Solid-state Random Access Memory (ram) Patents (Class 711/104)
  • Publication number: 20120072656
    Abstract: A method for maintaining an index in multi-tier data structure includes providing a plurality of a storage devices forming the multi-tier data structure, caching an index of key-value pairs across the multi-tier data structure, wherein each of the key-value pairs includes a key, and one of a data value and a data pointer, the key-value pairs stored in the multi-tier data structure, providing a journal for interfacing with the multi-tier data structure, providing a plurality of zone allocators recording which zones of the multi-tier data structure are in used, and providing a plurality of zone managers for controlling access to cache lines of the multi-tier data structure through the journal and zone allocators, wherein each zone manager maintains a header object pointing to data to be stored in an allocated zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2011
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Inventors: Shrikar Archak, Sagar Dixit, Richard P. Spillane, Erez Zadok
  • Patent number: 8140748
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for harvesting an image from a local disk of a managed endpoint to an image library is provided. In an embodiment of the method for harvesting an image, a managed endpoint is provided with a boot image that causes the endpoint to instantiate a RAM disk and execute the boot image from the RAM disk. The boot image is used to harvest an image by determining data on a local disk of the managed endpoint to be included in the image that are not already stored in the image library. In one embodiment, this is done by comparing hashes calculated on the data on the local disk to hashes of data in the image library. The data not already stored in the image library are then copied to the image library.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: Kace Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Martin Kacin, Michael Gray, Matthew Lewinski
  • Patent number: 8135533
    Abstract: An electronic engine control apparatus includes a first storage unit, a second storage unit, a third storage unit, and a processor. The processor performs, when the control apparatus is activated, an initialization control process which includes processes of; extracting from the first storage unit specific information on engine control software stored in the first storage unit; determining whether the specific information extracted is coincident with specific information stored in the third storage unit; initializing retention data stored in the second storage unit when the specific information extracted from the first storage unit is determined as being incoincident with that stored in the third storage unit; and updating the specific information stored in the third storage unit with that extracted from the first storage unit after completion of the initializing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Noda
  • Publication number: 20120059982
    Abstract: An integrated circuit for executing external program codes comprises a processor, a read only memory for storing program codes of a first routine and a second routine, and a random access memory comprising a first memory block and a second memory block. The processor executes the first routine and uses a plurality of first memory units in the first memory block for accessing data. The processor executes the second routine and uses a plurality of second memory units in the first memory block for accessing data. The first and second memory units comprise one or more common memory units. The processor executes a third routine stored in an external read only memory and accesses the data of the third routine in the second memory block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Inventor: Jhang-Liang LIN
  • Publication number: 20120060047
    Abstract: A system including at least one electric rotary machine and an integrated control circuit and an electronic control unit, the system being embarked in an automobile. The integrated control circuit of the system includes a RAM connected to the electronic control unit via a data communication link, and the electronic control unit includes a rewritable memory. The system further includes a configuration data permanent storage of the system in the rewritable memory as well as an upload of the configuration data into the RAM during a configuration phase of the system. The system herein enables the integrated control circuit of the electric rotary machine to be standardized by virtue of the fact that the configuration data are no longer written in a read-only memory but reside in a RAM of this circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2009
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Inventor: Damien Cuoq
  • Patent number: 8131918
    Abstract: A method and terminal for demand paging at least one of code and data requiring a real-time response is provided. The method includes splitting and compressing at least one of code and data requiring a real-time response to a size of a paging buffer and storing the compressed at least one of code and data in a physical storage medium, if there is a request for demand paging for the at least one of code and data requiring the real-time response, classifying the at least one of code and data requiring the real-time response as an object of Random Access Memory (RAM) paging that pages from the physical storage medium to a paging buffer, and loading the classified at least one of code and data into the paging buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Jung-Min Cho
  • Patent number: 8124954
