Electromechanical storage device

• US 7,336,527 B1
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Issued: 02/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: McClelland, Gary Miles
• Primary Examiner(s): Elms; Richard T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sofocleous; Alexander
• Application Number:
  US11/300,709
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 257/415, 257/E29.324, 257/E21.613, 362/285, 365/151, 365/164, 365/244, 365/240, 365/78, 365/189.12, 369/126, 310/10, 310/13, 438/48, 438/50, 438/52, 977/724, 977/732, 977/940, 977/943
• US Class Current: 365/164
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 19/00 Digital stores in which the information is moved stepwise, e.g. shift registers
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 23/00 Digital stores characterised by movement of mechanical parts to effect storage, e.g. using balls; Storage elements therefor

Abstract

An electromechanical storage device includes an input element that facilitates the input of data, a series of data elements, and a terminating element that facilitates the reading out of data. The data elements each have at least two stable mechanical orientations, and these orientations can be utilized to store data. Data may be entered into the device by applying a transient electromagnetic pulse to the data elements. The device is constructed such that as a data bit is entered into the series of data elements, any data bits that have been previously entered into the series are shifted towards the terminating element.

Claims

1. A data device, comprising:

at least 4 data elements aligned in series, wherein each of the data elements is secured to a base and is movable between a plurality of mechanically stable positions; and

at least one component that applies an electromagnetic field simultaneously to all the data elements, wherein in response to the field being applied to all the data elements, at least one of the data elements moves from one mechanically stable position to another mechanically stable position.

2. The data device of claim 1, including an input element that enters data into said data elements upon application of the electromagnetic field to the data elements.

3. The data device of claim 2, wherein the input element is movable between a plurality of mechanically stable positions.

4. The data device of claim 3, further comprising an electrode that controls the position of the input element.

5. The data device of claim 2, comprising a terminating element whose position remains fixed as data are read out of the data device, the input element and the terminating element being located on opposite ends of the series of data elements.

6. The data device of claim 2, wherein the input element can be moved between a plurality of mechanically stable positions by an electromagnetic field applied by said at least one component, wherein the applied electromagnetic field does not move any of the data elements to a new mechanically stable position.

7. The data device of claim 1, wherein the base is conducting.

8. The data device of claim 1, the data elements being reversibly movable between two mechanically stable positions.

9. The data device of claim 1, in which (i) a first type of data bit is represented by a single one of the data elements in a first mechanically stable position, and (ii) a second type of data bit (different from the first type) is represented by two adjacent data elements, one of which is in a second mechanically stable position (different from the first mechanically stable position) and the other of which is in the first mechanically stable position.

10. The data device of claim 1, the series comprising at least 20 of the data elements.

11. The data device of claim 1, wherein each data element includes both a primary and a secondary data element.

12. The data device of claim 1, wherein the mechanically stable positions are induced by an applied electric field.

13. The data device of claim 1, wherein the mechanically stable positions arise from an inherent elasticity of the data elements that is not induced by an applied electric field.

14. A memory shift register, comprising:

an electrically conducting base;

a group of at least 8 data elements, each of which has i) a portion fixed to the electrically conducting base and ii) an end portion that is movable, each of the data elements being reversibly movable between a first mechanically stable configuration and a second mechanically stable configuration;

at least one conducting member in proximity with the data elements, wherein in response to an electrical potential being applied between the conducting member and the base, charge builds up in the data elements, so that for any two adjacent data elements having i) different mechanical configurations and ii) respective end portions that are closer to each other than are their respective base portions, said two adjacent data elements mutually repel each other, resulting in each of said two adjacent data elements moving from one stable configuration to another stable configuration; and

an input element located at one end of the group of elements, the input element facilitating data input into the shift register.

15. The shift register of claim 14, wherein (i) a first type of data bit is represented by a single one of the data elements in a first mechanically stable configuration, and (ii) a second type of data bit (different from the first type) is represented by two adjacent data elements, one of which is in a second mechanically stable configuration (different from the first mechanically stable configuration) and the other of which is in the first mechanically stable configuration.

16. The shift register of claim 15, wherein for each of the data elements representing the first type of data bit, its end portion is closer to the input element than is its fixed portion.

17. The shift register of claim 15, wherein the base and data elements are formed from a single piece of material.

18. The shift register of claim 15, wherein the data elements are formed from molded polymer that is subjected to a swelling process.

19. A method of using the shift register of claim 14, comprising:

inputting a first data bit into the register by positioning the input element in a predetermined position and then applying an electrical potential between the conducting member and the base, thereby moving at least one of the data elements from a first stable mechanical configuration to a second stable mechanical configuration.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said positioning includes bringing an end portion of the input element into proximity with the end portion of a data element.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising inputting additional data bits into the register by, for each additional data bit, positioning the input element in a predetermined position and then introducing an electrical pulse to the conducting member, with the first data bit being shifted along the group of data elements and away from the input element.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the register includes a terminating element that remains fixed as data are read out of the register, the method further comprising reading out a data bit from the register by determining the mechanical configuration of a data element adjacent to the terminating element.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the register includes at least 100 data elements.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising applying an electromagnetic potential between the conducting member and the base, such that the input element is moved from one stable configuration to another stable configuration while the configuration of the data elements remains unchanged.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising reading out data from the register optically.