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:
Jul. 01, 2014
Filed:
Nov. 21, 2011
Varadarajan Srinivasan, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Sandeep Khanna, Los Altos, CA (US);
Bindiganavale S. Nataraj, Cupertino, CA (US);
Varadarajan Srinivasan, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Sandeep Khanna, Los Altos, CA (US);
Bindiganavale S. Nataraj, Cupertino, CA (US);
NetLogic Microsystems, Inc., Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing half-column redundancy in a CAM device is disclosed, capable of replacing a defective half-column in the CAM array with only one half of another column. For example, present embodiments can provide twice the redundancy by replacing only one half of a defective CAM cell with one half of a spare cell or of a selected cell. The half-column redundancy disclosed herein provides finer granularity and higher effectiveness to the redundancy scheme as compared to conventional redundancy schemes employed on a CAM array. Thus, the CAM array can be designed and fabricated with a higher yield without having to accommodate for more spare columns than employed by conventional redundancy schemes, allowing for more efficient use of silicon area and a more robust CAM array design.