Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090006776 | MEMORY LINK TRAINING - An apparatus and method are disclosed. In one embodiment, the apparatus trains a memory link using a signal alignment unit. The signal alignment unit aligns a read data strobe signal that is transmitted on the link with the center of a read data eye transmitted on the link. Next, the signal alignment unit aligns a receive enable signal that is transmitted on the link with the absolute time that data returns the data lines of the link a column address strobe signal is sent to the memory coupled to the link. Next, the signal alignment unit aligns a write data strobe signal transmitted on the link with the link's clock signal. Finally, the signal alignment unit aligns the center of the write data eye transmitted on the link with the write data strobe transmitted on the link. | 01-01-2009 |
20090086972 | SUPPRESSING POWER SUPPLY NOISE USING DATA SCRAMBLING IN DOUBLE DATA RATE MEMORY SYSTEMS - Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for suppressing power supply noise using data scrambling in double data rate memory systems. In some embodiments, an integrated circuit includes a transmit data path to transmit data to one or more memory devices. The transmit data path may include scrambling logic to generate, in parallel, N pseudo random outputs that are uncorrelated with each other. The output data and the pseudo random outputs are input to XOR logic. The transmit data path transmits the output the of XOR logic which has a substantially white frequency spectrum. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 04-02-2009 |
20100153699 | SUPPRESSING POWER SUPPLY NOISE USING DATA SCRAMBLING IN DOUBLE DATA RATE MEMORY SYSTEMS - Embodiments are generally directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for suppressing power supply noise using data scrambling in double data rate memory systems. In some embodiments, an integrated circuit includes a transmit data path to transmit data to one or more memory devices. The transmit data path may include scrambling logic to generate, in parallel, N pseudo random outputs that are uncorrelated with each other. The output data and the pseudo random outputs are input to XOR logic. The transmit data path transmits the output the of XOR logic which has a substantially white frequency spectrum. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 06-17-2010 |
20110131458 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING EFFECTS OF SIGNAL PHASE DIFFERENCE ON A MEMORY SYSTEM - In an embodiment, the effect of signal phase difference on a memory system is tested for various operating states. The various operating states may be represented as respective sample points on a plane defined by a range of values for a difference in signal phases and a range of values for another operating state parameter. In various embodiments, sample points for a round of crosstalk testing may include two sample points which are offset from the same reference point on the plane along different respective axes, where the axes are oblique to one another. | 06-02-2011 |
20110161752 | ROBUST MEMORY LINK TESTING USING MEMORY CONTROLLER - REUT (Robust Electrical Unified Testing) for memory links is introduced which speeds testing, tool development, and debug. In addition it provides training hooks that have enough performance to be used by BIOS to train parameters and conditions that have not been possible with past implementations. Address pattern generation circuitry is also disclosed. | 06-30-2011 |
20110176679 | SUPPRESSING POWER SUPPLY NOISE USING DATA SCRAMBLING IN DOUBLE DATA RATE MEMORY SYSTEMS - Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for suppressing power supply noise using data scrambling in double data rate memory systems. In some embodiments, an integrated circuit includes a transmit data path to transmit data to one or more memory devices. The transmit data path may include scrambling logic to generate, in parallel, N pseudo random outputs that are uncorrelated with each other. The output data and the pseudo random outputs are input to XOR logic. The transmit data path transmits the output the of XOR logic which has a substantially white frequency spectrum. Other embodiments are described and claimed. | 07-21-2011 |
20110298501 | Methods and Apparatuses for Delay-Locked Loops and Phase-Locked Loops - A low power delay-locked loop (DLL) is presented. In one embodiment, the DLL includes a phase detector which includes a reference input and a feedback input to determine a phase difference. The DLL also includes a controller to determine whether to provide a signal to both the reference input and the feedback input such that the reference input and the feedback input receive an identical input, for example, during low power operation. | 12-08-2011 |
20110317316 | METHOD, APPARATUS, AND SYSTEM FOR PROTECTING SUPPLY NODES FROM ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE - Described herein are a method, apparatus, and system for electrostatic discharge protection of supplies. The apparatus comprises a timer unit having a node with a first supply signal and operable to generate a first timer signal based on the first supply signal; and a clamp unit, coupled to the timer unit and having a node with a second supply signal, operable to clamp the second supply signal in response to electrostatic discharge (ESD) on the node with the second supply signal for a duration based on a signal level of the first timer signal. | 12-29-2011 |
