Patents Assigned to Rambus
  • Patent number: 9569308
    Abstract: A memory controller is operable in an error detection/correction mode in which N syndrome values apply to N data words of a data volume, respectively, but a single parity bit is shared across all N data words of the data volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Brian S. Leibowitz
  • Patent number: 9570164
    Abstract: A resistive RAM (RRAM) device has a bit line, a word line, a source line carrying a bias voltage that is a substantially static and non-negative voltage, an RRAM cell, and a bit line control coupled to the bit line circuit. The RRAM cell includes a gate node coupled to the word line, a bias node coupled to the source line, and a bit line node coupled to the bit line. The bit line control circuit is configured to generate non-negative command voltages to perform respective memory operations on the RRAM cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Brent Steven Haukness
  • Patent number: 9569393
    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: August 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Hongzhong Zheng, Frederick A Ware
  • Patent number: 9568546
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) chip is provided. The IC chip includes a signal output via which an outgoing signal is transmitted, and a signal input via which an incoming data signal is received. Also included on the IC ship is a pass circuit to couple the signal output to the signal input during testing of the IC chip. Furthermore, a delay circuit produces a first timing signal and a second timing signal during testing of the IC chip. The second timing signal is delayed from the first timing signal according to a test parameter. The first timing signal triggers transmission of a test signal via the signal output, and the second timing signal triggers sampling of the received test signal via the signal input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Paul D. Franzon
  • Patent number: 9570165
    Abstract: A memory device includes an array of resistive memory cells. Each resistive memory cell in the array includes a first resistive memory element, a second resistive memory element, and a two-terminal switching element. The first resistive memory element is electrically coupled to the second resistive memory element and to the switching element at a common node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Deepak Chandra Sekar, Gary Bela Bronner, Christophe J. Chevallier, Lidia Vereen, Philip F. S. Swab, Elizabeth Friend, Mehmet Gunhan Ertosun
  • Patent number: 9565041
    Abstract: An integrated receiver supports adaptive receive equalization. An incoming bit stream is sampled using edge and data clock signals derived from a reference clock signal. A phase detector determines whether the edge and data clock signals are in phase with the incoming data, while some clock recovery circuitry adjusts the edge and data clock signals as required to match their phases to the incoming data. The receiver employs the edge and data samples used to recover the edge and data clock signals to note the locations of zero crossings for one or more selected data patterns. The pattern or patterns may be selected from among those apt to produce the greatest timing error. Equalization settings may then be adjusted to align the zero crossings of the selected data patterns with the recovered edge clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Robert E. Palmer
  • Patent number: 9565385
    Abstract: An imaging system has an imager comprising a plurality of jots. A readout circuit is in electrical communication with the imager. The readout circuit can be configured to facilitate the formation of an image by defining neighborhoods of the jots, wherein a local density of exposed jots within a neighborhood is used to generate a digital value for a pixel of the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Eric R. Fossum
  • Patent number: 9565039
    Abstract: In a data transmission system, one or more signal supply voltages for generating the signaling voltage of a signal to be transmitted are generated in a first circuit and forwarded from the first circuit to a second circuit. The second circuit may use the forwarded signal supply voltages to generate another signal to be transmitted back from the second circuit to the first circuit, thereby obviating the need to generate signal supply voltages separately in the second circuit. The first circuit may also adjust the signal supply voltages based on the signal transmitted back from the second circuit to the first circuit. The data transmission system may employ a single-ended signaling system in which the signaling voltage is referenced to a reference voltage that is a power supply voltage such as ground, shared by the first circuit and the second circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Scott C. Best, John W. Poulton
  • Patent number: 9563597
    Abstract: In a multirank memory system in which the clock distribution trees of each rank are permitted to drift over a wide range (e.g., low power memory systems), the fine-interleaving of commands between ranks is facilitated through the use of techniques that cause each addressed rank to properly sample commands intended for that rank, notwithstanding the drift. The ability to perform such “microthreading” provides for substantially enhanced memory capacity without sacrificing the performance of single rank systems. This disclosure provides methods, memory controllers, memory devices and system designs adapted to these ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Frederick A. Ware, Ely K. Tsern, Brian S. Leibowitz, Wayne Frederick Ellis, Akash Bansal, John Welsford Brooks, Kishore Ven Kasamsetty
  • Patent number: 9563007
    Abstract: A modular light-emitting panel assembly has first and second light guides edge lit by respective light sources. Each light guide has a light input edge, opposed side edges, opposed major surfaces and a pattern of light extracting elements at at least one of the major surfaces. The light guides are juxtaposed with a side edge of the first light guide abutting a side edge of the second light guide at a seam and with the major surfaces nominally coplanar. Various embodiments of the panel assembly additionally include respective structures that reduce visibility of the seam when the light sources illuminate the panel assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Delaware LLC
    Inventors: Timothy A McCollum, Jeffery R Parker, Gregg M Podojil
  • Patent number: 9562934
    Abstract: A technique for determining performance characteristics of electronic devices and systems is disclosed. In one embodiment, the technique is realized by measuring a first response on a first transmission line from a single pulse transmitted on the first transmission line, and then measuring a second response on the first transmission line from a single pulse transmitted on at least one second transmission line, wherein the at least one second transmission line is substantially adjacent to the first transmission line. The worst case bit sequences for transmission on the first transmission line and the at least one second transmission line are then determined based upon the first response and the second response for determining performance characteristics associated with the first transmission line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Haw-Jyh Liaw, Xingchao Yuan, Mark A. Horowitz
  • Patent number: 9564225