    Abstract: A conductive bridging random access memory (CBRAM) device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The CBRAM device includes a first electrode layer, a dielectric layer, a solid electrolyte layer, a second electrode layer and a metal layer. The solid electrolyte layer is located on the first electrode layer. The second electrode layer is located on the solid electrolyte layer. The metal layer is located near the solid electrolyte layer. The dielectric layer is located between the solid electrolyte layer and the metal layer. Since the metal layer is disposed near the solid electrolyte layer in the CBRAM device, it can generate a positive electric field during an erase operation, so as to accelerate a break of mutually connected metal filaments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Ching-Chiun Wang, Cha-Hsin Lin
  • Patent number: 8117376
    Abstract: Proposed are a storage system and its control method capable of dealing with the unique problems that arise when using a nonvolatile memory as the memory device while effectively preventing performance deterioration. This storage system is provided with a plurality of memory modules having one or more nonvolatile memory chips, and a controller for controlling the reading and writing of data from and in each memory module. The memory module decides the nonvolatile memory chip to become a copy destination of data stored in the nonvolatile memory when a failure occurs in the nonvolatile memory chip of a self memory module, and copies the data stored in the failed nonvolatile memory chip to the nonvolatile memory chip decided as the copy destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Masateru Hemmi
  • Patent number: 8108609
    Abstract: A hardware description language (HDL) design structure embodied on a machine-readable data storage medium includes elements that when processed in a computer aided design system generates a machine executable representation of a device for implementing dynamic refresh protocols for DRAM based cache. The HDL design structure further includes a DRAM cache partitioned into a refreshable portion and a non-refreshable portion; and a cache controller configured to assign incoming individual cache lines to one of the refreshable portion and the non-refreshable portion of the cache based on a usage history of the cache lines; wherein cache lines corresponding to data having a usage history below a defined frequency are assigned by the controller to the refreshable portion of the cache, and cache lines corresponding to data having a usage history at or above the defined frequency are assigned to the non-refreshable portion of the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John E. Barth, Philip G. Emma, Erik L. Hedberg, Hillery C. Hunter, Peter A. Sandon, Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, Arnold S. Tran
  • Patent number: 8108450
    Abstract: A method and a processing device are provided for sequentially aggregating data to a write log included in a volume of a random-access medium. When data of a received write request is determined to be suitable for sequentially aggregating to a write log, the data may be written to the write log and a remapping tree, for mapping originally intended destinations on the random-access medium to one or more corresponding entries in the write log, may be maintained and updated. At time periods, a checkpoint may be written to the write log. The checkpoint may include information describing entries of the write log. One or more of the checkpoints may be used to recover the write log, at least partially, after a dirty shutdown. Entries of the write log may be drained to respective originally intended destinations upon an occurrence of one of a number of conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Shi Cong, Scott Brender, Karan Mehra, Darren G. Moss, William R. Tipton, Surendra Verma
  • Patent number: 8108643
    Abstract: In a semiconductor memory system having a loop forward architecture, the command, address and write data stream and the separate read data stream in form of protocol-based frames transmitted to/from memory chips in the following order: memory controller to the first memory chip, to the second memory chip, to the third memory chip and to the fourth memory chip and the read data stream is transferred from the fourth memory chip to the memory controller. With each command usually one of four memory chips is accessed for data processing, while three of four memory chips have only to fulfil a simple re-drive of CAwD stream and read data stream. By separately transferring a rank select signal not embedded in the frame from the memory controller to each memory chip a lot of more flexibility for these tasks can be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: Qimonda AG
    Inventors: Paul Wallner, Peter Gregorius
  • Publication number: 20120023112
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method for measuring the similarity of diverse binary objects, such as files, is disclosed. The method comprises determining a plurality of digital signatures in each of a plurality of dissimilar objects, for each digital signature, accessing a location in a store which has object identifiers for each object which also exhibits at least one instance of the digital signature, writing into the store the object identifiers of all the objects which have the corresponding pattern and the number of times the pattern is found, and making a list of all the objects which share a pattern found in each object. Analyzing the list determines the degree of similarity of a particular object with each of a plurality of diverse binary objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: BARRACUDA NETWORKS INC.
