Patents by Inventor Steven C. Woo

Steven C. Woo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9263103
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20150324309
    Abstract: A memory space of a module connected to a memory controller via a memory interface may be used as a command buffer. Commands received by the module via the command buffer are executed by the module. The memory controller may write to the command buffer out-of-order. The memory controller may delay or eliminate writes to the command buffer. Tags associated with commands are used to specify the order commands are executed. A status buffer in the memory space of the module is used to communicate whether commands have been received or executed. Information received via the status buffer can be used as a basis for a determination to re-send commands to the command buffer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Publication date: November 12, 2015
    Inventors: Liji Gopalakrishnan, Vlad Fruchter, Lawrence Lai, Pradeep Batra, Steven C. Woo, Wayne Frederick Ellis
  • Patent number: 9177632
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Patent number: 9165638
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20150278506
    Abstract: Pairing data associated with a second device may be received at a first device. The pairing data may be received from a server. A first authentication proof may be generated based on the pairing data received from the server. A second authentication proof may be received from the second device. Furthermore, an authentication status of the second device may be updated based on a comparison of the first authentication proof that is based on the pairing data received from the server and the second authentication proof that is received from the second device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2015
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Inventors: Benjamin Che-Ming Jun, Matthew Evan Orzen, Joel Patrick Wittenauer, Steven C. Woo
  • Patent number: 9142281
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20150255144
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2015
    Publication date: September 10, 2015
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20150248926
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2015
    Publication date: September 3, 2015
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20150243343
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2015
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Patent number: 9098209
    Abstract: A memory space of a module connected to a memory controller via a memory interface may be used as a command buffer. Commands received by the module via the command buffer are executed by the module. The memory controller may write to the command buffer out-of-order. The memory controller may delay or eliminate writes to the command buffer. Tags associated with commands are used to specify the order commands are executed. A status buffer in the memory space of the module is used to communicate whether commands have been received or executed. Information received via the status buffer can be used as a basis for a determination to re-send commands to the command buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Liji Gopalakrishnan, Vlad Fruchter, Lawrence Lai, Pradeep Batra, Steven C. Woo, Wayne Frederick Ellis
  • Patent number: 8935489
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for processing memory references received from multiple processor cores. During operation, the system monitors the memory references to determine whether memory references from different processor cores are interfering with each other as the memory references are processed by a memory system. If memory references from different processor cores are interfering with each other, the system time-multiplexes the processing of memory references between processor cores, so that a block of consecutive memory references from a given processor core is processed by the memory system before memory references from other processor cores are processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Steven C. Woo, Trung A. Diep, Michael T. Ching
  • Patent number: 8838900
    Abstract: A cache-coherence protocol distributes atomic operations among multiple processors (or processor cores) that share a memory space. When an atomic operation that includes an instruction to modify data stored in the shared memory space is directed to a first processor that does not have control over the address(es) associated with the data, the first processor sends a request, including the instruction to modify the data, to a second processor. Then, the second processor, which already has control of the address(es), modifies the data. Moreover, the first processor can immediately proceed to another instruction rather than waiting for the address(es) to become available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Lin, Liang Peng, Craig E. Hampel, Thomas J. Sheffler, Steven C. Woo, Bohuslav Rychlik
  • Publication number: 20140201431
    Abstract: Nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory, solid-state disk) is included on memory modules that are on a DRAM memory channel. Nonvolatile memory residing on a DRAM memory channel may be integrated into the existing file system structures of operating systems. The nonvolatile memory residing on a DRAM memory channel may be presented as part or all of a distributed file system. Requests and/or remote procedure call (RPC) requests, or information associated with requests and/or RPCs, may be routed to the memory modules over the DRAM memory channel in order to service compute and/or distributed file system commands.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2014
    Publication date: July 17, 2014
    Applicant: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Steven C. Woo
  • Patent number: 8665642
