address; and a comparator for comparing said refresh address with said new address and selectively enabling refresh of said selected refresh row in response.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
The memory of claim 4 wherein refresh of said selected refresh row is enabled when said refresh address and said new address do not match.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
241 words
An information storage device comprising: a plurality of memory cells organized in rows and columns, each cell including a first transistor for coupling a storage capacitor of said cell with a first data line of a column of cells containing said cell in response to a signal applied via a first control line of a row of cells containing said cell and a second transistor for coupling said capacitor with a second data line of said column of cells in response to a signal applied via a second control line of said row of cells; access circuitry operable in response to a first time base to: detect the receipt of an access address addressing a cell being accessed; decode said address to activate said first control line of the row containing a cell being accessed; and exchange data with said cell being accessed via said first data line of the column containing said cell; refresh circuitry operable in response to a second time base to: generate a refresh address addressing a cell being refreshed; compare said refresh address with said access address; and when said refresh address and said access address do not match, refresh the cell being refreshed via said second control line of said row containing said cell; and precharge circuitry operable to precharge the first data line in response to the first time base and to precharge the second data line in response to the second time base.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
241 words
An information storage device comprising: a plurality of memory cells organized in rows and columns, each cell including a first transistor for coupling a storage capacitor of said cell with a first data line of a column of cells containing said cell in response to a signal applied via a first control line of a row of cells containing said cell and a second transistor for coupling said capacitor with a second data line of said column of cells in response to a signal applied via a second control line of said row of cells; access circuitry operable in response to a first time base to: detect the receipt of an access address addressing a cell being accessed; decode said address to activate said first control line of the row containing a cell being accessed; and exchange data with said cell being accessed via said first data line of the column containing said cell; refresh circuitry operable in response to a second time base to: generate a refresh address addressing a cell being refreshed; compare said refresh address with said access address; and when said refresh address and said access address do not match, refresh the cell being refreshed via said second control line of said row containing said cell; and precharge circuitry operable to precharge the first data line in response to the first time base and to precharge the second data line in response to the second time base.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
16 words
The storage device of claim 6 wherein said first and second transistors comprise field effect transistors.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
16 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said field effect transistors comprise n-channel field effect transistors.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
87 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said access circuitry comprises: a new address detection circuitry for detecting receipt of said new address; an access row decoder for decoding row address bits comprising a part of said new address and selecting said first control line of said row containing said cell being accessed; and a column decoder for decoding column address bits of said new address and accessing said cell being accessed using said first data line of said column of cells containing said cell being accessed.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
71 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said refresh circuitry comprises: a refresh generator for generating said refresh address; a refresh row decoder for decoding said refresh address and in response activating said second control line of said row containing said cell to be refreshed; refresh sense amplifiers for sensing and restoring said cell to be refreshed via said second data line of said column containing said cell to be refreshed.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
21 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said access circuitry includes circuitry for independently controlling precharge of said first data lines.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said refresh circuitry includes circuitry for independently controlling precharge of said second data lines.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
26 words
The storage device of claim 7 wherein said access circuitry operates on a first time base and said refresh circuitry operates on a second time base.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
206 words
A memory system comprising: a plurality of blocks of data storage circuitry comprising: an subarray of 2-transistor, 1-capacitor memory cells disposed in rows and columns, a first transistor of each cell selectively coupling a cell storage capacitor with a first bitline of a corresponding column in response to activation of a first subwordline of a corresponding row and a second transistor of each cell selectively coupling the cell storage capacitor with a second bitline of the corresponding column in response to activation of a second subwordline of the corresponding row; an access subwordline driver for selecting the first subwordlines of the subarray; access sense amplifiers for accessing cells via the first bitlines of the subarray; a refresh subwordline driver for accessing the second subwordlines of the subarray; and refresh sense amplifiers for refreshing cells via the second bitlines of the subarray; access row decoder circuitry for selecting an access subwordline driver in response to an access address; refresh row decoder circuitry for selecting a refresh subwordline driver in response to a refresh address; and a refresh address generator for generating the refresh address; and precharge circuitry for precharging the first and second bitlines of the subarray receptively in response to first and second independent time bases.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
206 words
A memory system comprising: a plurality of blocks of data storage circuitry comprising: an subarray of 2-transistor, 1-capacitor memory cells disposed in rows and columns, a first transistor of each cell selectively coupling a cell storage capacitor with a first bitline of a corresponding column in response to activation of a first subwordline of a corresponding row and a second transistor of each cell selectively coupling the cell storage capacitor with a second bitline of the corresponding column in response to activation of a second subwordline of the corresponding row; an access subwordline driver for selecting the first subwordlines of the subarray; access sense amplifiers for accessing cells via the first bitlines of the subarray; a refresh subwordline driver for accessing the second subwordlines of the subarray; and refresh sense amplifiers for refreshing cells via the second bitlines of the subarray; access row decoder circuitry for selecting an access subwordline driver in response to an access address; refresh row decoder circuitry for selecting a refresh subwordline driver in response to a refresh address; and a refresh address generator for generating the refresh address; and precharge circuitry for precharging the first and second bitlines of the subarray receptively in response to first and second independent time bases.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
