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:
Apr. 04, 2000
Applicant:
Inventors:
Clair John Glossner, III, Carmel, NY (US);
Erdem Hokenek, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);
David Meltzer, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Mayan Moudgill, Ossining, NY (US);
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 7/02 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C 7/02 ;
Abstract
A volatile memory device, in accordance with the present invention, includes an array of memory cells with at least two dummy cells disposed within the memory array. A driver is included for writing a first state to one of the at least two dummy cells and for writing a second state to another one of the at least two dummy cells. A comparison circuit compares the first state and the second state to a threshold to determine if a refresh of the array of memory cells is needed.