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:
Sep. 21, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2003
Wingyu Leung, Cupertino, CA (US);
Jae-Hong Jeong, San Jose, CA (US);
Monolithic System Technology, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An array of memory cells that require periodic refresh is operated in a single-cell mode during normal operating conditions. Upon receiving an asserted standby control signal from an accessing memory client, the array enters a standby mode from the normal operating conditions. The standby mode can be specified as a differential-cell mode, a single-cell mode or a non-retentive mode. To enter the differential-cell standby mode, data stored in the single-cell mode is converted to a differential-cell mode. In this conversion, half of the data stored in the single-cell mode is saved, while the other half is discarded. In the differential-cell standby mode, refresh operations are performed less frequently than in the normal operating mode, thereby conserving power. The external clock signal provided by the accessing memory client can be disabled during the differential-cell standby mode, as a local clock signal is provided to implement the refresh operations during standby mode.