Memory power coordination

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 11557326
  • Patent Number
    11,557,326
  • Date Filed
    Monday, August 30, 2021
    2 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 17, 2023
    a year ago
Abstract
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to bank coordination in a memory device. A number of embodiments include a method comprising concurrently performing a memory operation by a threshold number of memory regions, and executing a command to cause a budget area to perform a power budget operation associated with the memory operation.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor memory and methods, and more particularly, to apparatuses and methods related to memory power coordination.


BACKGROUND

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computing systems. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its data (e.g., host data, error data, etc.) and includes random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and thyristor random access memory (TRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent data by retaining stored data when not powered and can include NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, and resistance variable memory such as phase change random access memory (PCRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), and magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), such as spin torque transfer random access memory (STT RAM), among others.


Computing systems often include a number of processing resources (e.g., one or more processors), which may retrieve and execute instructions and store the results of the executed instructions to a suitable location. A processor can comprise a number of functional units such as arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuitry, floating point unit (FPU) circuitry, and a combinatorial logic block, for example, which can be used to execute instructions by performing logical operations such as AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XOR, and invert (e.g., inversion) logical operations on data (e.g., one or more operands). For example, functional unit circuitry may be used to perform arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on operands via a number of logical operations.


A number of components in a computing system may be involved in providing instructions to the functional unit circuitry for execution. The instructions may be executed, for instance, by a processing resource such as a controller and/or host processor. Data (e.g., the operands on which the instructions will be executed) may be stored in a memory array that is accessible by the functional unit circuitry. The instructions and data may be retrieved from the memory array and sequenced and/or buffered before the functional unit circuitry begins to execute instructions on the data. Furthermore, as different types of operations may be executed in one or multiple clock cycles through the functional unit circuitry, intermediate results of the instructions and data may also be sequenced and/or buffered.


In many instances, the processing resources (e.g., processor and/or associated functional unit circuitry) may be external to the memory array, and data is accessed via a bus between the processing resources and the memory array to execute a set of instructions. Processing performance may be improved in a processor-in-memory (PIM) device, in which a processor may be implemented internal and/or near to a memory (e.g., directly on a same chip as the memory array), which may reduce time in processing and may also conserve power. Data movement between and within arrays and/or subarrays of various memory devices, such as processing-in-memory devices, can affect processing time and/or power consumption.





BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS


FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an apparatus in the form of a computing system including a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.



FIG. 1B is another block diagram of an apparatus in the form of a computing system including a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.



FIG. 1C is a block diagram of a bank to a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.



FIG. 1D is another block diagram of a bank to a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.



FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of a memory array including sensing circuitry in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.



FIG. 3 is another block diagram of an apparatus in the form of a computing system including a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.





DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to memory power coordination. A number of embodiments of the present disclosure include a method of memory power coordination including concurrently performing a memory operation by a threshold number of memory regions and executing a command to cause a budget area to perform a power budget operation associated with the memory operation.


A number of embodiments include an apparatus comprising a memory comprising memory regions each comprising memory cells, a budget area configured to store a threshold value corresponding to at least one of the memory regions to be enabled, and a controller configured to control access to a second one of the memory regions beyond the at least one of the memory regions corresponding to the threshold value. In at least one embodiment, the controller can be configured to execute a command to cause the budget area to perform a power budget operation; based at least in part on a number of memory regions accessed by a bank arbiter.


A number of embodiments of the present disclosure can facilitate memory power coordination in a more efficient manner as compared to previous approaches. For example, embodiments include actively limiting power consumption based on a configurable threshold amount of power that is available to be consumed. For example, a number of memory regions that can perform operations concurrently can be limited for memory power coordination.


In at least one embodiment, most data should vary between different memory regions (e.g., banks and subarrays) within a processor-in-memory (PIM), e.g., a PIM dynamic random access memory (DRAM) implementation. For example, data can vary between different banks and subarrays without being bused outside the banks and/or subarrays. As used herein, a “memory region” is a storage unit or storage units configured to store logical or physical data in a computing system. Examples of memory regions include banks, arrays, subarrays, etc., that may be configured to store data associated with the computing system. Examples of computing systems that can include memory regions include DRAM (e.g., PIM DRAM), SDRAM, etc. Although some embodiments described herein make specific reference to banks and/or subarrays, it will be appreciated that memory operations performed using the banks and/or subarrays may similarly be performed using memory regions associated with a computing system.


