Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Specific memory composition
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-02
2004-01-20
Elmore, Reba I. (Department: 2187)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Specific memory composition
C711S101000, C711S103000, C711S115000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06681287
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated-circuit (IC) memory chips and, more particularly, to an enhanced integrated circuit memory chips that incorporate additional functions in a standard memory package.
2. Prior Art
Portable electronic devices such as laptop computers, cell phones, personnel digital assistants (PDA's), handheld or portable game consoles from companies such as Nintendo, Sony, and other portable electronic devices, all use standard integrated circuit memories. Standard memories include, but are not limited to: static random access memory (SRAM), pseudo-SRAM, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), Flash memory, electronically erasable programmed read only memory (EEPROM), electronically programmed read only memory (EPROM), read-only memory (ROM), and others. These various types of standard memories are currently fabricated by a number of memory manufacturers such as, for example, Samsung, Sony, Mitsubishi, NEC, Micron, Infineon, Cypress, IDT, UMC, Hyundai, and others. Because standard memories are commodity products that are consumed in very large quantities, there are industry standards that define various physical aspects and electrical functions of various standard types of memory packages such as a small outline package (SOP), a thin small outline package (TSOP), a shrink thin small outline package (STSOP), and a ball grid array (BGA) package. For packages with pins such as the various types of small outline packages (SOP), an industry standard includes the pin-layout configuration. For BGA packages, an industry standard includes the ball size, pitch, and layout.
An important aspect of memory products is that a successful memory product tends to become standardized in an industry. Industry standards are preferred by original equipment magnification (OEM) manufacturers that are buyers of the standard memories and that prefer to have multiple suppliers supplying them with the same part so that the OEM manufacturers can have multiple sources for competitive pricing, scheduling, and other considerations. Standardization is also endorsed by memory manufacturers, especially for the later memory manufacturers that want to get into customer sockets for which there are already incumbent suppliers. To compete with the incumbent suppliers, the later memory manufacturers have to maintain the same basic fit, form, and function of a standard integrated-circuit memory package, or at least minimize the differences between their product and the standard. Fit of a memory package is the size of a memory integrated-circuit package in all three dimensions and the layout configuration of the memory integrated-circuit package. Form is the type of package and the package material, such as plastic or ceramic. Purchasing a component that conforms to an industry standard minimizes the work that a customer OEM manufacturer needs to do to accommodate using an integrated circuit from a later memory manufacturer. A memory integrated circuit of a later memory manufacturer typically performs the same memory functions as the memory integrated circuits of an incumbent supplier. The later memory integrated circuits often have improvements in speed, power consumption, and performance to make them more attractive than those of the incumbent suppliers.
Process technology for memory fabrication keeps improving so that memories double in density and size every few years. As an example, in the wireless communication industry, the memory requirements for a cell-phone handset have increased from a typical 1 Megabit SRAM together with an 8 Megabit Flash memory to a 2/4/8 Megabit SRAM together with 16/32/64 Megabits of Flash memory. The package fit and form for memory packages has evolved from a SRAM package and a separate Flash memory into a Flash/SRAM combination package that puts the SRAM and the Flash memory in the same package module, such as ball grid array (BGA). All BGA Flash/SRAM combinations have a similar typical package size, type, ball pitch, and layout, and are interchangeable with other manufacturers' products for particular customer uses, as previously discussed.
As cell phone designs have moved from a 2G second generation to a 3G third generation and beyond, memory requirements for the new cell-phone designs have further increased. In RAM designs, SRAMs are evolving into pseudo-static memories that have a DRAM core cell and a static RAM I/O interface. Eventually, as memory size and density further increase, SRAMS will evolve into pure DRAMs for cost reasons.
New wireless communication appliances, such as cell phones, PDAs, game consoles, and other portable devices require increased memory-array sizes. Concurrent with the requirement for increased memory-array size, a number of additional functions are being added to wireless telecommunication appliances as cell phone designs have gone from an analog to a digital format. New cell phone designs now are provided with high-fidelity sound quality and with audio signal functions such as MP3 music, video, and other multimedia functions. Other additional capabilities that are being designed into wireless communication appliances include data streaming for accessing the internet, global positioning systems (GPS) for real-time map direction and locations, and Bluetooth appliances for short distance wireless communication between wireless communication appliances. Other additional capabilities are being introduced by IC suppliers and added to cell-phones and other wireless communication appliances.
The wireless communication industry has expanded rapidly in the 1990's. In 1999, the global sales of cell phones were about 280 million units. In 2000, the global sales of cell phones had grown to over 400 million units and are expected to approach 500 million units in 2001. With the explosion of the Internet, the global, internet-driven economy is motivating and enabling the burgeoning mobile data content and applications markets.
FIG. 1
is a chart that illustrates the evolution of various generations of mobile communication systems. The wireless-content business has evolved from primarily voice communication in the first IG and the second 2G generations to digital in the 2.5 G generation. The third 3G digital multimedia generation provides multimedia wireless devices such as cell phones and wireless personal digital assistants (PDA's) such as Palms, and palmtop and laptop computers. These 3G multimedia wireless devices provide a high-resolution color video display with quality comparable to a television (TV) set or to a personal computer (PC) monitor. To minimize the amount of data transfer required for these multimedia wireless devices, data compression and decompression (CODEC) techniques, such as Moving Picture Expert Group-4 (MPEG-4), are used extensively for streaming audio-visual information to provide applications such as content-based access for digital storage media, digital audiovisual communication, and other applications. Companies have developed CODEC digital signal processor (DSP) chips that enable transmission and reception of high-quality audio and video signals over the Internet and through next-generation mobile handsets. These CODEC DSP chips use a quarter common-intermediate format (QCIF) standard screen size of 176 by 144 pixels for video reproduction in videophoneS at a typical rate of 10-15 frames per second.
Typical wireless cell phone devices implement the CODEC DSP within the cell-phone baseband IC chip using an embedded controller/processor in conjunction with analog to digital (A-to-D) and digital to analog (D-to-A) converters.
In addition to CODECs, baseband (BB) IC suppliers are also incorporating one or more additional features such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Bluetooth local wireless communication features into their baseband integrated circuits. To run all of these additional functions, more powerful processors from manufacturers such as ARM, Intel, and MIPs, etc., are required to run at high clock rate to meet the processing req
Elmore Reba I.
King Patrick T.
Nanoamp Solutions Inc.
LandOfFree
Smart memory does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Smart memory, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Smart memory will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3205774