Row selection circuits for memory circuits

• US 4,266,285 A
• Filed: 06/28/1979
• Issued: 05/05/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Honeywell Information Systems, Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell Information Systems, Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Panepinto, William Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fears, Terrell W.
• Application Number:
  US06/052,999
• Time in Patent Office: 677 Days
• Field of Search: 365/189, 365/200, 365/230
• US Class Current: 365/230.03
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/06 Addressing a physical block of locations, e.g. base addressing, module addressing, memory dedication G06F12/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/407 for memory cells of the field-effect type

Abstract

A memory subsystem includes a memory board comprising of a number of memory chips positioned at a corresponding number of physical row locations. The memory chips are one of two types selected to provide a predetermined memory capacity. The board further includes a number of decoder circuits connected to generate a corresponding number of sets of chip select signals in response to address signals applied thereto. These signals are applied through corresponding sets of logic circuits for application to the memory chips of each row. Additionally, logic gating circuits logically combine predetermined chip select signals for generating additional chip select signals. These additional chip select signals are applied through switches, the outputs of which are applied to predetermined ones of the sets of logic circuits. When the switches are positioned in a predetermined manner, the additional chip select signals are directed to only predetermined one of the physical row locations via the sets of logic circuits. In this case, only the predetermined row locations are populated with one of the types of memory chips of much larger capacity. This provides the same predetermined memory capacity that is provided when all of the physical row locations are populated with the other type of memory chips of smaller capacity making possible reductions in manufacturing costs.

Claims

1. A memory subsystem comprising a memory board, said board including a control section and a memory section having at least one segment including a plurality of physical row locations of memory chips for providing a predetermined increment of addressable memory space, said memory section including:

a number of addressable memory chips having one of two different memory capacities, each of said number of addressable memory chips having a first of said memory capacities being positioned at each of said plurality of physical row locations; and

,

said control section including;

decoder circuit means connected to receive a portion of a plurality of row address signals and for generating a plurality of select signals in response to said row address signals;

a plurality of logic circuits corresponding in number to said plurality of physical row locations, each of said logic circuits being connected to said decoder circuit means for enabling the addressing of said addressable memory chips haivng said first memory capacity at a different one of said plurality of physical row locations in accordance with a different predetermined one of said plurality of select signals;

logic circuit means connected to said decoder circuit means for logically combining predetermined ones of said select signals for generating at least one alternate select signal; and

,

first switch means connected in series with said logic circuit means and to a first one of said plurality of logic circuits, said switch means when positioned in a predetermined manner being operative to apply said alternate select signal to said first one of said plurality of logic circuits, said first one of said logic circuits being conditioned by said alternate select signal in addition to said different predetermined one of said plurality of select signals for enabling the addressing of memory chips having a second of said memory capacities being positioned only at a first one of said plurality of said physical row locations, said memory chips having said second capacity providing at least the same predetermined increment of addressable memory space provided by the replaced plurality of rows of said memory chips having said first capacity.

2. The subsystem of claim 1 wherein said second memory capacity is much larger than said first memory capacity.

3. The subsystem of claim 2 wherein each of said number of memory chips of said first memory capacity is one-fourth the capacity of said number of memory chips having said second memory capacity.

4. The subsystem of claim 1 wherein first switch means includes a manually selectable switch having first and second positions, said switch being placed in said first position only when said memory section of said board is populated with memory chips having said first capacity and said switch being placed in said second position only when said memory section is populated with memory chips having said second capacity.

5. The subsystem of claim 4 wherein said first and second positions correspond to open and closed positions respectively of said switch.

6. The subsystem of claim 4 wherein said logic circuit means includes an AND gate having a number of input terminals and an output terminal, said number of input terminals for logically combining said predetermined ones of said select signals generated by said decoder circuit means specifying the selection of said memory chips positioned in row locations other than said first one of said row locations and said output terminal being connected in series with said manually selectable switch to said first one of said plurality of logic circuits, said AND gate generating said alternate select signal for enabling for addressing said memory chips having said second memory capacity of said first one of said physical row locations in response to said plurality of select signals.

7. The subsystem of claim 4 wherein said subsystem further includes:

second switch means connected in series with said decoder circuit means and said logic circuit means, said second switch means when selectively positioned in a predetermined manner inhibiting the application of at least a predetermined one of said plurality of select signals from being applied to said logic circuit means thereby altering the memory capacity of said one segment.

8. The subsystem of claim 7 wherein said second switch means includes:

a number of manually selectable switches having first and second positions, each switch being connected to apply a different one of said plurality of select signals to said logic circuit means and each of said number of switches having first and second positions, said switches being placed in said first positions only when said memory section is populated with said memory chips having said first capacity and said switches being placed in said second positions only when said memory section is populated with memory chips having said second capacity and for altering said memory capacity of said one segment.

9. The subsystem of claim 8 wherein said first and second positions respectively correspond to closed and open positions of said number of switches.

10. The subsystem of claim 8 wherein said number of switches is one and said memory capacity of said one segment is altered to provide a segment having three-fourths the capacity.

11. The subsystem of claim 8 wherein said number of switches is two and said memory capacity of said one segment is altered to provide a segment having one-half the capacity.

19. The subsystem of claim 8 wherein said plurality of second switch means each includes:

a number of manually selectable switches having first and second positions, each switch being connected to apply a different one of said plurality of select signals to a corresponding one of said plurality of logic circuit means and each of said number of switches having first and second positions, said switches being placed in said first positions only when said memory section is populated with said memory chips having said first capacity and said switches being placed in said second positions only when said memory section is populated with memory chips having said second capacity and for altering said memory capacity of a corresponding one of said segments.