20140006729 | MIRRORING MEMORY COMMANDS TO MEMORY DEVICES | 01-02-2014 |
20140006770 | MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING DYNAMIC MULTI-MODE MEMORY PACKAGES IN MEMORY SYSTEMS | 01-02-2014 |
20140063982 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING VOLTAGE REFERENCE TO OPTIMIZE AN I/O SYSTEM - Described herein is an apparatus for dynamically adjusting a voltage reference level for optimizing an I/O system to achieve a certain performance metric. The apparatus comprises: a voltage reference generator to generate a voltage reference; and a dynamic voltage reference control unit, coupled with the voltage reference generator, to dynamically adjust a level of the voltage reference in response to an event. The apparatus is used to perform the method comprising: generating a voltage reference for an input/output (I/O) system; determining a worst case voltage level of the voltage reference; dynamically adjusting, via a dynamic voltage reference control unit, the voltage reference level based on determining the worst case voltage level; and computing a center of an asymmetrical eye based on the dynamically adjusted voltage reference level. | 03-06-2014 |
20140089705 | POWER GATING FOR TERMINATION POWER SUPPLIES - Power gating control architectures. A memory device having at least a memory array and input/output (I/O) lines terminated on the memory device with termination circuitry coupled to receive a termination supply voltage (V | 03-27-2014 |
20140095946 | TRANSACTION-LEVEL TESTING OF MEMORY I/O AND MEMORY DEVICE - A memory subsystem includes a test engine coupled to a memory controller that can provide memory access transactions to the memory controller, bypassing a memory address decoder. The test engine receives a command to cause it to generate transactions to implement a memory test. The command identifies the test to implement, and the test engine generates one or more memory access transactions to implement the test on the memory device. The test engine passes the transactions to the memory controller, which can schedule the commands with its scheduler. Thus, the transactions cause deterministic behavior in the memory device because the transactions are executed as provided, while at the same time testing the actual operation of the device. | 04-03-2014 |
20140095947 | FUNCTIONAL MEMORY ARRAY TESTING WITH A TRANSACTION-LEVEL TEST ENGINE - A memory subsystem includes a test engine coupled to a memory controller that can provide memory access transactions to the memory controller, bypassing a memory address decoder. The test engine hardware is configurable for different tests. The test engine identifies a range of addresses through which to iterate a test sequence in response to receiving a software instruction indicating a test to perform. For each iteration of the test, the test engine, via the selected hardware, generates a memory access transaction, selects an address from the range, and sends the transaction to the memory controller. The memory controller schedules memory device commands in response to the transaction, which causes the memory device to execute operations to carry out the transaction. | 04-03-2014 |
20140119137 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING VOLTAGE REFERENCE TO OPTIMIZE AN I/O SYSTEM - Described herein is an apparatus for dynamically adjusting a voltage reference level for optimizing an I/O system to achieve a certain performance metric. The apparatus comprises: a voltage reference generator to generate a voltage reference; and a dynamic voltage reference control unit, coupled with the voltage reference generator, to dynamically adjust a level of the voltage reference in response to an event. The apparatus is used to perform the method comprising: generating a voltage reference for an input/output (I/O) system; determining a worst case voltage level of the voltage reference; dynamically adjusting, via a dynamic voltage reference control unit, the voltage reference level based on determining the worst case voltage level; and computing a center of an asymmetrical eye based on the dynamically adjusted voltage reference level. | 05-01-2014 |
20140126090 | HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER GATING - Power gating circuits. A transistor stack is coupled between a voltage supply to provide a gated supply voltage. The supply voltage is greater than the maximum junction voltage of the individual transistors in the transistor stack. Termination circuitry for input/output (I/O) lines coupled to operate using the gated supply voltage. The termination circuitry comprising at least a resistive element coupled between an I/O interface and a termination voltage supply. | 05-08-2014 |
20140140146 | POWER-EFFICIENT, SINGLE-ENDED TERMINATION USING ON-DIE VOLTAGE SUPPLY - Circuitry to provide a supply voltage. A voltage regulator is coupled to receive a target reference signal. The voltage regulator generates a supply voltage (Vtt) and is coupled to receive the supply voltage as an input signal. An upper limit comparator receives an upper limit voltage signal that is higher than the target reference voltage signal and the supply voltage to generate a “too high” signal when the supply voltage exceeds an upper threshold. A lower limit comparator receives a lower limit voltage signal that is lower than the target reference voltage signal and the supply voltage to generate a “too low” signal when the supply voltage is below a lower threshold. A pull up current source is coupled to pull the supply voltage up in response to the too low signal. A pull down current source is coupled to pull the supply voltage down in response to the too high signal. | 05-22-2014 |
