Patents by Inventor Wen Ma

Wen Ma 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: 11328204
    Abstract: Use of a NAND array architecture to realize a binary neural network (BNN) allows for matrix multiplication and accumulation to be performed within the memory array. A unit synapse for storing a weight of a BNN is stored in a pair of series connected memory cells. A binary input is applied as a pattern of voltage values on a pair of word lines connected to the unit synapse to perform the multiplication of the input with the weight by determining whether or not the unit synapse conducts. The results of such multiplications are determined by a sense amplifier, with the results accumulated by a counter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Won Ho Choi, Pi-Feng Chiu, Wen Ma, Minghai Qin, Gerrit Jan Hemink, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: 11275968
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and apparatus are disclosed that implement super-sparse image/video compression by storing image dictionary elements within a cross-bar resistive random access memory (ReRAM) array (or other suitable cross-bar NVM array). In illustrative examples, each column of the cross-bar ReRAM array stores the values for one dictionary element (such as one 4×4 dictionary element). Methods and apparatus are described for training (configuring) the cross-bar ReRAM array to generate and store the dictionary elements by sequentially applying patches from training images to the array using an unstructured Hebbian training procedure. Additionally, methods and apparatus are described for compressing an input image by applying patches from the input image to the ReRAM array to read out cross-bar column indices identifying the columns storing the various dictionary elements that best fit the image. This may be done in parallel using a set of ReRAM arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Minghai Qin, Won Ho Choi, Pi-Feng Chiu, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Publication number: 20220008867
    Abstract: Membranes for membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) are provided with methods of manufacture and use thereof. The MD membrane comprises a microporous mat of electrospun nanofibers made of a nanocomposite comprising reduced graphene oxide dispersed in a hydrophobic polymer with their surface grafted with a silane coupling agent or with hydrophobic nanoparticles. The FO membrane comprises a microporous support layer and a rejection layer formed on one side of the support layer, wherein the support layer is a microporous mat of electrospun nanofibers made of a nanocomposite of hydrophilic nanoparticles dispersed in a hydrophilic polymer, and the rejection layer is made of nanocomposite of hydrophilic nanoparticles dispersed in a crosslinked meta-aramid of formula (I). There is also provided a process for treating a high-salinity and/or high-strength feed, such as fracking wastewater, comprising microfiltration or ultrafiltration, followed by forward osmosis, and then membrane distillation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2019
    Publication date: January 13, 2022
    Inventors: Saifur RAHAMAN, Tiantian CHEN, Md. Shahidul ISLAM, Wen MA
  • Publication number: 20210397931
    Abstract: A non-volatile memory device includes arrays of non-volatile memory cells that are configured to the store weights for a recurrent neural network (RNN) inference engine with a gated recurrent unit (GRU) cell. A set three non-volatile memory arrays, such as formed of storage class memory, store a corresponding three sets of weights and are used to perform compute-in-memory inferencing. The hidden state of a previous iteration and an external input are applied to the weights of the first and the of second of the arrays, with the output of the first array used to generate an input to the third array, which also receives the external input. The hidden state of the current generation is generated from the outputs of the second and third arrays.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2020
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Tung Thanh Hoang, Wen Ma, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Publication number: 20210398618
    Abstract: A device includes arrays of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) cells. Reference sequences representing portions of a genome are stored in respective groups of NVM cells. Exact matching phase substring sequences representing portions of at least one sample read are loaded into groups of NVM cells. One or more groups of NVM cells are identified where the stored reference sequence matches the loaded exact matching phase substring sequence using the arrays at Content Addressable Memories (CAMs). Approximate matching phase substring sequences are loaded into groups of NVM cells. One or more groups of NVM cells are identified where the stored reference sequence approximately matches the loaded approximate matching phase substring sequence using the arrays as Ternary CAMs (TCAMs). At least one of the reference sequence and the approximate matching phase substring sequence for each group of NVM cells includes at least one wildcard value when the arrays are used as TCAMs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Tung Thanh Hoang, Daniel Bedau, Justin Kinney
  • Publication number: 20210334338
    Abstract: An innovative low-bit-width device may include a first digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a second DAC, a plurality of non-volatile memory (NVM) weight arrays, one or more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and a neural circuit. The first DAC is configured to convert a digital input signal into an analog input signal. The second DAC is configured to convert a digital previous hidden state (PHS) signal into an analog PHS signal. NVM weight arrays are configured to compute vector matrix multiplication (VMM) arrays based on the analog input signal and the analog PHS signal. The NVM weight arrays are coupled to the first DAC and the second DAC. The one or more ADCs are coupled to the plurality of NVM weight arrays and are configured to convert the VMM arrays into digital VMM values. The neural circuit is configured to process the digital VMM values into a new hidden state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2021
