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. 01, 2003
Filed:
May. 10, 2000
Seungyoon P. Song, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Elan Research, Mt. View, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for controlling refresh of a plurality of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) cells in a data processing system is disclosed. The method and system comprises of providing at least one valid bit to control the refresh of at least one row of DRAM cells and providing a set of commands by a software program to control the at least one valid bit. Accordingly, a system and method in accordance with the present invention allows for software control of a DRAM refresh to reduce power consumption in a data processing system. In a system and method in accordance with the present invention, a plurality of valid bits are provided, each valid bit allows for a group of DRAM cells to suppress the refresh operation when a refresh is not needed. Each of the valid bits controls the refresh of all cells in a row of DRAM cells and all cells of a memory location are contained in one row. A system and method in accordance with the present invention utilizes a set of commands to set or clear a valid bit, which allows the software to control the refresh. The plurality of valid bits are preferably implemented using the DRAM cells but without providing a refresh mechanism.