The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 02, 1987
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1983
Thomas A Almy, Tualatin, OR (US);
Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR (US);
Abstract
An associative memory having a large storage capacity which also has the capability of being used as a conventional memory, i.e. accessed by physical location. A memory array (11) is accessed in conventional fashion by an address decoder (15). A mask/data drive circuit (13) controls the loading/reading of the memory array (11) when the device is in a conventional mode, and operates on the same pins to provide mask and search data when the drive is in the associative mode. In the associative mode, a plurality of match detect (17) circuits, one for each word location in memory (11), receive the output signals from the memory array (11). The match detect circuits (17) prioritize the output match signals from memory (11) and provide an output indicating the first or lowest word in memory (11) having a match. An address encoder (19) is responsive to the prioritized match output (if any) from the match detect circuits (17) to determine the physical location in memory (11) containing the matched word.