Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Lenovo Global Technology (united States) Inc.

Jose M Orro

Jonathan Randall Hinkle

Albert Vincent Makley

Theodore Brian Vojnovich

Marc Richard Pamley

David W Cosby

William Fred Keown, Jr

A dynamic random-access memory array includes a plurality of memory cells and sensor cells physical arranged in a row. The sensor cells include a transistor and a capacitor having an input terminal connected to a first non-gate terminal of the transistor. A wordline is connected to transistor gates of both the memory cells and sensor cells in the row. A sensor amplifier has inputs connected to the sensor cell, a high voltage reference line, and a low voltage reference line, and an output in communication with a row refresh circuit. If the sensor amplifier detects that the sensor cell voltage falls outside of the range of the high and low voltage reference lines, then a trigger signal is output to request that the row refresh circuit perform a priority row refresh of the memory cells and the sensor cell in the row.

Dynamic random-access memory array including sensor cells

Powering random access memory (RAM) modules with non-volatile memory components may include providing, by a power supply, a first output voltage to one or more RAM modules, each RAM module of the one or more RAM modules comprising a volatile memory component and a non-volatile memory component; providing, by the power supply, a second output voltage to one or more system components distinct from the one or more RAM modules; detecting a power event; sending, by the power supply, in response to detecting the power event, a signal to the one or more RAM modules to initiate a save operation, wherein the save operation comprises storing, for each of the one or more RAM modules, data from the volatile memory component to the non-volatile memory component; and ceasing, by the power supply, the second output voltage while maintaining the first output voltage to facilitate the save operation.

Powering random access memory modules with non-volatile memory components

In the context of computer systems, the present invention broadly contemplates the ability to dynamically adjust the voltage and frequency of DRAM memory modules that are dual-voltage tolerant based on system performance. The invention allows a computer system to dynamically scale the memory voltage between a lower and a higher voltage, thereby allowing the system to save power when the system is idle or in low usage, but also allowing the system to realize the full memory performance when running more intensive applications.

Dynamic memory voltage scaling for power management

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Cary, NC, United States of America

Jose M Orro