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:
Sep. 28, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 09, 1998
James Brennan, Jr, Saratoga, CA (US);
Anthony Dunne, Cupertino, CA (US);
Peter Holzmann, Campbell, CA (US);
Geoff Jackson, Campbell, CA (US);
Albert Kordesch, San Jose, CA (US);
Chun-Mai Liu, San Jose, CA (US);
Kung-Yen Su, San Jose, CA (US);
Hieu Van Tran, San Jose, CA (US);
Information Storage Devices, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An analog recording and playback system using non-volatile flash memory. An array of flash memory cells is used to store an analog signal and retrieve the stored analog signal on a real-time basis. A plurality of column driver circuits are coupled to the columns of flash memory cells for simultaneous programming and reading. A programming algorithm is used to write the analog signal within an operating range of the flash memory cells since the operating range may shift due to process variations. The system includes trimbit circuits to provide a trimmable initial programming voltage, programming step, programming current, read current, and select gate voltage. The system further includes a Serial Peripheral Interface ('SPI') that interfaces with a host microcontroller. The host microcontroller can send a number of commands to the system through the SPI for efficient message management. These commands include the basic commands to record or playback and various addressing and message cueing options. The system utilizes row and column redundancy to increase production yield.