Embodiments disclosed herein include mechanisms on a PIM DRAM that can actively control, e.g., reduce, mitigate, and/or minimize power consumption. For example, embodiments include mechanisms on a PIM that can actively limit at least a worst case scenario power consumption. In some embodiments, such mechanisms can actively limit power consumption based at least in part on a configurable power threshold.


Embodiments herein disclose a PIM DRAM that can implement a selectable capability to limit power consumption while data is written to multiple banks in parallel, e.g., simultaneously, to avoid the need to perform multiple write sequences to achieve the same effect, and to provide a limit in power consumption. For example, apparatuses and methods described herein can facilitate limiting power consumption while writing data to a plurality of locations between multiple banks and subarrays on the same memory device simultaneously. Depending on the algorithms being executed on a PIM DRAM device, for example, selectively limiting power to a plurality of banks while data is written to a plurality of banks in a memory device and/or selectively limiting power to a plurality of banks and/or subarrays in a PIM DRAM device, disclosed techniques can save significant time in setting up the environment for executing blocks of PIM operations. Such techniques can decrease the effective power consumption of a PIM DRAM device.


In at least one embodiment a bank arbiter to a memory device can implement a series of budget areas (e.g., registers, power budget registers, etc.) to set the memory regions (e.g., banks and/or subarrays) to be subjected to power limitation. In at least one embodiment, a command protocol for the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) part is augmented to indicate that writes, or masked writes, are being done in a manner that affects power limitation. As used herein, a “budget area” is hardware that is configured to store and/or write bits of information. A budget area may be configured to store, read, and/or write bits of information simultaneously. Examples of budget areas include registers (e.g., power budget registers, subarray budget registers, etc.). Although some embodiments described herein make specific reference to power budget registers and/or subarray budget registers, it will be appreciated that operations carried out using a power budget register and/or a subarray budget register may be similarly performed using a budget area.


Previous approaches to bank power coordination can suffer from shortcomings such as insufficient power limitation and/or brownout. As such, bank power coordination can be cumbersome and/or unrealistic to, for example, alter power limitation in PIM DRAM devices in accordance with previous approaches.


A number of embodiments of the present disclosure can provide improved parallelism and/or reduced power consumption in association with performing bank and/or subarray operations as compared to previous systems such as previous PIM systems and systems having an external processor (e.g., a processing resource located external from a memory array, such as on a separate integrated circuit chip). For example, a number of embodiments can provide for bank power coordination when performing fully complete compute functions such as integer add, subtract, multiply, divide, and CAM (content addressable memory) functions without transferring data out of the memory array and sensing circuitry via a bus (e.g., data bus, address bus, control bus), for instance. Such compute functions can involve performing a number of logical operations (e.g., logical functions such as AND, OR, NOT, NOR, NAND, XOR, etc.). However, embodiments are not limited to these examples. For instance, performing logical operations can include performing a number of non-Boolean logic operations such as copy, compare, destroy, etc. As used herein, in some embodiments, bank and/or subarray operations are intended to include PIM operations, e.g., PIM DRAM operations.


In the following detailed description of the present disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration how one or more embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to practice the embodiments of this disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that process, electrical, and/or structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. As used herein, designators such as “N”, “M”, etc., particularly with respect to reference numerals in the drawings, indicate that a number of the particular feature so designated can be included. As used herein, “a number of” a particular thing can refer to one or more of such things (e.g., a number of memory arrays can refer to one or more memory arrays). A “plurality of” is intended to refer to more than one of such things.


