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. 08, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 01, 1996
Chung-Chen Luan, Saratoga, CA (US);
Siu-Ming Chong, Fremont, CA (US);
James H Wang, San Jose, CA (US);
John Wong, Oakland, CA (US);
Gong-Jong Yeh, San Jose, CA (US);
NEC Electronics Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A computer system having a processor and at least one peripheral has a programmable shared memory system and method that selectively dedicates a first potion of memory to use by the processor and allocates a second portion of memory to shared use by the processor and any peripherals in the system. The programmable memory architecture is implemented using a dual bus architecture having a first-bus connected to the processor and a second bus coupled to the processor by a system controller and to the peripherals by a peripheral controller. The programmable memory architecture additionally has a configuration controller coupled to each configurable memory bank in the system. Each configuration controller is additionally coupled to both the first and second buses. Under programmed control, the each configuration controller couples the associated memory to either the first or second bus, responsive to configuration information stored in the system controller. Memory coupled to the first bus operates as dedicated processor memory and memory coupled to the second bus operates as shared memory, accessible by the processor and any peripherals in the system.