    Abstract: A method of operating a memory device includes receiving first and second sets of bits to be stored in multi-level cells in the device. A multi-level encoding is selected from among a plurality of multi-level encodings for storing the first and second sets of bits in the multi-level cells. Each multi-level encoding includes at least four encoding levels for a respective multi-level cell. Respective multi-level encodings have respective costs associated with programming the first and second sets of bits into the multi-level cells in accordance with the respective multi-level encodings. The multi-level encoding is selected based on the respective costs of the respective encodings. The first and second sets of bits are encoded in accordance with the selected multi-level encoding to produce encoded data for storage in the device such that a respective multi-level cell stores respective bits from both the first and second sets of bits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Bohuslav Rychlik, John Eric Linstadt, Brent Steven Haukness, Steven C. Woo
  • Publication number: 20130275663
    Abstract: A cache-coherence protocol distributes atomic operations among multiple processors (or processor cores) that share a memory space. When an atomic operation that includes an instruction to modify data stored in the shared memory space is directed to a first processor that does not have control over the address(es) associated with the data, the first processor sends a request, including the instruction to modify the data, to a second processor. Then, the second processor, which already has control of the address(es), modifies the data. Moreover, the first processor can immediately proceed to another instruction rather than waiting for the address(es) to become available.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2013
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Inventors: Qi Lin, Liang Peng, Craig E. Hampel, Thomas J. Sheffler, Steven C. Woo, Bohusluv Rychlik
  • Publication number: 20130194881
    Abstract: One or more pins may be modally assigned to either the command/address (C/A) or data (DQ) blocks of a uniform-package, multi-modal PHY (physical signaling interface) of a memory controller, thus enabling those pins to be used as C/A pins when the PHY is connected to some memory types, and as DQ pins when the PHY is connected to other memory types.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2011
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Inventors: Steven C. Woo, Amir Amirkhany, Catherine Chen, David Secker, Jie Shen
  • Patent number: 8473681
    Abstract: A cache-coherence protocol distributes atomic operations among multiple processors (or processor cores) that share a memory space. When an atomic operation that includes an instruction to modify data stored in the shared memory space is directed to a first processor that does not have control over the address(es) associated with the data, the first processor sends a request, including the instruction to modify the data, to a second processor. Then, the second processor, which already has control of the address(es), modifies the data. Moreover, the first processor can immediately proceed to another instruction rather than waiting for the address(es) to become available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Lin, Liang Peng, Craig E. Hampel, Thomas J. Sheffler, Steven C. Woo, Bohuslav Rychlik
  • Patent number: 8407441
    Abstract: A system that calibrates timing relationships between signals involved in performing write operations is described. This system includes a memory controller which is coupled to a set of memory chips, wherein each memory chip includes a phase detector configured to calibrate a phase relationship between a data-strobe signal and a clock signal received at the memory chip from the memory controller during a write operation. Furthermore, the memory controller is configured to perform one or more write-read-validate operations to calibrate a clock-cycle relationship between the data-strobe signal and the clock signal, wherein the write-read-validate operations involve varying a delay on the data-strobe signal relative to the clock signal by a multiple of a clock period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas J. Giovannini, Alok Gupta, Ian Shaeffer, Steven C. Woo
  • Patent number: 8332556
    Abstract: A memory bus with a first bus segment coupled to a memory controller that includes control logic and a first memory device, a second bus segment coupled to a second memory device, and a switch between the first bus segment and the second bus segment. The control logic outputs control information to the switch to selectively decouple the first bus segment and the second bus segment to effect a change in the length of the memory bus to enable data transfer with respect to the first memory device at a first data rate. Additionally, the control logic may output control information to the switch to selectively couple the first bus segment and the second bus segment to increase the length of the memory bus to enable data transfer with respect to the second memory device at a second data rate that is slower than the first data rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Steven C. Woo, Scott C. Best
  • Publication number: 20120278583
    Abstract: The disclosed embodiments relate to a system for processing memory references received from multiple processor cores. During operation, the system monitors the memory references to determine whether memory references from different processor cores are interfering with each other as the memory references are processed by a memory system. If memory references from different processor cores are interfering with each other, the system time-multiplexes the processing of memory references between processor cores, so that a block of consecutive memory references from a given processor core is processed by the memory system before memory references from other processor cores are processed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2010
    Publication date: November 1, 2012
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventors: Steven C. Woo, Trung A. Diep, Michael T. Ching