Computer arrangement using non-refreshed DRAM

• US 7,020,740 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2000
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: De Jong, Eduard Karel
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hiep T.
• Application Number:
  US10/148,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20030093615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,938 Days
• Field of Search: 711/105, 711/106, 365/222
• US Class Current: 711/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/77 in smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/79 in semiconductor storage media, e.g. directly-addressable memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/082 Features insuring the integrity of the data on or in the card
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/406 Management or control of the refreshing or charge-regeneration cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 11/4078 Safety or protection circuits, e.g. for preventing inadvertent or unauthorised reading or writing; Status cells; Test cells protection of memory contents during checking or testing G11C29/52

Abstract

A computer arrangement with a processor (5) and at least one memory unit (7, 9, 11, 13) connected to the processor (5) and including dynamic random access memory (13), wherein the computer arrangment is arranged to use but not to refresh at least part of the dynamic random access memory (13) while running a program.

Claims

1. A computer arrangement comprising a processor and at least one memory unit connected to said processor and comprising dynamic random access memory having a predetermined retention time, wherein the retention time is the time data is retained in said dynamic random access memory when no refresh operation is used, said computer arrangement being arranged for running a program having sections of executable code on said processor while temporarily storing data during a storage time in at least part of said dynamic random access memory, wherein said storage time is the time between updates of stored data used by the sections of executable code, and wherein the storage time is shorter than said retention time and said computer arrangement is arranged to use but not to refresh said at least part of said dynamic random access memory comprising said data during said running of said program.

2. A computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said at least part of said dynamic random access memory is not connected to refresh circuitry.

3. A computer arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said dynamic random access memory is divided into two or more memory banks each memory bank being independently accessible for storing or retrieving of data.

4. A computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein a further part of said dynamic random access memory is controlled by additional logic circuitry.

5. A computer arrangement according to claim 4, wherein said additional logic circuitry is connected to a communication interface that enables an external computing unit to access the dynamic random access memory.

6. A computer arrangement according to claim 4, comprising an additional computing unit connected to said additional logic circuitry.

7. A computer arrangement according to claim 1, implemented as single chip arrangement.

8. A smart card including a computer arrangement according to claim 1.

9. A computer arrangement comprising a processor and at least one memory unit connected to said processor and comprising dynamic random access memory having a predetermined retention time, said computer arrangement being arranged for running a predetermined program on said processor while temporarily storing data during a storage time in at least part of said dynamic random access memory, wherein said storage time is shorter than said retention time and said computer arrangement is arranged to use but not to refresh said at least part of said dynamic random access memory comprising said data during said running of said program,

wherein said dynamic random access memory is provided with a plurality of word lines, each word line comprising an array of memory cells, at least one of said word lines comprising a series of one or more memory cells connected to checking logic circuitry connected to said processor and arranged to carry out the following steps:

(a) writing predetermined logic values into said series of one or more memory cells whenever the processor writes data into said at least one word line;

(b) reading actual content of said series of one or more memory cells whenever said at least one word line is read by said processor;

(c) checking whether said actual content equals said predetermined logic values; and

(d) transmitting a warning signal to said processor upon detecting that said actual content does not equal said predetermined values.

10. A computer arrangement according to claim 9, wherein said series of one or more memory cells of said at least one word line is implemented using memory cells with less memory retention time than the other memory cells in said at least one word line.

11. A smart card comprising:

a processor that executes a program for processing a command received from an external terminal;

a dynamic random access memory that stores data for a storage time that is shorter than a retention time of the dynamic random access memory; and

refresh circuitry that is configured to refresh the dynamic random access memory,

wherein the refresh circuitry is disabled and the program uses the stored data before expiration of the retention time after which the stored data is unavailable to the program.

12. A method of running a program on a computer arrangement comprising a processor and at least one memory unit connected to said processor and comprising dynamic random access memory having a predetermined retention time, wherein the retention time is the time retained in said dynamic random access memory when no refresh operation is used, the method comprising the step of running a predetermined program having sections of executable code on said processor while temporarily storing data during a storage time in at least part of said dynamic random access memory, wherein said storage time is the time between updates of stored data used by the sections of executable code, and wherein the storage time is shorter than said retention time and said method further comprises the step of using but not refreshing said at least part of said dynamic random access memory comprising said data during said running of said program.

13. A computer-readable medium comprising a computer program including sections of executable code executable on a computer arrangement comprising a processor and at least one memory unit connected to said processor and comprising dynamic random access memory having a predetermined retention time, wherein the retention time is the time retained in said dynamic random access memory when no refresh operation is used, the computer program while running on said computer arrangement performing the step of temporarily storing data during a storage time in at least part of said dynamic random access memory, wherein said storage time is the time between updates of stored data used by the sections of executable code, and wherein the storage time is shorter than said retention time and said computer program further comprises the step of using but not refreshing said at least part of said dynamic random access memory comprising said data during said running of said program.

14. A smart card that communicates with an external terminal, the smart card comprising:

a processor that executes a program for processing a command received from the external terminal; and

a dynamic random access memory that stores data for a storage time that is shorter than a retention time of the dynamic random access memory,

wherein the program uses the stored data before expiration of the retention time after which the stored data is unavailable to the program.

15. The smart card of claim 14, wherein the external terminal accesses the stored data before expiration of the retention time.

16. The smart card of claim 14, wherein the program includes instructions that have been analyzed to ensure the program uses data before expiration of the retention period.

17. The smart card of claim 14, wherein the smart card includes checking logic that is configured to write predetermined logic values in the dynamic random access memory that are used to validate the stored data when the stored data is being read from the dynamic random access memory.

18. The system smart card of claim 17, wherein the checking logic writes the predetermined logic values into a series of one or more memory cells of the dynamic random access memory when the processor writes data to a corresponding word line in the dynamic random access memory.

19. The smart card of claim 14, wherein the dynamic random access memory is implemented with memory banks and the stored data is dispersed among the memory banks, and wherein the smart card includes a computing unit that accesses stored data located on a first memory bank while the processor access stored data located on a second memory bank.

20. A method of processing information in a smart card having a processor, a dynamic random access memory having a retention time, and refresh circuitry, the method comprising:

disabling the refresh circuitry;

storing data in the dynamic random access memory for a storage time that is shorter than the retention time; and

executing, by the processor, program code that uses the stored data before expiration of the retention time after which the stored data is unavailable to the program code.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the smart card communicates with an external terminal and the method further includes:

accessing, by the external terminal, the stored data before expiration of the retention time.

22. The method of claim 20, further including:

analyzing the program code for instructions that use the stored data before expiration of the retention time.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the dynamic random access memory is connected to checking logic, and the method further includes:

writing, by the checking logic, predetermined logic values in the dynamic random access memory that are used to validate the stored data when the stored data is being read from the dynamic random access memory.

24. The method of claim 23, further including:

writing, by the checking logic, the predetermined logic values into a series of one or more memory cells of the dynamic random access memory when the processor writes data to a corresponding word line in the dynamic random access memory.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the smart card includes a computing unit and the dynamic random access memory is implemented with memory banks and the stored data is dispersed among the memory banks, and wherein the method further includes:

accessing, by the computing unit, stored data located on a first memory bank while the processor access stored data located on a second memory bank.