The figures herein follow a numbering convention in which the first digit or digits correspond to the drawing figure number and the remaining digits identify an element or component in the drawing. Similar elements or components between different figures may be identified by the use of similar digits. For example, 150 may reference element “50” in FIG. 1, and a similar element may be referenced as 250 in FIG. 2. As will be appreciated, elements shown in the various embodiments herein can be added, exchanged, and/or eliminated so as to provide a number of additional embodiments of the present disclosure. In addition, as will be appreciated, the proportion and the relative scale of the elements provided in the figures are intended to illustrate certain embodiments of the present invention, and should not be taken in a limiting sense.



FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an apparatus in the form of a computing system 100 including a memory device 120 in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. As used herein, a memory device 120, controller 140, channel controller 143, bank arbiter 145 (shown in FIG. 1B), memory array 130, sensing circuitry 150, logic circuitry 170, and/or cache 171 might also be separately considered an “apparatus.”


System 100 includes a host 110 coupled (e.g., connected) to memory device 120, which includes a memory array 130. Host 110 can be a host system such as a personal laptop computer, a desktop computer, a digital camera, a smart phone, or a memory card reader, among various other types of hosts. Host 110 can include a system motherboard and/or backplane and can include a number of processing resources (e.g., one or more processors, microprocessors, or some other type of controlling circuitry). The system 100 can include separate integrated circuits or both the host 110 and the memory device 120 can be on the same integrated circuit. The system 100 can be, for instance, a server system and/or a high performance computing (HPC) system and/or a portion thereof. Although the example shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrates a system having a Von Neumann architecture, embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in non-Von Neumann architectures, which may not include one or more components (e.g., CPU, ALU, etc.) often associated with a Von Neumann architecture.


For clarity, the system 100 has been simplified to focus on features with particular relevance to the present disclosure. The memory array 130 can be a DRAM array, SRAM array, STT RAM array, PCRAM array, TRAM array, RRAM array, NAND flash array, and/or NOR flash array, for instance. The array 130 can comprise memory cells arranged in rows coupled by access lines (which may be referred to herein as word lines or select lines) and columns coupled by sense lines, which may be referred to herein as data lines or digit lines. Although a single array 130 is shown in FIG. 1, embodiments are not so limited. For instance, memory device 120 may include a number of arrays 130 (e.g., a number of banks of DRAM cells, NAND flash cells, etc.).


The memory device 120 includes address circuitry 142 to latch address signals provided over a data bus 156 (e.g., an I/O bus) through I/O circuitry 144. Status and/or exception information can be provided from the controller 140 on the memory device 120 to a channel controller 143, through a high speed interface (HSI) 141 (shown in FIG. 1B) including an out-of-band bus 157, which in turn can be provided from the channel controller 143 to the host 110. Address signals are received through address circuitry 142 and decoded by a row decoder 146 and a column decoder 152 to access the memory array 130. Data can be read from memory array 130 by sensing voltage and/or current changes on the data lines using sensing circuitry 150. The sensing circuitry 150 can read and latch a page (e.g., row) of data from the memory array 130. The I/O circuitry 144 can be used for bi-directional data communication with host 110 over the data bus 156. The write circuitry 148 is used to write data to the memory array 130.


Controller 140, e.g., bank control logic and/or sequencer, decodes signals provided by control bus 154 from the host 110. These signals can include chip enable signals, write enable signals, and address latch signals that are used to control operations performed on the memory array 130, including data read, data write, and data erase operations. In various embodiments, the controller 140 is responsible for executing instructions from the host 110 and sequencing access to the array 130. The controller 140 can be a state machine (e.g., hardware and/or firmware in the form of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), a sequencer, or some other type of controller. In some embodiments, the controller 140 can include cache 171. The controller 140 can control an amount of power available to banks and/or subarrays by controlling a number of banks and/or subarrays that can perform an operation at a given time and/or within a given timeframe.


For example, as described in more detail herein, controller 140 (shown in FIG. 1B) can be in communication with a bank arbiter and/or power budget register to allow only a certain number of subarrays and/or banks (shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D) to be accessed to perform a memory operation concurrently or within a certain timeframe. As used herein, a “memory operation” includes logical operations and/or PIM operations (e.g., logical operations, shift operations, and/or rotate operations within a PIM implementation).