    Inventors: ZACHARY LEVOW, KEVIN CHANG
  • Publication number: 20120016908
    Abstract: A volatile memory manager of a data handling system can be configured to convert the one-to-many external reference into an external reference that references the common ancestor node of the contiguous region. Specific pathing and/or termination conditions can be contained in a Relationship_Path parameter of the external reference. The hierarchical data structure can also be loaded into volatile memory by the volatile memory manager as data structure references. The volatile memory manager can be further configured to perform various functions utilizing the external and data structure references.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: ANITA O. L. LEUNG, JOHN MOURRA, C. LORNE PARSONS, KEVIN QUAN, CRYSTAL J. SU, GRANT D. TAYLOR, HIROSHI TSUJI
  • Patent number: 8099620
    Abstract: A domain crossing circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus, the domain crossing circuit comprising first and second count signals generated at substantially a same clock period, and representing predetermined clock differences with reference to an internal clock signal with respect to same bit combination data, and a data processing unit configured to provide output data corresponding to input data based on the second count signal in response to the input data synchronized to an external clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Hae Rang Choi, Yong Ju Kim, Sung Woo Han, Hee Woong Song, Ic Su Oh, Hyung Soo Kim, Tae Jin Hwang, Ji Wang Lee, Jae Min Jang, Chang Kun Park
  • Patent number: 8099554
    Abstract: A system, method and computer program product for receiving on a non-volatile, solid-state, cache memory system, a data segment, including a plurality of data elements, from one or more of a volatile, solid-state, cache memory system and a non-volatile, electromechanical memory system. The data segment may be stored on the non-volatile, solid-state, cache memory system. Each data element includes one or more data extents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: EMC Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Solomon, Kiran Madnani, David W. DesRoches, Roy E. Clark
  • Patent number: 8099608
    Abstract: Embodiments of methods and systems for controlling access to information stored on memory or data storage devices are disclosed. In various embodiments, methods of retrieving information from a data storage device previously deactivated by modification or degradation of at least a portion of the data storage device are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, LLC
    Inventors: Bran Ferren, Edward K. Y. Jung
  • Patent number: 8095774
    Abstract: Systems and methods for pre-fetching of data in a memory are provided. By pre-fetching stored data from a slower memory into a faster memory, the amount of time required for data retrieval and/or processing may be reduced. First, data is received and pre-scanned to generate a sample fingerprint. Fingerprints stored in a faster memory that are similar to the sample fingerprint are identified. Data stored in the slower memory associated with the identified stored fingerprints is copied into the faster memory. The copied data may be compared to the received data. Various embodiments may be included in a network memory architecture to allow for faster data matching and instruction generation in a central appliance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Silver Peak Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: David Anthony Hughes, John Burns
  • Publication number: 20120005507
    Abstract: A display device includes a host, a control unit, and a display unit. The control unit receives host data from the host and then generates input data. The control unit includes first, second, and third memories and an arbiter. The first memory stores the input data to serve as first stored data. The second memory stores second stored data and outputs it for generating output data. The third memory stores third stored data. When the amount of the first stored data is greater than a first threshold value, the arbiter performs a writing operation to write the first stored data into the third memory. When the amount of the second stored data is lower than a second threshold value, the arbiter performs a reading operation to read the third stored data to being written into the second memory. The display unit displays images according to the output data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2010
    Publication date: January 5, 2012
    Applicant: HIMAX TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED
    Inventors: Chi-Shiung Lin, Chih-Yang Liao
  • Publication number: 20110320693
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing TCAM functionality in a custom integrated circuit (IC) is presented. An incoming key is broken into a predefined number of sub-keys. Each sub-key is sued to address a Random Access Memory (RAM), one RAM for each sub-key. An output of the RAM is collected for each sub-key, each output comprising a Partial Match Vector (PMV). The PMVs are bitwise ANDed to obtain a value which is provided to a priority encoder to obtain an index. The index is used to access a result RAM to return a result value for the key.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: Avaya Inc.