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Pi-Feng Chiu, Minghai Qin, Won Ho Choi, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Publication number: 20210326110
    Abstract: Technology for reconfigurable input precision in-memory computing is disclosed herein. Reconfigurable input precision allows the bit resolution of input data to be changed to meet the requirements of in-memory computing operations. Voltage sources (that may include DACs) provide voltages that represent input data to memory cell nodes. The resolution of the voltage sources may be reconfigured to change the precision of the input data. In one parallel mode, the number of DACs in a DAC node is used to configure the resolution. In one serial mode, the number of cycles over which a DAC provides voltages is used to configure the resolution. The memory system may include relatively low resolution voltage sources, which avoids the need to have complex high resolution voltage sources (e.g., high resolution DACs). Lower resolution voltage sources can take up less area and/or use less power than higher resolution voltage sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2020
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Pi-Feng Chiu, Won Ho Choi, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: 11074318
    Abstract: An innovative low-bit-width device may include a first digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a second DAC, a plurality of non-volatile memory (NVM) weight arrays, one or more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and a neural circuit. The first DAC is configured to convert a digital input signal into an analog input signal. The second DAC is configured to convert a digital previous hidden state (PHS) signal into an analog PHS signal. NVM weight arrays are configured to compute vector matrix multiplication (VMM) arrays based on the analog input signal and the analog PHS signal. The NVM weight arrays are coupled to the first DAC and the second DAC. The one or more ADCs are coupled to the plurality of NVM weight arrays and are configured to convert the VMM arrays into digital VMM values. The neural circuit is configured to process the digital VMM values into a new hidden state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Pi-Feng Chiu, Minghai Qin, Won Ho Choi, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Publication number: 20210117500
    Abstract: Systems and methods for reducing the impact of defects within a crossbar memory array when performing multiplication operations in which multiple control lines are concurrently selected are described. A group of memory cells within the crossbar memory array may be controlled by a local word line that is controlled by a local word line gating unit that may be configured to prevent the local word line from being biased to a selected word line voltage during an operation; the local word line may instead be set to a disabling voltage during the operation such that the memory cell currents through the group of memory cells are eliminated. If a defect has caused a short within one of the memory cells of the group of memory cells, then the local word line gating unit may be programmed to hold the local word line at the disabling voltage during multiplication operations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Minghai Qin, Pi-Feng Chiu, Wen Ma, Won Ho Choi
  • Publication number: 20210117499
    Abstract: Systems and methods for reducing the impact of defects within a crossbar memory array when performing multiplication operations in which multiple control lines are concurrently selected are described. A group of memory cells within the crossbar memory array may be controlled by a local word line that is controlled by a local word line gating unit that may be configured to prevent the local word line from being biased to a selected word line voltage during an operation; the local word line may instead be set to a disabling voltage during the operation such that the memory cell currents through the group of memory cells are eliminated. If a defect has caused a short within one of the memory cells of the group of memory cells, then the local word line gating unit may be programmed to hold the local word line at the disabling voltage during multiplication operations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Minghai Qin, Pi-Feng Chiu, Wen Ma, Won Ho Choi
  • Publication number: 20210027135
    Abstract: A computing reservoir comprised of a plurality of oscillator components configured to receive input data and produce one or more output signals, and a feedback loop coupled to an output of the network, wherein the feedback loop is comprised of circuitry configured to establish and maintain an optimal operating point of the network based upon the output of the network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Bedau, Wen Ma
  • Publication number: 20210027138
    Abstract: A reservoir computing system comprising an input layer configured to receive input data from a signal propagation channel and to convert the input data into fixed input values, a reservoir configured to receive the fixed input values and generate a set of trained output values, and an output layer configured to receive the set of trained output values and generate a probability distribution based on the set of trained output values. The reservoir is comprised of a plurality of integrated oscillator components coupled in a fixed, random network, wherein each of the oscillator components is comprised of a device characterized by a current-voltage curve that comprises a region of non-linear behavior, such as a negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Daniel Bedau, Wen Ma
  • Publication number: 20200311512
    Abstract: Use of a NAND array architecture to realize a binary neural network (BNN) allows for matrix multiplication and accumulation to be performed within the memory array. A unit synapse for storing a weight of a BNN is stored in a pair of series connected memory cells. A binary input is applied as a pattern of voltage values on a pair of word lines connected to the unit synapse to perform the multiplication of the input with the weight by determining whether or not the unit synapse conducts. The results of such multiplications are determined by a sense amplifier, with the results accumulated by a counter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicant: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Won Ho Choi, Pi-Feng Chiu, Wen Ma, Minghai Qin, Gerrit Jan Hemink, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: 10778530
