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:
Aug. 27, 2013
Filed:
Dec. 16, 2010
Karin Strauss, Seattle, WA (US);
Douglas Burger, Seattle, WA (US);
Timothy Sherwood, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Gabriel Loh, Bellevue, WA (US);
Karin Strauss, Seattle, WA (US);
Douglas Burger, Seattle, WA (US);
Timothy Sherwood, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Gabriel Loh, Bellevue, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Techniques are described for controlling availability of memory. As memory write operations are processed, the contents of memory targeted by the write operations are read and compared to the data to be written. The availability of the memory for subsequent write operations is controlled based on the outcomes of the comparing. How many concurrent write operations are being executed may vary according to the comparing. In one implementation, a pool of tokens is maintained based on the comparing. The tokens represent units of power. When write operations require more power, for example when they will alter the values of more cells in PCM memory, they draw (and eventually return) more tokens. The token pool can act as a memory-availability mechanism in that tokens must be obtained for a write operation to be executed. When and how many tokens are reserved or recycled can vary according to implementation.