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.

Date of Patent:
Feb. 06, 1996

Filed:

Feb. 24, 1992
Applicant:
Inventors:

Barry A Hoberman, Cupertino, CA (US);

Stuart T Auvinen, Santa Cruz, CA (US);

Patrick Wang, Palo Alto, CA (US);

David Wang, Cupertino, CA (US);

Assignee:

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F / ; G11C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
395427 ; 36518904 ; 365221 ; 365236 ; 364D / ;
Abstract

A method for detecting a half-full condition of a first-in, first-out memory array. The method of the invention includes the steps of a) moving a write pointer through the array to write data to alternating rows of the memory array; b) moving a read pointer through the array to read data from the alternating rows of the memory array in first-in, first-out order; and c) providing a half-full indication when the read pointer and the write pointer point to adjacent rows in the memory array. This method eliminates the need to route lines across the array to detect a half-full condition, thereby reducing die and power requirements and offering an increase in speed.


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