Examples of the sensing circuitry 150 are described further below, e.g., in FIG. 2. For instance, in a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry 150 can comprise a number of sense amplifiers and a number of compute components, which may serve as, and be referred to herein as an accumulator, and can be used to perform logical operations (e.g., on data associated with complementary data lines).


In a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry 150 can be used to perform logical operations using data stored in array 130 as inputs and store the results of the logical operations back to the array 130 without transferring data via a sense line address access (e.g., without firing a column decode signal). As such, various compute functions can be performed using, and within, sensing circuitry 150 rather than (or in association with) being performed by processing resources external to the sensing circuitry (e.g., by a processor associated with host 110 and/or other processing circuitry, such as ALU circuitry, located on device 120 (e.g., on controller 140 or elsewhere)).


In various previous approaches, data associated with an operand, for instance, would be read from memory via sensing circuitry and provided to external ALU circuitry via I/O lines (e.g., via local I/O lines and/or global I/O lines). The external ALU circuitry could include a number of registers and would perform compute functions using the operands, and the result would be transferred back to the array via the I/O lines. In contrast, in a number of embodiments of the present disclosure, sensing circuitry 150 is configured to perform logical operations on data stored in memory array 130 and store the result back to the memory array 130 without enabling an I/O line (e.g., a local I/O line) coupled to the sensing circuitry 150. The sensing circuitry 150 can be formed on pitch with the memory cells of the array. Additional logic circuitry 170 can be coupled to the sensing circuitry 150 and can be used to store, e.g., cache and/or buffer, results of operations described herein.


As such, in a number of embodiments, circuitry external to array 130 and sensing circuitry 150 is not needed to perform compute functions as the sensing circuitry 150 can perform the appropriate logical operations to perform such compute functions without the use of an external processing resource. Therefore, the sensing circuitry 150 may be used to compliment and/or to replace, at least to some extent, such an external processing resource (or at least the bandwidth consumption of such an external processing resource).


However, in a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry 150 may be used to perform logical operations (e.g., to execute instructions) in addition to logical operations performed by an external processing resource (e.g., host 110). For instance, host 110 and/or sensing circuitry 150 may be limited to performing only certain logical operations and/or a certain number of logical operations.


Enabling an I/O line can include enabling (e.g., turning on) a transistor having a gate coupled to a decode signal (e.g., a column decode signal) and a source/drain coupled to the I/O line. However, embodiments are not limited to not enabling an I/O line. For instance, in a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry (e.g., 150) can be used to perform logical operations without enabling column decode lines of the array; however, the local I/O line(s) may be enabled in order to transfer a result to a suitable location other than back to the array 130 (e.g., to an external register).



FIG. 1B is a block diagram of another apparatus architecture in the form of a computing system 100 including a plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N coupled to a host 110 via a channel controller 143 in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. In at least one embodiment the channel controller 143 may be coupled to the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N in an integrated manner in the form of a module 118, e.g., formed on same chip with the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N. In an alternative embodiment, the channel controller 143 may be integrated with the host 110, as illustrated by dashed lines 111, e.g., formed on a separate chip from the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N. The channel controller 143 can be coupled to each of the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N via an address and control (A/C) bus 154 as described in FIG. 1A which in turn can be coupled to the host 110. The channel controller 143 can also be coupled to each of the plurality of memory devices, 120-1, . . . , 120-N via a data bus 156 as described in FIG. 1A which in turn can be coupled to the host 110. In addition, the channel controller 143 can be coupled to each of the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N via an out-of-band (OOB) bus 157 associated with a high speed interface (HSI) 141, described more herein, that is configured to report status, exception and other data information to the channel controller 143 to exchange with the host 110.


As shown in FIG. 1B, the channel controller 143 can receive the status and exception information from a high speed interface (HSI) (also referred to herein as a status channel interface) 141 associated with a bank arbiter 145 in each of the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N. In the example of FIG. 1B, each of the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N can include a bank arbiter 145 to sequence control and data with a plurality of banks, e.g., Bank zero (0), Bank one (1), . . . , Bank six (6), Bank seven (7), etc. Each of the plurality of banks, Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7, can include a controller 140 and other components, including an array of memory cells 130 and sensing circuitry 150, peripheral logic 170, etc., as described in connection with FIG. 1A.