    Inventors: Hamid Assarpour, Andy Hull
  • Patent number: 8086788
    Abstract: A memory interface controller and method to allow a processor designed and configured to operate with NOR flash and static random access memory SRAM devices to instead operate using NAND flash and synchronous dynamic random access memory SDRAM. The system accomplishes this by caching sectors out of NAND flash into SDRAM, where the data can be randomly accessed by the processor as though it were accessing data from NOR flash/SRAM. Sectors containing data required by the processor are read out of NAND flash and written into SDRAM, where the data can be randomly accessed by the processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Jerrold R. Randell, Richard C. Madter, Karen Alicia Werder
  • Patent number: 8086816
    Abstract: A method for improving the performance of a computerized data storage and access system includes the steps (a) providing a virtual representation of an existing data storage controller accessible to a computing system, (b) providing a configuration interface executable by an operator of the computing system, (c) using the configuration interface, reserving an amount available memory for dedicated use as a data cache and or additional storage space for storing data written to one or more disk drives representing data storage disks of the data storage and access system, (d) intercepting read and write requests to the data storage controller from the central processing unit of the computing system via the virtual representation of the controller, and (e) writing data into the reserved memory or serving data from the reserved memory in lieu of accessing a data storage disk represented by the one or more disk drives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Dataram, Inc.
    Inventor: Jason Caulkins
  • Patent number: 8086791
    Abstract: A system interface controller for enabling a computing appliance to read and write data to a fixed or removable non-volatile memory device includes a peripheral component interface having one or more disk and or bus controller registers, a flash memory controller, a random access memory controller, and a random access memory chip having one or more flash address management tables connected to the random access memory controller. In one embodiment, the system interface controller is modular and is installable to a card form factor supporting the non-volatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: DataRam, Inc.
    Inventor: Jason Caulkins
  • Publication number: 20110314209
    Abstract: A digital signal processing architecture supporting efficient coding of memory access information is provided. In an example embodiment, a digital signal processor includes an adjustment value register to store an initial adjustment value and a succeeding adjustment value. The digital signal processor may also include an address generator circuit to retrieve an instruction including a memory address value that is greater than N, and a further instruction including a further memory address value that is less than or equal to N. In addition, the digital signal processor may include a memory, which includes a high bank address space defined by memory locations that are uniquely identified with memory address values greater than N. The address generator circuit may access the high bank address space, using initial adjustment value and the memory address value, or using the succeeding adjustment value and the further memory address value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: LSI CORPORATION
    Inventor: Erik Eckstein
  • Patent number: 8082416
    Abstract: Extended translation look-aside buffers (eTLB) for converting virtual addresses into physical addresses are presented, the eTLB including, a physical memory address storage having a number of physical addresses, a virtual memory address storage configured to store a number of virtual memory addresses corresponding with the physical addresses, the virtual memory address storage including, a set associative memory structure (SAM), and a content addressable memory (CAM) structure; and comparison circuitry for determining whether a requested address is present in the virtual memory address storage, wherein the eTLB is configured to receive an index register for identifying the SAM structure and the CAM structure, and wherein the eTLB is configured to receive an entry register for providing a virtual page number corresponding with the plurality of virtual memory addresses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: NetLogic Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Gaurav Singh, Dave Hass, Daniel Chen
  • Patent number: 8081527
    Abstract: A memory controller may implement variable delay elements, on a per-bit basis, in both the read and write paths. The memory controller may include multiple adjustable delay circuits associated with data lines and a strobe line, each of the adjustable delay circuits inserting an adjustable amount of delay into a signal destined to or received from one of the data lines or the strobe line. The memory controller may additionally include control logic to determine the delay amount for each of the adjustable delay circuits, the delay amount being determined to reduce static skew between each of the data lines and the strobe line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: Juniper Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Srinivas Venkataraman, Praveen Garapally
  • Patent number: 8078789
