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:
Aug. 17, 1998
Christopher S MacLellan, Norwood, MA (US);
Michael Bermingham, Framingham, MA (US);
John K Walton, Mendon, MA (US);
EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, MA (US);
Abstract
A buffer memory includes at least one memory including a plurality of memory locations, and at least one write-control circuit. When data is written to one of the plurality of memory locations, the at least one write-control circuit causes at least one bit of validation information to be written to the at least one memory to indicate that the data written to the one of the plurality of memory locations is valid. In response to data being read from the one of the plurality of memory locations, the at least one write-control circuit causes the at least one bit of validation information to be overwritten to indicate that the data stored in the one of the plurality of memory locations is invalid. In another embodiment, a method for operating a buffer memory including a plurality of memory locations includes steps of: (a) when data is written to one of the plurality of memory locations, storing at least one bit of validation information in the buffer memory indicating that the data written to the one of the plurality of memory locations is valid; and (b) in response to the data being read from the one of the plurality of memory locations, overwriting the at least one bit of validation information to indicate that the data stored in the one of the plurality of memory locations is invalid.