12. A memory subsystem comprising a memory board, said board including a control section and a memory section having a predetermined number of physical row locations of memory chips for providing a plurality of predetermined increments of addressable memory space, said memory section including:

a number of addressable memory chips having one of two different memory capacities, each of said number of addressable memory chips having a first memory capacity being positioned at each of said predetermined number of row locations; and

,

said control section including;

a plurality of decoder circuits corresponding in number to said plurality of predetermined increments, each of said decoder circuits being connected to receive a portion of a plurality of row address signals and each of said decoder circuit means being operative to generate a plurality of select signals in response to said row address signals;

a plurality of logic circuits corresponding in number to said predetermined number of physical row locations, each of said logic circuits being connected to a predetermined one of said plurality of decoder circuits for enabling the addressing of said addressable memory chips at a corresponding one of said row locations in response to a different predetermined one of said plurality of select signals from said predetermined one of said plurality of decoder circuits;

a plurality of logic circuit means corresponding in number to said plurality of decoder circuits, each logic circuit means being connected to a different one of said plurality of decoder circuits for logically combining predetermined ones of said select signals to generate at least one alternate select signal; and

,

a plurality of first switch means corresponding in number to said plurality of decoder circuits, each first switch means being connected to a corresponding one of said plurality of said logic circuit means and to a corresponding one of said plurality of logic circuits, said plurality of switch means when positioned in a predetermined manner being operative to apply said alternate select signals to said corresponding ones of said plurality of logic circuits, said corresponding ones of said plurality of logic circuits being conditioned by said alternate select signals in addition to said different predetermined one of said plurality of select signals for enabling the addressing of memory chips having a second memory capacity positioned at only predetermined ones of said predetermined number of said physical row locations for providing at least the same predetermined increments of addressable memory space as the replaced said pluralities of rows of said number of memory chips having said first memory capacity.

13. The subsystem of claim 12 wherein said second memory capacity is much larger than said first memory capacity.

14. The subsystem of claim 12 wherein each of said number of memory chips of said first memory capacity is one-fourth the capacity of said number of memory chips having said second memory capacity.

15. The subsystem of claim 12 wherein each of said plurality of first switch means includes a manually selectable switch having first and second positions, said switch being placed in said first position only when said memory section is populated with memory chips having said first capacity and said switch being placed in said second position only when said memory section is populated with memory chips having said second capacity.

16. The subsystem of claim 15 wherein said first and second positions correspond to open and closed positions respectively of said switches.

17. The subsystem of claim 15 wherein each of said logic circuit means includes an AND gate having a number of input terminals and an output terminal, said number of input terminals for logically combining said predetermined ones of said select signals generated by one of said decoder circuits which specify the selection of said memory chips positioned in row locations other than a first one of a group of said row locations and said output terminal being connected in series with a corresponding one of said manually selectable switches to a first one of a corresponding group of said plurality of logic circuits connected to said one of said decoder circuits, said AND gate generating said alternate select signal for enabling said memory chips having said second capacity of one of said predetermined ones of said physical row locations in response to said plurality of select signals from said one of said decoder circuits.

18. The subsystem of claim 15 wherein said subsystem further includes:

a plurality of second switch means connected in series with different ones of said number of decoder circuits and said plurality of logic circuit means, said plurality of second switch means when selectively positioned in a predetermined manner inhibiting the application of a predetermined one of said plurality of select signals from being applied to corresponding ones of said logic circuit means for altering the memory capacity of corresponding segments of said memory section.

20. A method of upgrading a memory subsystem requiring use of a single board type, said board including a memory section and a control section, said memory section having a plurality of physical row locations for accommodating a number of addressable memory chips of a first memory capacity to provide predetermined segments of addressable memory space;

and,

said control section including a number of decoder circuits, each for generating a plurality of select signals in response to a row address and a plurality of logic circuits corresponding in number to said number of physical row locations, said logic circuits being connected to corresponding ones of said decoder circuits for enabling the addressing of said addressable memory chips of said first capacity at different ones of said rows in response to different predetermined ones of said select signals, said method comprising the steps of;

populating said memory section with only low cost memory chips having a second memory capacity much larger than said number of memory chips of said first memory capacity only at predetermined ones of said physical row locations in place of said plurality of rows of memory chips of said first capacity;

connecting each of a plurality of logic circuit means corresponding in number to said number of decoder circuits to a different one of said decoder circuits for logically combining predetermined ones of said select signals for generating at least one alternate select signal;

connecting each of a first plurality of switch means between a corresponding one of said plurality of logic circuit means and a predetermined one of said plurality of logic circuits;

positioning said first plurality of switch means in a predetermined manner to apply said alternate select signals to said predetermined ones of said plurality of logic circuits; and

,

each of said predetermined ones of said plurality of logic circuits generating signals in response to said alternate select signals in addition to a different predetermined one of said select signals for enabling the addressing of said memory chips of said second capacity for providing at least the same predetermined increment as said replaced rows of memory chips.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein said method further includes the steps of:

connecting a second plurality of said switch means in series with said decoder circuits and said logic circuit means; and

,

positioning said second plurality of said switch means in a predetermined manner for inhibiting predetermined ones of said pluralities of said select signals from being applied to said logic circuit means for reducing the memory capacity of different segments of said memory section.