    Abstract: A nonvolatile memory device that uses pulsed control and rest periods to mitigate the formation of defect precursors. A first embodiment uses pulsed bitline control, where the coupling between a memory cell channel and a reference voltage is pulsed when it is desired to change state in the associated memory cell. Each pulse may be chosen to be less than about 20 nanoseconds, while a “rest period” between pulses can be on the order of about a hundred nanoseconds or greater. Because bitline control is used, very short rise times can be enabled, enabling generation of pulse durations of 50 nanoseconds or less. In other embodiments, these methods may also be more generally applied to other conductors (e.g., wordline or substrate well, for program or erase operations); segmented wordlines or bitlines may also be used, to minimize RC loading and enable sufficiently short rise times to make pulses robust.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Mark D. Kellam, Brent Steven Haukness, Gary B. Bronner, Kevin Donnelly
  • Patent number: 9563006
    Abstract: A lighting assembly includes a light guide to propagate light by total internal reflection. A reflector adjacent the second major surface of the light guide includes a reflective surface to reflect extracted light back into the light guide. An anti-wetting component is interposed between the light guide and the reflector and includes opposed major surfaces. At least one of the major surfaces of the anti-wetting component has a high surface roughness. The anti-wetting component is configured to redirect light transmitted therethrough such that an intensity profile of the light output from the first major surface of the light guide is uniform among a first location where the anti-wetting component is in contact with the light guide and the reflector and a second location where the anti-wetting component is not in contact with at least one of the light guide and the reflector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Delaware LLC
    Inventors: Kevin L. Ballard, Anthony Mazzola, Tyra S. Bulson, Kurt Starkey
  • Patent number: 9565036
    Abstract: A first integrated circuit (IC) has an adjustable delay circuit and a first interface circuit. A first clock signal is provided to the adjustable delay circuit to produce a delayed clock signal provided to the first interface circuit. A second IC has a supply voltage sense circuit and a second interface circuit that transfers data with the first IC. The supply voltage sense circuit provides a noise signal to the first IC that is indicative of noise in a supply voltage of the second IC. The adjustable delay circuit adjusts a delay of the delayed clock signal based on the noise signal. In other embodiments, edge-colored clock signals reduce the effects of high frequency jitter in the transmission of data between integrated circuits (ICs) by making the high frequency jitter common between the ICs. In other embodiments, a supply voltage is used to generate clocks signals on multiple ICs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Jared Zerbe, Pradeep Batra, Brian Leibowitz
  • Patent number: 9564885
    Abstract: Duty cycle error vectors that indicate both the magnitude and direction of the duty cycle error relative to a desired duty cycle are generated within a duty cycle measurement circuit, enabling threshold-based determination of whether duty cycle adjustment is necessary, refraining from power-consuming adjustment and follow-up measurement in those cases where the duty cycle is within a target range. When duty cycle adjustment is deemed necessary, the magnitude of the duty cycle error indicated by the duty cycle error vector may be applied to effect proportional rather than incremental duty cycle adjustment, quickly returning the clock duty cycle to a target range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Pak Shing Chau, Wayne S. Richardson, Jun Kim
  • Patent number: 9563583
    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: July 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Ian Shaeffer, Ely Tsern, Craig Hampel
  • Patent number: 9564909
    Abstract: A delay circuit device configured for delay adjustment monotonicity and method of operating therefor. This delay circuit device is configured with hybrid coarse-fine delay cells and uses a sequence of these delay cells activated in a way that builds-up the delay as a sequence of fine steps until it reaches the coarse delay value. This configuration allows for the continuing build of propagation delay by adding the fine steps of the following delay cells. In this manner, the monotonicity of the signal delay circuit is ensured by the architecture independent from device mismatch, thus eliminating problems with conventional delay circuits such as gaps and overlaps specific the these conventional delay cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Cosmin Iorga, Sriram Narayan
  • Patent number: 9564192
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) memory controller is disclosed. The memory controller includes a receiver to receive a strobe signal and provide an internal strobe signal. An adjustable delay circuit delays an enable signal to generate a delayed enable signal. A gate circuit generates a gated strobe signal using the delayed enable signal that masks transitions of the internal strobe signal that occur prior to a valid region of the internal strobe signal. A sample circuit samples data using the gated strobe signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Jade M. Kizer, Sivakumar Doraiswamy, Benedict Lau
  • Patent number: 9563556
    Abstract: A memory controller includes logic circuitry to generate a first data address identifying a location in a first external memory array for storing first data, a first tag address identifying a location in a second external memory array for storing a first tag, a second data address identifying a location in the second external memory array for storing second data, and a second tag address identifying a location in the first external memory array for storing a second tag. The memory controller includes an interface that transfers the first data address and the first tag address for a first set of memory operations in the first and the second external memory arrays. The interface transfers the second data address and the second tag address for a second set of memory operations in the first and the second external memory arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventor: Frederick A. Ware
  • Patent number: 9564879
    Abstract: A signal on a transmitter tracks noise on a ground node in a manner decoupled from a positive node of a power supply. The signal is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver. A reference voltage is generated on the receiver to track noise on a ground node in the receiver. Consequently, the received signal and the reference voltage have substantially the same noise characteristics, which become common mode noise that can be cancelled out when these two signals are compared against each other. In a further embodiment, the reference voltage is compared against a predetermined calibration pattern. An error signal is generated based on a difference between the sampler output and the predetermined calibration pattern. The error signal is then used to adjust the reference voltage so that the DC level of the reference voltage is positioned substantially in the middle of the received signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Lei Luo, Barry W. Daly, Kambiz Kaviani, John Cronan Eble, III, John Wilson