Intel Corporation

John V Lovelace

Murugasamy K Nachimuthu

Christopher P Mozak

Bryan L Spry

Tonia G Morris

Kevin B Moore

Theodore Zale Schoenborn

Christopher E Yunker

Robert Charles Swanson

Mahesh S Natu

Andrew H Gafken

Zale Theodore Schoenborn

Sreenivas Mandava

John R Goles

Jonathan C Jasper

Larry D Aaron, Jr

Todd D Wilson

Benjamin T Tyson

Sugumar Govindarajan

Qiang Li

Bill Nale

Andrew J Fish

Tuan M Quach

Debaleena Das

Ying Zhou

Robert Patrick Hale

David J O'Shea

Christopher J Spiegel

Rajesh P Banginwar

Todd A Schelling

Amy L O'Donnell

Barry Kennedy

John P Lambino

Christina Jue

Bassam N Elkhoury

Xueyan Wang

William R Greene

Tom Dodson

Craig M Valine

Wenjuan Mao

James Goffena

Chris Yunker

Sharif S Faraq

Thomas Dodson

Murugasamy M Nachimuthu

Alberto David Perez Guevara

Jun Zhu

Initialization of a memory can have different phases, first initializing a portion of memory for BIOS (basic input/output system) and initializing other portions of memory while the BIOS is operating. The initialization of the memory can be performed by the error scrub engine. In a first mode of operation, the scrub engine can initialize memory locations, then transition to performing scrub operations.

Deferred ECC (error checking and correction) memory initialization by memory scrub hardware

A method performed by a memory chip is described. The method includes receiving an activated chip select signal. The method also includes receiving, with the chip select signal being activated, a command code on a command/address (CA) bus that identifies a next portion of an identifier for the memory chip. The method also includes receiving the next portion of the identifier on a portion of the memory chip's data inputs. The method also includes repeating the receiving of the activated chip select signal, the command code and the next portion until the entire identifier has been received and storing the entire identifier in a register.

Memory bus MR register programming process

Techniques for training a command/address (C/A) bus, including training internal command/address (C/A) signal lines of a memory module are described. In one example, a method of training a C/A bus involves a memory controller transmitting a first command to a DRAM with parity checking enabled, the first command to include valid parity and chip select asserted. The memory controller transmits commands in cycles before and after the first command to at least one DRAM with parity checking disabled, the commands to include invalid parity and chip select asserted. In response to detecting a parity error, the memory controller modifies a timing parameter to adjust timing for the internal C/A signal lines of the memory module.

Measurement and optimization of command signal timing margins

A method performed by a memory controller is described. The method includes, during boot up, issuing a command to a memory to cause the memory to zero out its content. The method also includes bypassing a descrambler when reading from a location in the memory that has not had its zeroed out content written over the scrambled data. The method also includes processing read data with the descrambler when reading from a location in the memory that has had its zeroed out content written over with scrambled data.

Fast boot up memory controller

Described herein is an apparatus for dynamically adjusting a voltage reference level for optimizing an I/O system to achieve a certain performance metric. The apparatus comprises: a voltage reference generator to generate a voltage reference; and a dynamic voltage reference control unit, coupled with the voltage reference generator, to dynamically adjust a level of the voltage reference in response to an event. The apparatus is used to perform the method comprising: generating a voltage reference for an input/output (I/O) system; determining a worst case voltage level of the voltage reference; dynamically adjusting, via a dynamic voltage reference control unit, the voltage reference level based on determining the worst case voltage level; and computing a center of an asymmetrical eye based on the dynamically adjusted voltage reference level.

Method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting voltage reference to optimize an I/O system

Technologies for control and status register (CSR) access include a computing device that starts a firmware initialization phase. The firmware accesses a CSR at an abstract CSR address. The computing device determines whether an upper part of the CSR address matches a cached upper part of a previously accessed CSR address. If the upper parts do not match, the computing device converts the CSR address into a physical address and caches the upper part of the CSR address and the upper part of the physical address. If the upper parts match, the computing device combines a cached upper part of a previously accessed physical address with an offset of the CSR address. The upper part may include 20 bits and the lower part may include 12 bits. The physical address may be a PCIe address of the CSR added with an MMCFG base address. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Technologies for reduced control and status register access latency

Embodiments are generally directed to signal phase optimization in memory interface training. An embodiment of an apparatus includes an interface for at least one signal; and interface training logic capable of automatically adjusting a phase relationship between the signal and a strobe or clock, including establishing a phase delay of the signal and a phase delay of the strobe or clock for training of the interface, wherein the interface training logic is capable of determining a phase delay reduction for the signal subsequent to measurement of an eye margin for the signal, the phase delay reduction to retain a sufficient delay to maintain the eye margin for sampling of the signal.

Signal phase optimization in memory interface training

Provided are a method and apparatus for method and apparatus for encoding registers in a memory module. A mode register command is sent to the memory module over a bus, initialization of the memory module before the bus to the memory module is trained for bus operations, to program one of a plurality of mode registers in the memory module, wherein the mode register command indicates one of the mode registers and includes data for the indicated mode register.

Method and apparatus for encoding registers in a memory module

A memory controller transmits a control signal to a memory module, where the memory controller continuously transmits a clock signal to the memory module. The memory controller determines adjustments to the control signal with respect to the clock signal, by iteratively analyzing a strobe signal.

Method for training a control signal based on a strobe signal in a memory module

Techniques and mechanisms to dynamically adjustment a timing of commands to access a dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In an embodiment, a memory controller monitors an error rate of the DRAM and, based on such monitoring, identifies that the error rate is within a predetermined range. In response to the error rate being within the predetermined range, one or more signals are generated to dynamically modify a command timing setting. In another embodiment, modification of the command timing setting is to transition a memory controller from sending memory refresh commands successively at one rate to sending memory refresh commands successively at a different rate.

Apparatus, method and system to determine memory access command timing based on error detection

Memory channel training parameters are function of electrical characteristics of memory devices, processor(s) and memory channel(s). Training steps can be skipped if the BIOS can determine that the memory devices, motherboard and processor have not changed since the last boot. Memory devices contain a serial number for tracking purposes and most motherboards contain a serial number. Many processors do not provide a mechanism by which the BIOS can track the processor. Described herein are techniques that allow the BIOS to track a processor and detect a swap without violating privacy/security requirements.

Mechanism for detecting a no-processor swap condition and modification of high speed bus calibration during boot

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Irmo, SC, United States of America

John V Lovelace