    Abstract: A serially interfaced massively parallel Random Access Memory (RAM) includes a matrix of control logic sections on one integrated circuit die, augmented by a switching matrix with an external interface to multiple high speed serial signaling means. A matrix, of the same dimension, of dense memory element arrays is implemented on a different integrated circuit die. One control logic section die and one or more others containing memory sections are joined by appropriate means to form one integrated circuit stack, implementing a matrix of independent memory units. The switching matrix translates command and data content encoded on the external signaling means bidirectionally between internal data and control signals and connects these signals to the control logic sections. Each independent memory unit ably performs atomic read-alter-writes to enable software mutual exclusion operations (MUTEXes). Each and every matrix may guard against defects by having additional rows and/or columns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Digital RNA, LLC
    Inventor: Joel Henry Hinrichs
  • Publication number: 20110302365
    Abstract: Provided is a storage system using a high speed storage device as a cache. The storage system includes a large-volume of first storage device, a high speed second storage device, and a Random Access Memory (RAM). The large-volume of first storage device corresponds to a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and the high speed second storage device corresponds to a Solid State Drive (SSD). Also, the high speed second drive is used as a cache. The first storage device manages content files super block by super block, and the second storage device manages cache files block by block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2009
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Applicant: Indilinx Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Jin Yong Heo, Han-Mook Park, Hyung Geun An
  • Publication number: 20110302343
    Abstract: Systems and methods for providing instant-on functionality on an embedded controller are disclosed. A method of providing instant-on functionality on a controller comprises an initial state, an intermediate state and a final state. The initial state comprises installing a first responder code, enabling the first responder code and enabling a timer interrupt service routine. The intermediate state comprises registering the first responder code as a timer interrupt service routine. The timer interrupt service routine initiates periodic processing. The final state comprises registering a steady-state interrupt service routine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Inventors: Wade Butcher, Akkiah Maddukuri, Elie Jreij
  • Publication number: 20110295798
    Abstract: A solid state memory stores a mirror image of a computer hard drive. The solid state memory is coupled with a wireless communication chip, such as 3G, in order to enable dynamically updating the files on the solid state memory. Any modifications done to the files on the hard drive are synced with the files on the solid state memory. Similarly, any modifications done to the files on the solid state memory are synced with the files on the hard drive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2010
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Inventor: Joseph Shain
  • Patent number: 8069303
    Abstract: A memory controller sequentially holds access requests including access addresses. A semiconductor memory includes a plurality of banks each having a plurality of pages. The memory controller decides page hit/page miss of the bank corresponding to each of the held access addresses. Further, the memory controller outputs an all-banks precharge command for performing a precharge operation of all the banks when deciding, based on an analysis of the successive access addresses, that outputting the all-banks precharge command results in improvement in access efficiency. It is possible to precharge the plural banks only by supplying the all-banks precharge command once, and therefore, in a case where the number of empty cycles for the insertion of a command is small, it is possible to supply the command efficiently to the semiconductor memory according to the states of the banks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited
    Inventor: Soji Hara
  • Patent number: 8065472
    Abstract: A system includes a non-volatile mass storage unit, e.g., a flash memory device and/or a hard drive unit for instance. A memory device is used as a high speed data buffer and/or cache for the non-volatile storage unit. The memory device may be non-volatile, e.g., magnetic random access memory (MRAM) or volatile memory, e.g., synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). By buffering and/or caching the write data, fewer accesses are required to the mass storage device thereby increasing system performance. Additionally, mechanical and electrical degradation of the mass storage device is reduced. Certain trigger events can be programmed to cause data from the memory device to be written to the mass storage device. The write buffer contents may be preserved across reset or power loss events. The mass storage unit may be a data transport layer, e.g., Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Justin Evan Manus, Douglas Anderson, Yoon Kean Wong, Rajan Ranga
  • Patent number: 8065475
    Abstract: A registered dual in-line memory module is configured with multiple random access memory chips and a DRAM register configured to receive address and control signals from a memory controller. The DRAM register distributes the address and control signals to the random access memory chips, thereby providing the memory controller access to the chips. The module further includes a control register configured to store control bits for setting operating modes of the registered dual in-line memory module. The control bits are software programmable using signals received from the memory controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Stec, Inc.
