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:
Jan. 30, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 21, 2004
Marc Evans, San Jose, CA (US);
Richard E. Perego, Thornton, CO (US);
Frederick A. Ware, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Marc Evans, San Jose, CA (US);
Richard E. Perego, Thornton, CO (US);
Frederick A. Ware, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Rambus Inc., Los Altos, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus provides a mask key that is used instead of mask data. In an embodiment of the present invention, a write mask key is generated by a memory controller and transferred to a memory device that uses the write mask key to determine whether to write a data value to a storage array. A plurality of decoders, an OR logic gate tree and a binary propagation tree is used to provide the write mask key that reduces latency while using the approximate same circuit area and allows for the use of standard software tools in an embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of logdecoders is coupled to a plurality of OR logic gates in the OR logic gate tree.