APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING DEVICE IDENTIFIERS FOR SERIALLY INTERCONNECTED DEVICES OF MIXED TYPE

• US 20110185086A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management)
• Original Assignee: Mosaid Technologies Incorporated (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Inventors: OH, HakJune, PYEON, Hong Beom, KIM, Jin-Ki, SUMI, Shuji
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/3
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/20 Initialising; Data preset; Chip identification
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 8/12 Group selection circuits, e.g. for memory block selection, chip selection, array selection

Abstract

A plurality of memory devices of mixed type (e.g., DRAMs, SRAMs, MRAMs and NAND-, NOR- and AND-type Flash memories) are serially interconnected. Each device has device type information on its device type. A specific device type (DT) and a device identifier (ID) contained in a serial input (SI) are fed to one device of the serial interconnection. The device determines whether the fed DT matches the DT of the device. In a case of match, a calculator included in the device performs calculation to generate an ID for another device and the fed ID is latched in a register of the device. The generated ID is transferred to another device of the serial interconnection. In a case of no match, the ID generation is skipped and no ID is generated for another device. Such a device type match determination and ID generation or skip are performed in all devices of the serial interconnection. In cases of different device types being separately provided to the interconnected devices, sequential IDs are generated in each of the different device types and also the total number of each device type are recognized. In a case of a “don'"'"'t care” code is provided to the interconnected devices, sequential IDs are generated and also, the total number of the interconnected devices is recognized, regardless of the type differences.

Claims

1. A method for assigning a device identifier for N memory devices of mixed type in a serial interconnection configuration, N being an integer greater than one, a first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device, a second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the method comprising:

providing a serial input signal and a control signal to the first device of the serial interconnection configuration, the serial input signal containing information on a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT), the serial input signal and the control signal being propagated with or without being altered through the N devices;

determining the DT of each device from the DT contained in the serial input signal; and

recognizing the ID in response to the propagated serial input and control signals from the N-th device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of recognizing comprises:

receiving the ID from the N-th device; and

recognizing of the number of the devices from the received ID.

3. An apparatus for producing a device identifier at a first device coupled to a second device in a serial interconnection configuration, the first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device in the serial interconnection configuration, the second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the devices having different memory types, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver for receiving a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) through the serial input connection of the device;

a determiner for performing;

a first determination of whether the DT of the device contains a pre-defined code corresponding to one including all device types; and

a second determination of whether the DT of the device is based on the received DT; and

an ID producer for producing an ID in response to first and second determination results.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the ID producer comprises:

a calculator for performing the calculation of the received ID with a pre-defined value.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a device type provider for providing device type information (DTI) of the device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the determiner comprises:

a first comparator for comparing the received DT with the pre-defined code to produce the first determination result; and

a second comparator for comparing the received DT with the provided DTI to provide the second determination result.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the ID producer further comprises:

a selector for selecting the received ID or the calculated ID in response to the determination result, the selected ID being outputted through the output connection of the device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the receiver comprises:

a register for registering the received ID and DT in serial manner; and

an output signal provider for outputting each of the registered ID and DT in parallel manner, thereby providing the ID and DT separately for calculating the ID, and for selecting a pre-calculated ID or the calculated ID, respectively.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a storage capable of;

storing the DTI on the type of the device; and

providing the DTI for the determination.

10. A method for assigning a device identifier for a plurality of memory devices of mixed type in a serial interconnection configuration, a first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device, a second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the method being adopted to at least one of the devices, the method comprising:

receiving a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) through the serial input connection of the first device;

performing;

a first determination of whether the DT of the device contains a pre-defined code corresponding to one including all device types; and

a second determination of whether the DT of the device based on the received DT; and

producing an ID in response to first and second determination results.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing comprises:

in the first determination, determining whether the received DT of the device matches the pre-defined code; and

in the second determination, determining whether the received DT matches a reference DT assigned to the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the step of performing the first determination comprises;

providing a pre-defined value as the pre-defined code that corresponds to any of the types of devices; and

the step of performing the second determination comprises;

providing the reference DT programmably.

13. A method for assigning a device identifier for a plurality of memory devices of mixed type in a serial interconnection configuration, a first device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of a previous device, a second device having a serial input connection coupled to a serial output connection of the first device, the method comprising:

providing a device type (DT) to the devices;

holding the provided DT at each of the devices;

determining whether the DT matches a reference DT assigned to each of the devices;

determining whether the DT of the device contains a pre-defined code corresponding to one including all device types;

providing a device identifier (ID) to one of the device in the serial interconnection configuration, through the serial input connection of the that device;

at the device wherein the ID is provided, conducting an ID assignment in response to a determination result at that device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of providing the ID comprises:

providing the ID to the devices by serially transferring it from one device to the last device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the step of holding the provided DT is performed after the step of providing the DT;

the steps of determining are performed before the step of conducting at all of the devices; and

at each of the devices, the step of conducting the ID assignment is performed based on the previous determination result.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the step of holding is performed after the step of providing;

the steps of determining are performed at each of the devices based on the provided and held DT; and

the step of conducting is performed at each of the devices in response to the determination result.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, at the device wherein the ID is provided, the step of conducting the ID assignment comprises.

performing the calculation of the ID based on the provided ID and a pre-defined value;

and

passing the provided ID without altering it.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, at the device wherein the ID is provided, the step of conducting the ID assignment further comprises:

outputting the calculated ID for a next device; and

outputting the non-altered ID for that device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein, at the device wherein the ID is provided, the step of conducting the ID assignment further comprises:

outputting the calculated ID for that device; and

outputting the non-altered ID for a next device.