Quad in-line memory module

Details Quad in-line memory module Quad in-line memory module

2000-07-12

2002-07-02

Feild, Lynn D. (Department: 2835)

Static information storage and retrieval

Hardware for storage elements

C710S108000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06414869

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the field of computer systems and memory hardware and, more particularly, to a quad in-line memory module having connectors along two long edges of the module's circuit board.
Single and dual in-line memory modules (SIMMs and DIMMs respectively) have been developed to provide a convenient means of organizing memory for use in computer systems. SIMMs and DIMMs are compact circuit boards, typically 10 cm×2 cm, with integrated circuit memory chips mounted on one or both sides of the board and electrical connectors along one edge of the board. SIMMs have a row of connectors along one side of one edge of the memory module's circuit board. DIMMs have connectors along both sides of one edge of the memory module's circuit board.
FIG. 1
illustrates a computer system
100
in which SIMMs and DIMMs can be used and includes a central processing unit (CPU)
105
, system memory
110
, a video controller card
115
and display
120
, a disk controller card
125
and disk drive
130
, a system bus
135
used to communicate data and control signals between the computer system's
100
different components, a bridge circuit
140
used to couple the system bus
135
to a secondary bus
145
, input/output (I/O) control circuitry
150
, serial
155
and parallel
160
I/O ports, a keyboard
165
, and one or more slots
170
through which additional devices such as an audio card could be connected. Some or all of the elements shown in
FIG. 1
may be positioned on the computer system's
100
main circuit board (motherboard). It will be recognized that the system bus could be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and the secondary bus
145
could be an expansion bus such as the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus or the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus.
SIMMs and DIMMs are generally mounted with their circuit boards at a right angle to the computer system's motherboard and populated with dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), or video random access memory (VRAM) chips. When DRAMs are used the SIMM/DIMM can be used to implement system memory
110
. When SRAMs are used the SIMM/DIMM can implement a cache
175
such as found in a disk controller card
125
. When VRAMs are used the SIMM/DIMM can implement video memory
180
such as found in a video controller card
115
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A quad in-line memory module composed of a circuit board having top and bottom connectors and a number of memory devices mounted on one or both sides of the circuit board is described. The memory devices may be mounted onto the circuit board via any convenient technique such as surface mount or flip-chip. Additionally, packaged memory devices (e.g., dual in-line packages or DIPs) may also be mounted on the circuit board. Mounted devices may be electrically coupled to the top and bottom edge connectors via conductive paths both on the surface of the circuit board and between the circuit board's top and bottom surfaces.
A quad in-line memory module in accordance with the invention can provide one or more of the following advantages: (1) increase chip density in a given computer system without requiring additional motherboard area; (2) simplify routing of conductive paths in a memory module for a given number of chips; (3) provide wider data paths to/from a memory module; and (4) reduce line density for a given size of memory module.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5181167 (1993-01-01), Davidson et al.
patent: 5513135 (1996-04-01), Dell et al.
patent: 5532954 (1996-07-01), Bechtolsheim et al.
patent: 5745426 (1998-04-01), Sekiyama
patent: 5748912 (1998-05-01), Lee
patent: 5758100 (1998-05-01), Odisho
patent: 5790447 (1998-08-01), Laudon et al.
patent: 6097883 (2000-08-01), Dell et al.

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