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:
Oct. 21, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1995
Arvind K Kansal, Cupertino, CA (US);
Thomas C Yip, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Cirrus Logic, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for integrating a row address strobe signal monitoring circuit in a graphics controller is described. The present invention includes an improved graphics controller comprising a bi-directional input/output pad and a row address strobe signal snooping circuit to monitor the row address strobe signal to detect the pre-charge status of the signal prior to a memory access by the graphics controller. The input/output pad of the present invention enables the graphics controller to simultaneously receive and drive a row address strobe signal upon being granted permission to access memory. The row address snooping method of the present invention enables the graphics controller to pre-charge the row address strobe signal while the controller is in an inactive memory access state. Pre-charging the row address signal allows the graphics controller to immediately drive a pre-charged address strobe signal to memory upon receiving permission to access memory; thereby reducing the number of clocks it takes the graphics controller to access memory.