    Inventor: William M. Gervasi
  • Patent number: 8065304
    Abstract: In one illustrative embodiment, a computer implemented method using asymmetric memory management is provided. The computer implemented method receives a request, containing a search key, to access an array of records in the asymmetric memory, wherein the array has a sorted prefix portion and an unsorted append portion, the append portion alternatively comprising a linked-list, and responsive to a determination that the request is an insert request, inserts the record in the request in arrival order in the unsorted append portion to form a newly inserted record. Responsive to a determination that the newly inserted record completes the group of records, stores an index, in sorted order, for the group of records.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Kenneth Andrew Ross
  • Publication number: 20110283059
    Abstract: Various embodiments are disclosed for accelerating computations using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). Various tree traversal techniques, architectures, and hardware implementations are disclosed. Various disclosed embodiments comprise hybrid architectures comprising a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processor unit (GPU), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and variations or combinations thereof, to implement raytracing techniques. Additional disclosed embodiments comprise depth-breadth search tree tracing techniques, blocking tree branch traversal techniques to avoid data explosion, compact data structure representations for ray and node representations, and multiplexed processing of multiple rays in a programming element (PE) to leverage pipeline bubble.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: Progeniq Pte Ltd
    Inventors: Sundar Govindarajan, Vinod Ranganathan Iyer, Darran Nathan
  • Publication number: 20110282573
    Abstract: A route planning method used with an electronic device formed of a processor, a transmission interface, an I/O port and a storage unit and a GPS formed of a CPU, a transmission interface, a storage unit, a display unit, a satellite positioning unit and an antenna is disclosed to input the location data of the predetermined destination into the electronic device through the input/output port of the electronic device so that the processor of the electronic device produces and compresses a route planning data and then transmits the route planning data to the GPS for enabling the GPS to convert the geographic coordinate data of the current location received from the satellite and the compressed route panning data received from the electronic device into a planar or 3D navigation map for display on the display unit thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: GLOBALSAT TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shih-Chieh Ting
  • Publication number: 20110283049
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are directed to optimizing the selection of memory blocks for garbage collection to maximize the amount of memory freed by garbage collection operations. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide for the efficient selection of optimal or near-optimal garbage collection candidate blocks, with the most optimal selection defined as block(s) with the most invalid pages. In one embodiment, a controller classifies memory blocks into various invalid block pools by the amount of invalid pages each block contains. When garbage collection is performed, the controller selects a block from a non-empty pool of blocks with the highest minimum amount of invalid pages. The pools facilitate the optimal or near-optimal selection of garbage collection candidate blocks in an efficient manner and the data structure of the pools can be implemented with bitmasks, which take minimal space in memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: HO-FAN KANG, ALAN CHINGTAO KAN
  • Patent number: 8060708
    Abstract: A disclosed circuit includes circuitry for coupling to a volatile memory, circuitry for coupling to a nonvolatile NAND flash memory, and circuitry that: (i) receives a volatile memory request from a processor and satisfies the volatile memory request by accessing the volatile memory, and (ii) receives a nonvolatile NOR flash memory read request from the processor and satisfies the NOR read request by accessing both the NAND flash memory and the volatile memory. The circuit may also include circuitry that receives a volatile memory request from another processor and satisfies the volatile memory request from the other processor by accessing the volatile memory, and circuitry that receives a NAND flash memory read request from the other processor and satisfies the NAND read request by accessing the NAND flash memory. Multiprocessor systems including the circuit are described, as is a method for satisfying a NOR flash memory read request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2011
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Dinesh Maheshwari, Dinesh Ramanathan, Alakesh Chetia, Herve Letourneur, Donald W. Smith, Manoj Gujral
  • Publication number: 20110276744
