Patents Assigned to Rambus
  • Patent number: 10725704
    Abstract: A system for interfacing with a co-processor or input/output device is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the system includes a computer processing unit, a memory module, a memory bus that connects the computer processing unit and the memory module and a co-processing unit or input/output device, wherein the memory bus also connects the co-processing unit or input/output device to the computer processing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Michael L. Takefman, Maher Amer, Riccardo Badalone
  • Patent number: 10725824
    Abstract: A method and system for thread aware, class aware, and topology aware memory allocations. Embodiments include a compiler configured to generate compiled code (e.g., for a runtime) that when executed allocates memory on a per class per thread basis that is system topology (e.g., for non-uniform memory architecture (NUMA)) aware. Embodiments can further include an executable configured to allocate a respective memory pool during runtime for each instance of a class for each thread. The memory pools are local to a respective processor, core, etc., where each thread executes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Keith Lowery
  • Patent number: 10725099
    Abstract: A memory controller instantiated on a semiconductor IC device comprises a timing circuit to transfer a timing signal, the timing circuit being configured to receive a first test signal and to effect a delay in the timing signal in response to the first test signal, the first test signal including a first timing event. The memory controller further comprises an interface circuit configured to transfer the data signal in response to the timing signal, the interface circuit being further configured to receive a second test signal and to effect a delay in the data signal in response to the second test signal, the second test signal including a second timing event that is related to the first timing event according to a test criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Frederick A. Ware
  • Patent number: 10726901
    Abstract: A memory cell within an integrated-circuit memory component receives a first control signal that transitions between supply voltage levels of a first voltage domain and a second control signal that transitions between supply voltage levels of a second voltage domain different from the first voltage domain. In response to the transitions of the first and second control signal, output-enable circuitry within the memory cell transitions an output-enable signal between one of the supply voltage levels of the first voltage domain and one of the supply voltage levels of the second voltage domain to enable output signal generation on an output signal line coupled to the memory cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, John Eric Linstadt
  • Patent number: 10719466
    Abstract: A polling device driver is partitioned into a plurality of driver threads for controlling a device of a computer system. The device has a first device state of an unscouted state and a scouted state, and a second device state of an inactive state and an active state. A driver thread of the plurality of driver threads determines that the first device state of the device state is in the unscouted state, and changes the first state of the device to the scouted state. The driver thread further determines that the second device state of the device is in the inactive state and changes the second device state of the device to the active state. The driver thread executes an operation on the device during a pre-determined time slot configured for the driver thread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Bart Trojanowski, Michael L. Takefman, Maher Amer
  • Patent number: 10705912
    Abstract: Data and error correction information may involve accessing multiple data channels (e.g., 8) and one error detection and correction channel concurrently. This technique requires a total of N+1 row requests for each access, where N is the number of data channels (e.g., 8 data row accesses and 1 error detection and correction row access equals 9 row accesses.) A single (or at least less than N) data channel row may be accessed concurrently with a single error detection and correction row. This reduces the number of row requests to two (2)—one for the data and one for the error detection and correction information. Because, row requests consume power, reducing the number of row requests is more power efficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Miller, Stephen Magee, John Eric Linstadt
  • Patent number: 10706910
    Abstract: A memory controller component includes transmit circuitry and adjusting circuitry. The transmit circuitry transmits a clock signal and write data to a DRAM, the write data to be sampled by the DRAM using a timing signal. The adjusting circuitry adjusts transmit timing of the write data and of the timing signal such that an edge transition of the timing signal is aligned with an edge transition of the clock signal at the DRAM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Ely K. Tsern, Richard E. Perego, Craig E. Hampel
  • Patent number: 10705989
    Abstract: The described embodiments provide a system for controlling an integrated circuit memory device by a memory controller. During operation, the system sends a memory-access request from the memory controller to the memory device using a first link. After sending the memory-access request, the memory controller sends to the memory device a command that specifies performing a timing-calibration operation for a second link. The system subsequently transfers data associated with the memory-access request using the second link, wherein the timing-calibration operation occurs between sending the memory-access request and transferring the data associated with the memory-access request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Holden Jessup
  • Patent number: 10707885
    Abstract: A receiver includes a variable resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and variable resolution processing logic/circuitry. The processing logic may use feed-forward equalization (FFE) techniques to process the outputs from the ADC. When receiving data from a channel having low attenuation, distortion, and/or noise, the ADC and processing logic may be configured to sample and process the received signal using fewer bits, and therefore less logic, than when configured to receiving data from a channel having a higher attenuation, distortion, and/or noise. Thus, the number of (valid) bits output by the ADC, and subsequently processed (e.g., for FFE equalization) can be reduced when a receiver of this type is coupled to a low loss channel. These reductions can reduce power consumption when compared to operating the receiver using the full (i.e., maximum) number of bits the ADC and processing logic is capable of processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Masum Hossain, Kenneth C. Dyer, Nhat Nguyen, Shankar Tangirala
  • Patent number: 10705988
    Abstract: A method of transferring data between a memory controller and at least one memory module via a primary data bus having a primary data bus width is disclosed. The method includes accessing a first one of a memory device group via a corresponding data bus path in response to a threaded memory request from the memory controller. The accessing results in data groups collectively forming a first data thread transferred across a corresponding secondary data bus path. Transfer of the first data thread across the primary data bus width is carried out over a first time interval, while using less than the primary data transfer continuous throughput during that first time interval. During the first time interval, at least one data group from a second data thread is transferred on the primary data bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Hongzhong Zheng, Frederick A Ware
