Patent · US Expired

Apparatus, system and method for control of speed of operation and power consumption of a memory

US6151262A · kind A · utility

70Cited by
5References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 26, 1999
Grant dateNov 21, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 26, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C7/22
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

This invention concerns power consumption control of memory having a fully powered state and at least one lower power state. The invention changes the memory to the fully powered state upon receipt of a memory access request. This memory access request is serviced in the fully powered state. The memory is returned to a lower power state after expiration of a grace period following a last memory access request. This grace period can be measured by a predetermined time or a predetermined number of memory access requests or a combination of these factors. The predetermined time may be fixed in manufacture or programmable in operation via a control register or data stored in a predetermined set of address locations within the address space of the memory. This invention is useful in portable electronic devices such as wireless telephones.

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