    Abstract: Described is using flash memory, RAM-based data structures and mechanisms to provide a flash store for caching data items (e.g., key-value pairs) in flash pages. A RAM-based index maps data items to flash pages, and a RAM-based write buffer maintains data items to be written to the flash store, e.g., when a full page can be written. A recycle mechanism makes used pages in the flash store available by destaging a data item to a hard disk or reinserting it into the write buffer, based on its access pattern. The flash store may be used in a data deduplication system, in which the data items comprise chunk-identifier, metadata pairs, in which each chunk-identifier corresponds to a hash of a chunk of data that indicates. The RAM and flash are accessed with the chunk-identifier (e.g., as a key) to determine whether a chunk is a new chunk or a duplicate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2010
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Sudipta Sengupta, Biplob Kumar Debnath, Jin Li
  • Patent number: 8055852
    Abstract: A memory device includes an on-board processing system that facilitates the ability of the memory device to interface with a plurality of processors operating in a parallel processing manner. The processing system includes circuitry that performs processing functions on data stored in the memory device in an indivisible manner. More particularly, the system reads data from a bank of memory cells or cache memory, performs a logic function on the data to produce results data, and writes the results data back to the bank or the cache memory. The logic function may be a Boolean logic function or some other logic function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: David Resnick
  • Patent number: 8050106
    Abstract: A method writes data in a non-volatile memory comprising memory cells that are erased before being written. The method comprises the steps of providing a main non-volatile memory area comprising target pages, providing an auxiliary non-volatile memory area comprising auxiliary pages, providing a look-up table to associate to an address of invalid target page an address of valid auxiliary page, and, in response to a command for writing a piece of data in a target page writing the piece of data as well as the address of the target page in a first erased auxiliary page, invalidating the target page, and updating the look-up table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics SA, STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Francesco La Rosa, Antonino Conte
  • Publication number: 20110264853
    Abstract: A signal control device includes: a dual port RAM from or to which data signals are read and written at predetermined operation timings by first and second CPUs connected to two ports, respectively; an address collision detection unit detecting collision between addresses in which the first and second CPUs respectively read and write the data signal from and to the dual port RAM; a first storage unit storing the data signal read by the first CPU; a second storage unit storing the data signal read from the address in which the second CPU writes the data signal to the dual port RAM when the collision between the addresses is detected; and a switching unit switching a reading source outputting the data signal to the port to which the first CPU is connected and outputting the read data signal to the first CPU entering a readable state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Shinjiro Tanaka
  • Publication number: 20110258364
    Abstract: A method includes forming a memory device through providing an array of non-volatile memory cells including one or more non-volatile memory cell(s) and an array of volatile memory cells including one or more volatile memory cell(s) on a substrate. The method also includes appropriately programming an address translation logic associated with the memory device through a set of registers associated therewith to enable configurable mapping of an address associated with a sector of the memory device to any memory address space location in a computing system associated with the memory device. The address translation logic is configured to enable translation of an external virtual address associated with the sector of the memory device to a physical address associated therewith.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2010
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: CHIP MEMORY TECHNOLOGY, INC.,
    Inventor: Wingyu Leung
  • Publication number: 20110258374
    Abstract: A method and system of optimizing the memory usage and performance of data deduplication storage systems includes organizing the metadata of data blocks needed by deduplicating storage systems. A three level hierarchy is used. Level 1 stores the metadata on disk along with the user data. Level 2 uses low latency storage (e.g. RAM and Solid State Disks) to cache the on-disk meta data for faster direct access. Level 3 organizes the fingerprints using a Trie and is entirely resident in RAM. Thus, the search, to determine whether a data block is unique or not and a candidate for transfer, can be more efficiency executed and to ensure that the meta data is transactionally secure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: GREENBYTES, INC.
