System and method for staging concurrent accesses to a memory address location via a single port using a high speed sampling clock

Abstract

A memory device, apparatus and method are provided for accessing memory cells. The device, apparatus, and method allow two or more electronic subsystems with corresponding external ports to access a single array of memory elements via a single internal port. Address, data, and control signals from each of the external ports are multiplexed onto the word line drivers and de-multiplexed from the sense amplifiers. Multiplexing and de-multiplexing operations are sequenced based on a state machine that receives synchronized signals from the external port. The synchronized signal can be clock signals that are synchronized to a high-speed sampling clock. Synchronization and sequencing functions can occur over a relatively few number of cycles of the high-speed sampling clock to minimize the time for resolving access conflicts, thereby maximizing the number of external ports which can access the internal port of the array.