Apparatus and method for producing device identifiers for serially interconnected devices of mixed type

• US 8,010,709 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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: Kim, Jin-Ki, Oh, HakJune, Pyeon, Hong Beom, Sumi, Shuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mamo; Elias
• Application Number:
  US11/624,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20080140948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,684 Days
• Field of Search: 711/170, 710/8
• US Class Current: 710/8
• 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 system comprising:

a serial interconnection configuration of N memory devices of mixed type, N being an integer greater than one, each of the devices having serial input and output connections, the serial input and output connections of one device being coupled to the serial output connection of a previous device and the serial input connection of a next device, respectively, each of the devices including;

a determiner configured to determine if a received device type (DT) corresponds to a reference DT assigned to the device, and to provide a determination result, and

a device identifier producer configured to produce a device identifier (ID) in response to the determination result; and

a controller configured to provide a serial input signal and a control signal to a first device of the serial interconnection configuration, the serial input signal containing ID information and the received DT, the serial input signal and the control signal being propagated with or without being altered through the N devices, a propagated input signal being inputted to one device and outputted therefrom as a serial output signal, the N-th device providing the propagated serial output signal and the propagated control signal to the controller.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the device further includes:

a receiver configured to receive the ID information contained in the serial input signal through the serial input connection thereof, the received ID information being provided to the ID producer for producing the ID in response to the determination result.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the ID producer comprises:

a calculator configured to perform a calculation of the ID based on the received ID information and a pre-defined value to provide a calculated ID.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the device further includes:

a device type provider configured to provide device type information (DTI) of the device as the reference DT (DTref).

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the determiner comprises:

a comparator configured to compare the received DT with the reference DT to produce the determination result.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the ID producer further comprises:

a selector configured to select one of the calculated ID and a non-calculated ID to output a selected ID in response to the determination result, the non-calculated ID corresponding to the received ID, the selected ID being outputted through the output connection of the device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the receiver comprises:

a register configured to receive the ID information and the received DT in a serial manner through the serial input connection of the device, the register holding and providing in a parallel manner, the ID information to the calculator and the received DT to the comparator.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the device type provider comprises:

storage means configured to

store the DTI of the device, and to

provide the DTI for the determiner.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the calculator comprises:

an adder for adding one to the received ID information.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the calculator comprises:

a subtractor configured to subtract one from the received ID information.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the N memory devices comprise:

any one of more than one type of random access memories and Flash memories.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the random access memories comprise DRAM, SRAM, MRAM devices; and

the Flash memories comprise NAND-, NOR- and AND-type Flash memory.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises:

a signal sender configured to send the serial input signal and the control signals; and

a signal receiver configured to receive the serial output signal and the propagated control signal from the N-th device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the signal receiver comprises:

a recognizer configured to recognize the ID contained in the serial output signal in response to the propagated control signal provided by the N-th device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the signal receiver further comprises:

a data calculator configured to calculate the number of the devices in response to the recognized ID.

16. A system comprising 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, at least one of the devices comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a device identifier (ID) and a device type (DT) through the serial input connection of the device;

a determiner configured to determine a memory type of the device from the received DT or a pre-defined code relating to all memory types, the determiner providing a determination result when the DT corresponds at least one of the memory type and the pre-defined code; and

an ID producer configured to produce an ID in response to the determination result.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the ID producer comprises:

a calculator configured to calculate a new ID based on the ID and a pre-defined value; and

a skip operator for passing the ID,

wherein, in response to the determination result, the new ID or the ID is provided by the ID producer.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one of the devices further comprises:

a device information provider configured to provide DT information (DTI) of the device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the determiner comprises:

a comparator configured to compare the DT to the DTI, to provide the determination result.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the ID producer further comprises:

a selector configured to select one of the new ID and the ID as a selected ID in response to the determination result from the comparator, the selected ID being outputted through the output connection of the device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the receiver comprises:

a holder configured to hold the ID and DT as held ID and held DT, the held ID and the held DT being provided to the calculator and the comparator, respectively.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the holder comprises:

a first serial to parallel holder configured to hold the ID in serial manner and outputting the ID in parallel manner; and

a second serial to parallel holder configured to hold the DT in serial manner and outputting the DT in parallel manner.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the ID producer further comprises:

a parallel to serial holder configured to hold the selected ID in parallel manner and outputting it in serial manner.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the device information provider comprises:

an information storage configured to store the DTI of the device, the DTI being provided in parallel manner to the comparator.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein:

the plurality of memory devices in the serial interconnection configuration comprises mixed type memory devices; and

the information storage comprises a storage configured to

store the DTI of the different type memory devices; and

providing provide the DTI corresponding to a selected one of the memory devices.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the different type memory devices comprises more than one type of any random access memories and Flash memories.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the one of the devices further comprises:

an ID holder configured to hold the ID in response to the determination result.