    Inventor: Robert Pertocelli
  • Patent number: 8041881
    Abstract: A memory subsystem is provided including an interface circuit adapted for communication with a system and a majority of address or control signals of a first number of memory circuits. The interface circuit includes emulation logic for emulating at least one memory circuit of a second number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Suresh Natarajan Rajan, Keith R. Schakel, Michael John Sebastian Smith, David T. Wang, Frederick Daniel Weber
  • Patent number: 8041906
    Abstract: Embodiments for notification processing are disclosed. One embodiment includes dividing the number of data entries of an array, having a number of data entries that each utilize a variable having a changeable state, into a number of blocks. The number of blocks include a flag indicating whether at least one of the number of entries in the block has been modified. The method includes identifying at least one of the number blocks that has at least one modified entry by checking the flag and processing the at least one identified block to determine a current state of at least one the variables having a changeable state whose corresponding data entry has been modified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Deepak S. Patil, Lisa Pinio
  • Patent number: 8037237
    Abstract: A method and circuit for refreshing dynamic data stored in an integrated circuit are disclosed. The integrated circuit receives a supply voltage and operates in a self-refresh mode of operation to refresh the dynamic data at a refresh time that defines how often the dynamic data is refreshed during the self-refresh mode. The method includes monitoring a magnitude of the supply voltage and adjusting the refresh time as a function of the monitored magnitude of the supply voltage. The integrated circuit may be any type of integrated circuit that stores dynamic data, such as a memory device like a dynamic random access memory, DDR DRAM, SLDRAM, or RDRAM, or other type of integrated circuit such as a microprocessor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Round Rock Research, LLC
    Inventor: Leel S. Janzen
  • Patent number: 8032694
    Abstract: A nonvolatile semiconductor mass storage system and architecture can be substituted for a rotating hard disk. The system and architecture avoid an erase cycle each time information stored in the mass storage is changed. Erase cycles are avoided by programming an altered data file into an empty mass storage block rather than over itself as a hard disk would. Periodically, the mass storage will need to be cleaned up. These advantages are achieved through the use of several flags, and a map to correlate a logical block address of a block to a physical address of that block. In particular, flags are provided for defective blocks, used blocks, and old versions of a block. An array of volatile memory is addressable according to the logical address and stores the physical address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Petro Estakhri, Mahmud Assar
  • Patent number: 8032693
    Abstract: A serial in random out memory circuit has a number of memory cells integrated with write control circuitry for writing a sequence of data inputs to sequential locations in the memory cells. Read control circuitry is integrated to receive address signals from an external device and provide a random access read output from the memory cells, mapped into an address range of the external device. Compared to circuits using discrete components and conventional RAM chips, the integrated SIRO can enable some of the circuitry or external software to be dispensed with and so reduce costs or increase performance. The memory cells can be arranged in a number of blocks, selectable one at a time for mapping to the external device address range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: ST-Ericsson SA
    Inventor: Vincent Himpe
  • Patent number: 8032688
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the invention, a memory integrated circuit is provided including an address decoder to selectively access memory cells within a memory array; a mode register with bit storage circuits to store an enable bit and at least one sub-channel select bit; and control logic. The control logic is coupled to a plurality of address signal lines, the address decoder, and the mode register. In response to the enable bit and the at least one sub-channel select bit, the control logic selects one or more of the address signal lines to capture independent address information to support independent sub-channel memory accesses into the memory array. The control logic couples the independent address information into the address decoder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Peter MacWilliams, James Akiyama, Douglas Gabel
  • Patent number: 8032695
    Abstract: A multiprocessor system includes first and second processors and a multi-path accessible semiconductor memory device including a shared memory area and a pseudo operation execution unit. The shared memory area is accessible by the first and second processors according to a page open policy. The pseudo operation execution unit responds to a virtual active command from one of the first and second processors to close a last-opened page. The virtual active command is generated with a row address not corresponding to any row of the shared memory area. For example, bit-lines of a last accessed row are pre-charged for closing the last-opened page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jin-Hyoung Kwon, Han-Gu Sohn, Dong-Woo Lee