Patents by Inventor Shannon V. Morton

Shannon V. Morton 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: 6714464
    Abstract: A system and method for self-calibration of the strobe timing of the sense-amplifiers of a RAM array. In one method example, the timing of two sense amplifiers used to read the bit-lines of the RAM array is controlled by a Delay Locked Loop circuit (DLL). The timing of a first sense-amplifier strobe is reduced until the sense amplifier fails. The second sense amplifier has adequate timing margin however and is used to actually read the RAM bit-lines. Once the RAM read fails with the first sense amplifier, the DLL lengthens the strobe timing. Once the minimum threshold is set, the second sense amplifier will always read the correct data because of a built-in timing margin between the first and second amplifier. Thus the system constantly optimizes the RAM array read timing with each read cycle even though the minimal time varies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Inventors: Ajay Bhatia, Michael C. Braganza, Shannon V. Morton, Shashank Shastry
  • Publication number: 20040001364
    Abstract: A system and method for self-calibration of the strobe timing of the sense-amplifiers of a RAM array. In one method example, the timing of two sense amplifiers used to read the bit-lines of the RAM array is controlled by a Delay Locked Loop circuit (DLL). The timing of a first sense-amplifier strobe is reduced until the sense amplifier fails. The second sense amplifier has adequate timing margin however and is used to actually read the RAM bit-lines. Once the RAM read fails with the first sense amplifier, the DLL lengthens the strobe timing. Once the minimum threshold is set, the second sense amplifier will always read the correct data because of a built-in timing margin between the first and second amplifier. Thus the system constantly optimizes the RAM array read timing with each read cycle even though the minimal time varies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2002
    Publication date: January 1, 2004
    Applicant: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
    Inventors: Ajay Bhatia, Michael C. Braganza, Shannon V. Morton, Shashank Shastry