Patent · US Expired

Transparent continuous refresh RAM cell architecture

US6717863B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
13References
2Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 16, 2003
Grant dateApr 6, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 16, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C11/406
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system-on-chip (SOC) device or a random access memory (RAM) chip includes a RAM block. The RAM block includes memory cells, each of which has three transistors. Each memory cell is coupled to both a read bit line and a write bit line. A transparent continuous refresh mechanism has been implemented to read the content of a memory cell and re-write it back to the memory cell without disturbing the access (read/write) cycle, making refresh operations transparent to the system level. The continuous refresh mechanism includes a collision detection mechanism to prevent writing and reading the same memory cell at the same time.

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