14 words
The memory system of claim 14 wherein said plurality of refresh addresses are sequential.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
The memory system of claim 14 wherein said blocks of memory cells are organized as an array of rows and columns.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
26 words
The memory system of claim 16 and further comprising circuitry for selectively controlling precharge and active cycles of said blocks on a row by row basis.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
278 words
A method for operating a memory, the memory including a plurality of memory cells, each cell including a first transistor for coupling a storage capacitor of the cell with a first data line of a column of cells containing the cell in response to a signal applied via a first control line of a row of cells containing the cell and a second transistor for coupling the storage capacitor with a second data line of the column of cells in response to a signal applied via a second control line of the row of cells, comprising the steps of: accessing a cell comprising the substeps of: detecting the receipt of an access address addressing a cell being accessed; decoding the address to activate the first control line of a row containing the cell being accessed; and exchanging data with the cell being accessed via the first data line of a column containing the cell being accessed; and substantially simultaneously with said step of accessing, refreshing another cell comprising the substeps of: generating a refresh address addressing at least one cell being refreshed; comparing the refresh address with the access address; and when the refresh address and the access address do not match, refreshing the cell being refreshed via the second control line of the row containing the cell being refreshed and the second bitline of the column of cells containing the cell being refreshed; and selectively precharging the first and second bitlines, wherein said steps of accessing and precharging the first bitline are performed timed by a first time base and said steps of refreshing and precharging the second bitlines are performed timed by a second time base.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
278 words
A method for operating a memory, the memory including a plurality of memory cells, each cell including a first transistor for coupling a storage capacitor of the cell with a first data line of a column of cells containing the cell in response to a signal applied via a first control line of a row of cells containing the cell and a second transistor for coupling the storage capacitor with a second data line of the column of cells in response to a signal applied via a second control line of the row of cells, comprising the steps of: accessing a cell comprising the substeps of: detecting the receipt of an access address addressing a cell being accessed; decoding the address to activate the first control line of a row containing the cell being accessed; and exchanging data with the cell being accessed via the first data line of a column containing the cell being accessed; and substantially simultaneously with said step of accessing, refreshing another cell comprising the substeps of: generating a refresh address addressing at least one cell being refreshed; comparing the refresh address with the access address; and when the refresh address and the access address do not match, refreshing the cell being refreshed via the second control line of the row containing the cell being refreshed and the second bitline of the column of cells containing the cell being refreshed; and selectively precharging the first and second bitlines, wherein said steps of accessing and precharging the first bitline are performed timed by a first time base and said steps of refreshing and precharging the second bitlines are performed timed by a second time base.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
164 words
A method of operating a low-latency memory comprising an array of rows and columns of two-transistor, one-capacitor dynamic random access memory cells, the cells of each column associated with first and second independently prechargeable bitlines and the cells of each row associated with first and second wordlines, the method comprising the steps of: presenting first address bits to the memory in response to a first clock edge for accessing a first location in the array using the first wordline and the first bitline of the corresponding row and column; presenting second address bits to the memory in response to a second clock edge a preselected number of clock periods after the first edge for accessing a second location in the array using the second wordline and the second bitline of the corresponding row and column; and after said step of presenting the second address bits, accessing the first location on a third clock edge a preselected number of clock periods after the second edge.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
164 words
A method of operating a low-latency memory comprising an array of rows and columns of two-transistor, one-capacitor dynamic random access memory cells, the cells of each column associated with first and second independently prechargeable bitlines and the cells of each row associated with first and second wordlines, the method comprising the steps of: presenting first address bits to the memory in response to a first clock edge for accessing a first location in the array using the first wordline and the first bitline of the corresponding row and column; presenting second address bits to the memory in response to a second clock edge a preselected number of clock periods after the first edge for accessing a second location in the array using the second wordline and the second bitline of the corresponding row and column; and after said step of presenting the second address bits, accessing the first location on a third clock edge a preselected number of clock periods after the second edge.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 19 wherein the first address bits comprise row address bits and the second address bits comprise column address bits.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 19 wherein the first and second address bits comprise both row and column address bits.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 19 wherein said steps of presenting are performed substantially simultaneously.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 22 wherein the first address bits comprise row address bits and the second address bits comprise column address bits.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 19 and further comprising the step of substantially simultaneously with said step of presenting the second address bits presenting third address bits for accessing the location in the array.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 24 wherein the first address bits comprise row address bits, the second address bits comprise row address bits and the third address bits comprise column address bits.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2004-05-14 | 2004-11-13 | 2005-05-15 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2008-05-14 | 2008-11-13 | 2009-05-15 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2012-05-14 | 2012-11-13 | 2013-05-15 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |