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:
Jul. 31, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2000
Tetsuji Togami, Tokyo, JP;
NEC Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
According to one embodiment, a multistage readout circuit may include a smaller circuit size and/or faster circuit response. A memory cell (,) may have more than two states (VT,-VT,). Determination of a particular state can involve various stage results generated by activating a word line at different levels. A sense amplifier (,) can provide an output value at each stage. In one arrangement, a second stage value can determine if a memory cell (,) has two of four states and can be latched in a first latch circuit (,). Such a second stage value can then determine if a first stage value or third stage value is latched in a second latch circuit (,). A first/third value can determine if a memory cell (,) has one of the two states initially determined by the second stage value.