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:
Apr. 09, 2002
Filed:
May. 26, 2000
Luigi Penza, Vimercate, IT;
Gianluca Blasi, Vimercate, IT;
STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Abstract
A memory circuit having a first and a second block of memory cells with rows that cross both blocks and columns in each of the two blocks. A word decoder selects one of the rows, and a column decoder selects a set of columns from the first and second blocks. An address splitter passes relative portions of an address to each decoder. In one embodiment, the address splitter passes the most significant bits of the address to the word decoder and passes the remaining bits to a portion of the column decoder coupled to the first block only. The address splitter also modifies the remaining bits, using a bit subtractor, and passes them to a portion of the column decoder coupled to the second block only. A method of operating a memory device is provided that includes accepting an address at an input address circuit and then determining whether the address is for data in the first block or in the second block. This information is assessed by comparing it to the number of memory cells in the first block. If the address is for data in the first block, the address is parsed into high and low portions, and sent to the word and column decoders, respectively. If the address is for data in the second block, the low portion of the address is modified, or remapped, and sent to a circuit in the column decoder that is only coupled to the second data block.