  • Patent number: 10708036
    Abstract: An integrated circuit receiver is disclosed comprising a data receiving circuit responsive to a timing signal to detect a data signal and an edge receiving circuit responsive to the timing signal to detect a transition of the data signal. One of the data or edge receiving circuits comprises an integrating receiver circuit while the other of the data or edge sampling circuits comprises a sampling receiver circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Jared L. Zerbe
  • Patent number: 10700671
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes a delay circuit and first and second interface circuits. The delay circuit delays a first timing signal by an internal delay to generate an internal timing signal. The first interface circuit communicates data to an external device in response to the internal timing signal. The second interface circuit transmits an external timing signal for capturing the data in the external device. An external delay is added to the external timing signal in the external device to generate a delayed external timing signal. The delay circuit sets the internal delay based on a comparison between the delayed external timing signal and a calibration signal transmitted by the first interface circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Ely Tsern, Brian S. Leibowitz, Jared Zerbe
  • Patent number: 10699769
    Abstract: A memory controller receives data and phase-providing signals from a memory device. The phase-providing signal is not a clock signal, but is used by the memory controller to phase align a local data-sampling signal with the incoming data. The memory controller samples the data signal with the data-sampling signal. The memory controller can perform maintenance operations to update the phase relationship between the phase-providing and data-sampling signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Scott C. Best, Richard E. Warmke, David B. Roberts, Frank Lambrecht
  • Patent number: 10684823
    Abstract: A memory module includes at least two memory devices. Each of the memory devices perform verify operations after attempted writes to their respective memory cores. When a write is unsuccessful, each memory device stores information about the unsuccessful write in an internal write retry buffer. The write operations may have only been unsuccessful for one memory device and not any other memory devices on the memory module. When the memory module is instructed, both memory devices on the memory module can retry the unsuccessful memory write operations concurrently. Both devices can retry these write operations concurrently even though the unsuccessful memory write operations were to different addresses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Hongzhong Zheng, Brent Haukness
  • Patent number: 10686632
    Abstract: A transceiver architecture supports high-speed communication over a signal lane that extends between a high-performance integrated circuit (IC) and one or more relatively low-performance ICs employing less sophisticated transmitters and receivers. The architecture compensates for performance asymmetry between ICs communicating over a bidirectional lane by instantiating relatively complex transmit and receive equalization circuitry on the higher-performance side of the lane. Both the transmit and receive equalization filter coefficients in the higher-performance IC may be adaptively updated based upon the signal response at the receiver of the higher-performance IC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Jared L. Zerbe, Fariborz Assaderaghi, Brian S. Leibowitz, Hae-Chang Lee, Jihong Ren, Qi Lin
  • Patent number: 10680612
    Abstract: Local on-die termination controllers for effecting termination of a high-speed signaling links simultaneously engage on-die termination structures within multiple integrated-circuit memory devices disposed on the same memory module, and/or within the same integrated-circuit package, and coupled to the high-speed signaling link. A termination control bus is coupled to memory devices on a module, and provides for peer-to-peer communication of termination control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Ian Shaeffer
  • Patent number: 10678719
    Abstract: Memory controllers, devices, modules, systems and associated methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, a memory module includes a pin interface for coupling to a bus. The bus has a first width. The module includes at least one storage class memory (SCM) component and at least one DRAM component. The memory module operates in a first mode that utilizes all of the first width, and in a second mode that utilizes less than all of the first width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Kenneth L. Wright, John Eric Linstadt, Craig Hampel
  • Patent number: 10678459
    Abstract: Described are memory modules that include address-buffer components and data-buffer components that together support wide- and narrow-data modes. The address-buffer component manages communication between a memory controller and two sets of memory components. In the wide-data mode, the address-buffer enables memory components in each set and instructs the data-buffer components to communicate full-width read and write data by combining data from or to from both sets for each memory access. In the narrow-data mode, the address-buffer enables memory components in just one of the two sets and instructs the data-buffer components to half-width read and write data with one set per memory access.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Suresh Rajan, Abhijit M. Abhyankar, Ravindranath Kollipara, David A. Secker
  • Patent number: 10672458
    Abstract: Systems, among other embodiments, include topologies (data and/or control/address information) between an integrated circuit buffer device (that may be coupled to a master, such as a memory controller) and a plurality of integrated circuit memory devices. For example, data may be provided between the plurality of integrated circuit memory devices and the integrated circuit buffer device using separate segmented (or point-to-point link) signal paths in response to control/address information provided from the integrated circuit buffer device to the plurality of integrated circuit buffer devices using a single fly-by (or bus) signal path. An integrated circuit buffer device enables configurable effective memory organization of the plurality of integrated circuit memory devices. The memory organization represented by the integrated circuit buffer device to a memory controller may be different than the actual memory organization behind or coupled to the integrated circuit buffer device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Ian Shaeffer, Ely Tsern, Craig Hampel
  • Patent number: 10674597
    Abstract: A structure for delivering power is described. In some embodiments, the structure can include conductors disposed on two or more layers. Specifically, the structure can include a first set of interdigitated conductors disposed on a first layer and oriented substantially along an expected direction of current flow. At least one conductor in the first set of interdigitated conductors may be maintained at a first voltage, and at least one conductor in the first set of interdigitated conductors may be maintained at a second voltage, wherein the second voltage is different from the first voltage. The structure may further include a conducting structure disposed on a second layer, wherein the second layer is different from the first layer, and wherein at least one conductor in the conducting structure is maintained at the first voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Kyung Suk Oh, Ralf M. Schmitt, Yijiong Feng