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are provided for wireless communications and computer networking, including wireless sensor networks. In embodiments, a first device stores an indication of a received second heartbeat signal broadcasted by a second device. The second heartbeat signal is for accessing or maintaining a service provided by a service provider and/or an access network node (AN). The first device generates a first heartbeat signal to include the indication of the second heartbeat signal. The indication of the second heartbeat signal in the first heartbeat signal is for facilitating discovery of the second device by the AN. Other embodiments are disclosed and/or claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Chung-Wen Ma
  • Publication number: 20200257936
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and apparatus are disclosed that implement super-sparse image/video compression by storing image dictionary elements within a cross-bar resistive random access memory (ReRAM) array (or other suitable cross-bar NVM array). In illustrative examples, each column of the cross-bar ReRAM array stores the values for one dictionary element (such as one 4×4 dictionary element). Methods and apparatus are described for training (configuring) the cross-bar ReRAM array to generate and store the dictionary elements by sequentially applying patches from training images to the array using an unstructured Hebbian training procedure. Additionally, methods and apparatus are described for compressing an input image by applying patches from the input image to the ReRAM array to read out cross-bar column indices identifying the columns storing the various dictionary elements that best fit the image. This may be done in parallel using a set of ReRAM arrays.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Publication date: August 13, 2020
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Minghai Qin, Won Ho Choi, Pi-Feng Chiu, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Publication number: 20200231732
    Abstract: The present invention relates to organic polymer synthetic materials, and discloses a self-curing organic synthetic resin composition for additive manufacturing. The self-curing organic synthetic resin composition includes 30-75% by weight of a linear thermoplastic phenolic resin and 25-70% by weight of a phenol modified furan resin. The self-curing organic synthetic resin composition is prepared through three stages. The linear thermoplastic phenolic resin prepared in stage (1) and the phenol modified furan resin prepared in stage (2) are mixed in a certain weight ratio in stage (3) to obtain the self-curing organic synthetic resin composition for additive manufacturing, which has the advantages of high strength at normal temperature, excellent resistance to high temperature, high activity and excellent collapsibility. Thus, the self-curing organic synthetic resin composition provided in the invention is suitable for additive manufacturing, and particularly for 3D printing in mold casting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Inventors: Jinlong XING, Fan PENG, Hongkai ZHANG, Wen MA, Wen HAN
  • Publication number: 20200192970
    Abstract: An innovative low-bit-width device may include a first digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a second DAC, a plurality of non-volatile memory (NVM) weight arrays, one or more analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), and a neural circuit. The first DAC is configured to convert a digital input signal into an analog input signal. The second DAC is configured to convert a digital previous hidden state (PHS) signal into an analog PHS signal. NVM weight arrays are configured to compute vector matrix multiplication (VMM) arrays based on the analog input signal and the analog PHS signal. The NVM weight arrays are coupled to the first DAC and the second DAC. The one or more ADCs are coupled to the plurality of NVM weight arrays and are configured to convert the VMM arrays into digital VMM values. The neural circuit is configured to process the digital VMM values into a new hidden state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Inventors: Wen Ma, Pi-Feng Chiu, Minghai Qin, Won Ho Choi, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: 10643705
    Abstract: Use of a non-volatile memory array architecture to realize a neural network (BNN) allows for matrix multiplication and accumulation to be performed within the memory array. A unit synapse for storing a weight of a neural network is formed by a differential memory cell of two individual memory cells, such as a memory cells having a programmable resistance, each connected between a corresponding one of a word line pair and a shared bit line. An input is applied as a pattern of voltage values on word line pairs connected to the unit synapses to perform the multiplication of the input with the weight by determining a voltage level on the shared bit line. The results of such multiplications are determined by a sense amplifier, with the results accumulated by a summation circuit. The approach can be extended from binary weights to multi-bit weight values by use of multiple differential memory cells for a weight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Won Ho Choi, Pi-Feng Chiu, Wen Ma, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: 10643119
    Abstract: Use of a non-volatile memory array architecture to realize a neural network (BNN) allows for matrix multiplication and accumulation to be performed within the memory array. A unit synapse for storing a weight of a neural network is formed by a differential memory cell of two individual memory cells, such as a memory cells having a programmable resistance, each connected between a corresponding one of a word line pair and a shared bit line. An input is applied as a pattern of voltage values on word line pairs connected to the unit synapses to perform the multiplication of the input with the weight by determining a voltage level on the shared bit line. The results of such multiplications are determined by a sense amplifier, with the results accumulated by a summation circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Pi-Feng Chiu, Won Ho Choi, Wen Ma, Martin Lueker-Boden
  • Patent number: D925534
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Inventor: Wen Ma