In some embodiments, the respective controller 140-0, 140-1, . . . , 140-N can be configured to control operations performed on the bank 121-0, . . . , 121-7 that is associated with. The bank arbiter 145-1 is configured to control which bank 121-0, . . . , 121-7 is to be enabled and/or which banks are to perform concurrent operations. For example, the banks 121-0, . . . , 121-7 can be configured to operate independently of one another based on a command from the bank arbiter 145-1. The command from the bank arbiter 145-1 may be based, at least in part, on information received from the budget area (e.g., power budget register 147-1).


Each of the plurality of banks, e.g., Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7, in the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N can include address circuitry 142 to latch address signals provided over a data bus 156 (e.g., an I/O bus) through I/O circuitry 144. Status and/or exception information can be provided from the controller 140 on the memory device 120 to the channel controller 143, using the OOB bus 157, which in turn can be provided from the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N to the host 110. For each of the plurality of banks, e.g., Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7, address signals can be received through address circuitry 142 and decoded by a row decoder 146 and a column decoder 152 to access the memory array 130. Data can be read from memory array 130 by sensing voltage and/or current changes on the data lines using sensing circuitry 150. The sensing circuitry 150 can read and latch a page (e.g., row) of data from the memory array 130. The I/O circuitry 144 can be used for bi-directional data communication with host 110 over the data bus 156. The write circuitry 148 is used to write data to the memory array 130 and the OOB bus 157 can be used to report status, exception and other data information to the channel controller 143.


The channel controller 143 can include one or more local buffers 161 to store program instructions and can include logic 160 to allocate a plurality of locations, e.g., subarrays, in the arrays of each respective bank to store bank commands, and arguments, e.g., PIM commands, for the various banks associated with to operation of each of the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N. The channel controller 143 can dispatch commands, e.g., PIM commands, to the plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N to store those program instructions within a given bank of a memory device.


As described above in connection with FIG. 1A, the memory array 130 can be a DRAM array, SRAM array, STT RAM array, PCRAM array, TRAM array, RRAM array, NAND flash array, and/or NOR flash array, for instance. The array 130 can comprise memory cells arranged in rows coupled by access lines (which may be referred to herein as word lines or select lines) and columns coupled by sense lines, which may be referred to herein as data lines or digit lines.


As in FIG. 1A, a controller 140, e.g., bank control logic and/or sequencer, associated with any particular bank, Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7, in a given memory device, 120-1, . . . , 120-N, can decode signals provided by control bus 154 from the host 110. These signals can include chip enable signals, write enable signals, and address latch signals that are used to control operations performed on the memory array 130, including data read, data write, and data erase operations. In various embodiments, the controller 140 is responsible for executing instructions from the host 110. And, as above, the controller 140 can be a state machine, a sequencer, or some other type of controller. That is, the controller 140 can control a number of banks and/or subarrays that can perform operations concurrently or within a given timeframe, thereby limiting an amount of power consumed in performing such operations in an array, e.g., memory array 130.


According to embodiments, the controller 140 is configured to set a series of budget areas (e.g., power budget registers 147) in a bank arbiter 145 and/or in logic circuitry 170. The controller 140 and/or the bank arbiter 145 are configured to facilitate bank power coordination to limit power consumption, for example.



FIG. 1C is a block diagram of a bank 121-1 to a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. That is bank 121-1 can represent an example bank to a memory device such as Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7 (121-0, . . . , 121-7) shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1C, a bank architecture can include a plurality of main memory columns (shown horizontally as X), e.g., 16,384 columns in an example DRAM bank. Additionally, the bank 121-1 may be divided up into bank sections, 123-1, 123-2, . . . , 123-N, separated by amplification regions for a data path. Each of the of the bank sections 123-1, . . . , 123-N can include a plurality of rows (shown vertically as Y), e.g., each section may include 16,384 rows in an example DRAM bank. Example embodiments are not limited to the example horizontal and/or vertical orientation of columns and rows described here or the example numbers thereof.


