Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for self-testing multi-port RAMs

US6070256A · kind A · utility

52Cited by
4References
7Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 19, 1998
Grant dateMay 30, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 19, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C29/34
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method for and apparatus of testing a multi-port RAM (random access memory) detect single port faults and inter port shorts in multi-port random access memories. The algorithm performs a conventional single-port test such as MARCH or SMARCH on one port of the memory and performs an inter-port test on all other ports. The algorithm does not impose any extra test time and requires the addition of only a few gates to a conventional single-port BIST controller, independently of the size of the memory. An address to select ports of the multi-port RAM includes a row address signal of a plurality of bits. A specific bit of the row address signal is changed.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.