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:
Aug. 01, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1998
Daryl G Dietrich, Woodland Park, CO (US);
Paul F Ruths, Woodland Park, CO (US);
Christian E Herdt, Monument, CO (US);
Simtek Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to a non-volatile, static random access memory (nvSRAM) device that is capable of high speed copying of the data in the static random access portion of the device into the non-volatile portion of the device after the detection of possible loss of power. This is accomplished by preparing the non-volatile portion for receiving a bit of data from the SRAM portion before the possible loss of power is detected, i.e., pre-arming the device. In one embodiment, the pre-arming is accomplished by erasing the non-volatile portion during the time when the power supply is stable and data can be transferred between the SRAM portion and the exterior environment. In another embodiment, pre-arming is accomplished by erasing the non-volatile portion immediately after power has been provided to the device and data from the non-volatile portion has been copied into the SRAM in a recall operation. Another aspect of the invention provides for the decoupling of the erase and store operations. This facilitate, for example, the erase of the data in the non-volatile portion of the nvSRAM without a subsequent copying of data in the SRAM portion into the non-volatile portion.