Patents by Inventor Alan Hearn

Alan Hearn 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).

  • Publication number: 20070239930
    Abstract: In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a system and method for optimizing DRAM refreshes in a multi-channel memory controller are provided. In a particular embodiment, the method includes receiving, at a router in a light modulation system, a signal from one of a plurality of channels operable to read or write to a plurality of DRAM banks, the signal indicating that the channel does not need to access the plurality of DRAM banks during predetermined time period. The method also includes indicating the receipt of the signal to a refresh channel including a plurality of counters, wherein each counter is operable to track refreshes of a respective one of the plurality of DRAM banks. The method further includes receiving, from the refresh channel, an indication of one of the plurality of DRAM banks to refresh in response to the receipt of the signal, and refreshing the indicated DRAM bank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2006
    Publication date: October 11, 2007
    Inventor: Alan Hearn
  • Publication number: 20040109002
    Abstract: A method of addressing double buffered memory for an SLM, the memory address having only two bank bits. It is assumed that the pixel data is formatted into bit-planes, such that pixel positions in each bit plane can be identified. A bit plane bit is mapped to a first bank bit, and a pixel position bit is mapped to a second bank bit. The read/write bit is mapped to a column address bit. The remaining bit plane and pixel position bits are mapped to row address and column address bits.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Publication date: June 10, 2004
    Applicant: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Jeffrey S. Farris, Alan Hearn
  • Patent number: 6741503
    Abstract: A method of addressing double buffered memory for an SLM, the memory address having only two bank bits. It is assumed that the pixel data is formatted into bit-planes, such that pixel positions in each bit plane can be identified. A bit plane bit is mapped to a first bank bit, and a pixel position bit is mapped to a second bank bit. The read/write bit is mapped to a column address bit. The remaining bit plane and pixel position bits are mapped to row address and column address bits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Jeffrey S. Farris, Alan Hearn