As shown in FIG. 1C, the bank architecture can include logic circuitry 170 (or 170/171), including extra sense amp stripes that may be used for registers, cache, and data buffering 171, that are coupled to the bank sections 123-1, . . . , 123-N. In some embodiments, the logic circuitry 170 can represent another example of the cache 171 associated with the controller 140 or the logic 170 associated with the sensing circuitry 150 and array 130 as shown in FIG. 1A. Further, as shown in FIG. 1C, the bank architecture can be associated with bank control, e.g., controller 140. The bank control shown in FIG. 1C can, in example, represent at least a portion of the functionality embodied by and contained in the controller 140 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.



FIG. 1D is another block diagram of a bank 121 to a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. That is, bank 121 can represent an example bank to a memory device such as Bank 0, . . . , Bank 7 (121-0, . . . , 121-7) shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1D, a bank architecture can include an address/control (A/C) path, e.g., bus, 153 coupled a bank arbiter 145. Again, the bank arbiter 145 shown in FIG. 1D can, in at least one example, represent at least a portion of the functionality embodied by and contained in the memory controller 140 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. Also, as shown in FIG. 1D, a bank architecture can include a data path, e.g., bus, 155, coupled to a plurality of control/data registers in an instruction and/or data, e.g., program instructions (PIM commands), read path and coupled to a plurality of bank sections, e.g., bank section 123, in a particular bank 121.


As shown in FIG. 1D, a bank section 123 can be further subdivided into a plurality of sub-arrays (or subarrays) 125-1, 125-2, . . . , 125-N again separated by a plurality of sensing circuitry and logic circuitry 150/170 as shown in FIG. 1A and described further in connection with FIG. 2. In one example, a bank section 123 may be divided into sixteen (16) subarrays. However, embodiments are not limited to this example number.



FIG. 1D illustrates a register (e.g., a power budget register) 147 associated with the bank arbiter 145 and coupled again, the bank to each of the subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N in the bank section 123. In at least one embodiment, the plurality of subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N and/or portions of the plurality of subarrays may be referred to as a plurality of locations for storing program instructions, e.g., PIM commands, and/or constant data, e.g., data to set up PIM calculations, to a bank 123 in a memory device.


According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the bank arbiter 145 shown in FIG. 1D is configured for bank power coordination on a memory device 120. Alternatively, bank power consumption may be provided by power budget register 147.


Bank power coordination on the memory device 120 includes determining and/or selecting a threshold number of banks and/or subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N, and/or bank sections 123-1, . . . , 123-N that can perform an operation concurrently. For example, a memory device may have 64 banks able to perform an operation. In this example, if the threshold number of banks that can concurrently perform an operation is 16, then only 16 of the 64 banks can perform concurrent operations. In at least one embodiment, a counter associated with the threshold number of banks that can perform a concurrent operation is decremented for each bank that is performing an operation, and is incremented each time a bank completes an operation.


According to embodiments, signals received from the bank arbiter 145 (or signals received external to the bank arbiter 145, e.g., from host 110) are used to set a budget area 147 (e.g., a power budget register 147). In some embodiments, the bank arbiter 145 is configured to limit an amount of power available to the banks 121 and/or subarrays 125. For example, the bank arbiter 145 is configured to allocate a number of banks e.g., banks 121-0, . . . , 121-7, shown in FIGS. 1B, 1C and 1D, subarrays, e.g., subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N, shown in FIG. 1D, and/or bank sections, e.g., bank sections 123-1, . . . , 123-N, shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D that can perform operations concurrently. The controller 140, bank arbiter 145, and/or register 147, include logic in the form of hardware circuitry and/or application specific integrated circuitry (ASIC). The controller 140, bank arbiter 145, and/or register 147 can thus control a threshold amount of power available to the number of banks e.g., banks 121-0, . . . , 121-7, shown in FIGS. 1B, 1C and 1D, and/or subarrays, e.g., subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N, shown in FIG. 1D, that can perform operations concurrently. In some embodiments, the memory regions (e.g., banks 121-0, . . . , 121-7 and/or subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N) are configured to be independently enabled or disabled. For example, each memory region can be enabled or disabled independently of the other memory regions.