20140157053 | MEMORY SUBSYSTEM DATA BUS STRESS TESTING - A memory subsystem includes a test signal generator of a memory controller that generates a test data signal in response to the memory controller receiving a test transaction. The test transaction indicates one or more I/O operations to perform on an associated memory device. The test signal generator can generate data signals from various different pattern generators. The memory controller scheduler schedules the test data signal pattern, and sends it to the memory device. The memory device can then execute I/O operation(s) to implement the test transaction. The memory controller can read back data written to a specific address of the memory device and compare the read back data with expected data. When the read back data and the expected data do not match, the memory controller can record an error. The error can include the specific address of the error, the specific data, and/or encoded data. | 06-05-2014 |
20140157055 | MEMORY SUBSYSTEM COMMAND BUS STRESS TESTING - A memory subsystem includes logic buffer coupled to a command bus between a memory controller and a memory device. The logic buffer detects that the memory controller places the command bus in a state where the memory controller does not drive the command bus with a valid executable memory device command. In response to detecting the state of the command bus, the logic buffer generates a signal pattern and injects the signal pattern on the command bus after a scheduler of the memory controller to drive the command bus with the signal pattern. | 06-05-2014 |
20140189224 | TRAINING FOR MAPPING SWIZZLED DATA TO COMMAND/ADDRESS SIGNALS - Data pin mapping and delay training techniques. Valid values are detected on a command/address (CA) bus at a memory device. A first part of the pattern (high phase) is transmitted via a first subset of data pins on the memory device in response to detecting values on the CA bus; a second part of the pattern (low phase) is transmitted via a second subset of data pins on the memory device in response to detecting values on the CA bus. Signals are sampled at the memory controller from the data pins while the CA pattern is being transmitted to obtain a first memory device's sample (high phase) and the second memory device's sample (low phase) by analyzing the first and the second subset of sampled data pins. The analysis combined with the knowledge of the transmitted pattern on the CA bus leads to finding the unknown data pins mapping. Varying the transmitted CA patterns and the resulting feedbacks sampled on memory controller data signals allows CA/CTRL/CLK signals delay training with and without priory data pins mapping knowledge. | 07-03-2014 |
20140189229 | REFRESH RATE PERFORMANCE BASED ON IN-SYSTEM WEAK BIT DETECTION - A memory subsystem can test a memory device in situ, testing the performance of the device in the system it is built into during production. Thus, the refresh rate can be adjusted specific to the memory device(s) of a specific system, rather than defaulting to a refresh frequency specified by a standard for the memory device(s). A test component embedded within the host memory subsystem can perform a test and identify specific bits or lines of memory that produce errors when a lower frequency refresh rate is used. The system maps out the identified bits or lines to prevent the bits/lines from being used in runtime of the system. The memory subsystem can then set its refresh rate to an adjusted refresh rate at which a threshold number of errors can be removed by mapping out the bits/lines. | 07-03-2014 |
20140189433 | MEMORY SUBSYSTEM PERFORMANCE BASED ON IN-SYSTEM WEAK BIT DETECTION - A memory subsystem can test a memory device in situ, testing the performance of parameters of operation the device in the system it is built into during production. Thus, the system can detect the specific values that will work for one or more operating parameters for the memory device in actual runtime. A test component embedded in the memory subsystem can perform a stress test and identify specific bits or lines of memory that experience failure under one or more stresses. The system can then map out the failed bits or lines to prevent the bits/lines from being used in runtime of the system. | 07-03-2014 |
20150012759 | VOLTAGE REGULATOR WITH FEED-FORWARD AND FEEDBACK CONTROL - Described is a voltage regulator with feed-forward and feedback control. Described is an apparatus which comprises: a circuit for providing power or ground supply for a target circuit in response to a control signal; and a feed-forward filter to receive data and to generate the control signal according to the received data. | 01-08-2015 |
20150066819 | PERIODIC TRAINING FOR UNMATCHED SIGNAL RECEIVER - I/O parameters are adjusted based on a number of errors detected in a received training signal. A controller device sends the training signal while a memory device is in a training mode. The memory device samples the training signal and the system causes an adjustment to at least one I/O parameter based on a detected number of errors. Either the controller or the memory device can perform the error detection, depending on the configuration of the system. Either an I/O parameter of the controller or an I/O parameter of the memory device can be adjusted, depending on the configuration of the system. | 03-05-2015 |