Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-18
2004-08-03
Trinh, Sonny (Department: 2685)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S186100, C365S185040, C365S185110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06771979
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile telephone, and more particularly to a technique for applying a semiconductor memory having a sector data structure to a memory system of the mobile telephone.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, capacities of user data and a firmware tend to be increased more and more with the diversification of a mobile telephone. In a conventional mobile telephone, these data and the like are stored in a random accessible flash memory, for example, a DINOR (divided bit line NOR) type flash memory.
FIG. 16
is a block diagram typically showing a general DINOR type 16 Mbit flash memory
200
. As shown in
FIG. 16
, the flash memory
200
comprises a memory cell array
212
, an X-decoder
211
, a Y-decoder
207
, a Y-gate/sense amplifier
208
, a command user interface (command user I/F)
201
, a write state machine
221
, a status/ID register
222
, a multiplexer
203
and an input/output buffer
220
. The write state machine
221
controls internal write and the status/ID register
222
holds internal write Pass/Fail and a device ID. Furthermore, the flash memory
200
comprises address terminals A
0
to A
7
connected to the Y-decoder
207
, address terminals A
8
to A
20
connected to the X-decoder
211
, terminals CE#, OE#, WE#, WP and RP# connected to the command user interface
201
, a terminal RY/BY# connected to the write state machine
221
, and data output terminals D
0
to D
7
connected to the input/output buffer
220
.
In the flash memory
200
, contents stored in the memory cell array
212
are read out in the following manner. First of all, the terminals CE# and OE# are set to “L” and the terminal WE# is set to “H”, and such values are input to the write state machine
221
through the command user interface
201
. At this time, an address signal is input to the X-decoder
211
and the Y-decoder
207
through the address terminals A
0
to A
20
. In response to these signals, the write state machine
221
, the X-decoder
211
, the Y-decoder
207
and the Y-gate/sense amplifier
208
are operated so that data on a desired address are read to the input/output buffer
220
through the multiplexer
203
. Consequently, the stored contents are output to the data output terminals D
0
to D
7
.
It is difficult to further increase the capacity of the random accessible flash memory. Thus, it has been hard to correspond to the user data and the firmware having capacities increased more and more.
As one means capable of solving such a problem, it can be proposed that a flash memory having a sector data structure is used in place of the random accessible flash memory. The flash memory is more excellent in an increase in a capacity than the random accessible flash memory.
A read access method of the flash memory is different from that of the random accessible flash memory. More specifically, the stored contents are read out in a sector unit in the flash memory having the sector data structure. Moreover, a read command and a sector address are sequentially input (in time series) so that the contents stored in a sector are read out serially.
For this reason, there is a problem in that the random accessible flash memory cannot be exactly replaced with the flash memory having the sector data structure due to a difference in the read access method.
Furthermore, there is a latency time (read access latency time) during reading in the flash memory having the sector data structure until a sector address is input and read (serial read) can be then carried out. In general, there is also a problem in that the latency time is longer than that in the random accessible flash memory.
These problems make it hard to mount the flash memory having the sector data structure on the conventional mobile telephone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a mobile telephone comprising a controller, a first semiconductor memory which is random accessible and the controller can access, a second semiconductor memory which is connected to the first semiconductor memory and includes a flash memory, and a memory-controller provided between the second semiconductor memory and the controller to connect the second semiconductor memory and the controller and to control the first semiconductor memory and the second semiconductor memory based on a control instruction sent from the controller, wherein the second semiconductor memory has a sector data structure including a plurality of sectors and storing a content in a sector unit, and the memory-controller controls the first semiconductor memory and the second semiconductor memory based on the control instruction sent from the controller, to execute a transfer processing of transferring a predetermined content stored in a predetermined one of the sectors to the first semiconductor memory and storing the predetermined content in the first semiconductor memory.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed to the mobile telephone according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the predetermined content has a predetermined recognition number, and the first semiconductor memory stores the predetermined content and the predetermined recognition number.
A third aspect of the present invention is directed to the mobile telephone according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the controller retrieves that the predetermined content is stored in the first semiconductor memory or not before giving the control instruction to the memory-controller.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to the mobile telephone according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the controller retrieves that the predetermined recognition number is stored in the first semiconductor memory or not before giving the control instruction to the memory-controller.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to the mobile telephone according to the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, wherein the first semiconductor memory has a capacity for at least two of the sectors.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is directed to the mobile telephone according to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, wherein the memory-controller has a register for the controller to write the control instruction and resets a value of the register after the transfer processing is ended.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the memory-controller transfers the predetermined content in the second semiconductor memory to the first semiconductor memory and stores the same content in the first semiconductor memory in response to the control instruction of the controller. Consequently, the controller can utilize the predetermined content by accessing the first semiconductor memory in place of the second semiconductor memory. Therefore, also in the case in which different access methods are used for the second semiconductor memory and the first semiconductor memory, such a difference can be absorbed and the controller does not need to use or properly use the two kinds of access methods. In this case, it is possible to easily increase a memory capacity of the whole mobile telephone with an increase in a capacity of the second semiconductor memory.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the content stored in the first semiconductor memory can be specified based on the recognition number. Consequently, the controller can know whether the predetermined (desired) content is stored in the first semiconductor memory or not before giving the control instruction to the memory-controller. As a result, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary or repetitive transfer processing for the stored content. Moreover, the controller does not need to finely grasp the whole first semiconductor memory through the use of the recognition number.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the case in which the predetermined content is sto
Renesas Technology Corp.
Trinh Sonny
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