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:
Nov. 11, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 30, 1999
William Daune Atwell, Spicewood, TX (US);
Michael L. Longwell, Austin, TX (US);
Jeffrey Van Myers, Driftwood, TX (US);
Madrone Solutions, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for operating a dynamic memory ( ) in a sleep mode. The apparatus writes a predetermined background value to at least a background portion of the memory, and then ceases to refresh the background portion. The background value corresponds to the conductivity type of the memory cell, where N-channel devices have a low value and P-channel devices have a high value. After return from sleep mode, the voltage reference is not impacted by the residual charge in the memory cells. According to one embodiment, a refresh controller ( ) accesses a look up table ( ) to store data indicating the status of memory cells. Prescaling may then adjust the period and duty cycle of the refresh cycle in response to the inactive wordlines via a unit, such as prescaler ( ). In one embodiment, the background value is written to the inactive memory cell ( ) via sense amplifier killer circuitry ( ).