According to embodiments, the number of banks 121 and/or subarrays 125 that can concurrently perform operations can be pre-resolved, e.g. by a programmer and/or provided to the host 110 and/or channel controller 143, and are received from a channel controller to a bank arbiter 145 in each of a plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N, as shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1D, in at least one embodiment, the bank arbiter 145 and/or register 147 is configured to use DRAM protocol and DRAM logical and electrical interfaces to control the number of banks 121 and/or subarrays 125 that can perform concurrent operations.


In at least one embodiment the bank arbiter 145 is configured to limit power consumption of the memory device 120 in a plurality of subarrays in a plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N (Bank 0, Bank 1, . . . , Bank N) using the DRAM write path. For example, a plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N (Bank 0, Bank 1, . . . , Bank N) are shown coupled to a memory device 120. Each respective bank 121-0, . . . , 121-N can include a plurality of subarrays, e.g., 125-1, . . . , 125-N and/or portions of subarrays for Bank 0, 126-0, . . . , 126-N for Bank 1, and 127-0, . . . , 127-N for Bank N. Embodiments are not so limited; however, and the host 110, controller 140, and/or channel controller 143 can be configured to limit power consumption of the memory device 120 in a plurality of subarrays 125 and/or portions of the plurality of subarrays in the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N (Bank 0, Bank 1, . . . , Bank N).


Operations of a plurality of banks 121 and/or subarrays 125 can be controlled by bank arbiter 145 and/or register 147. The bank arbiter 145 can communicate with the register 147 set to control a number of the plurality of banks (e.g., banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N illustrated in FIG. 1B) to perform operations in parallel and for the plurality of subarrays, e.g., 125-0, . . . , 125-N for Bank 0, etc. In at least one embodiment, the subarrays and/or portions of subarrays are different among the select ones of the plurality of banks.


Hence, bank power coordination can be provided via a bank arbiter 145 and/or register 147 to each memory device 120 in a plurality of memory devices 120-1, . . . , 120-N. In at least one embodiment, a series of registers (e.g., power budget register(s) 147) can be set to limit a number of banks of the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N in each memory device 120 that can perform an operation concurrently.


In some embodiments, as seen in FIG. 1B, the array of memory cells (130 in FIG. 1A) includes a plurality of banks of memory cells 120-1, . . . , 120-N and the memory device 120 includes a bank arbiter 145 coupled to each of the plurality of banks 120-1, . . . , 120-N. In such embodiments, each bank arbiter 145 is configured to control a number of banks 120-1, . . . , 120-N and/or subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N that can perform concurrent operations. In some embodiments, the controller 140 can then store instructions in the received instruction block and/or in the received constant data to a plurality of locations for the particular bank as allocated by the host 110 and/or channel controller 143. That is, the host 110 and/or channel controller 143 is configured to address translate the plurality of locations for the bank arbiter 145 to assign to banks of the memory device 120. In at least one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1D, the plurality of locations includes a number of subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N in the DRAM banks 121-1, . . . , 121-7 and/or portions of subarrays.


In at least one embodiment, a memory device 120 can be configured to couple to a host 110 via a data bus 156 and a control bus 154. A bank (e.g., 121-0) can include a plurality of bank sections 123-0, . . . , 123-N and a plurality of subarrays 125-1, . . . , 125-N of memory cells 130, wherein a respective subarray (e.g., 125-1) of the plurality of subarrays 125 is coupled to a respective bank (e.g., 121-0) of the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N. Some embodiments can include sensing circuitry coupled to the plurality of subarrays 125 via a plurality of columns of the memory cells 130, the sensing circuitry including a sense amplifier and a compute component coupled to each of the columns. Some embodiments can further include a bank arbiter 145-1 including a power budget register 147 coupled to the plurality of subarrays 125, and the power budget register 147 can be configured to associated a threshold number of available concurrent data transfers with the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N.


Some embodiments can include a channel controller 143 coupled to the bank arbiter 145-1, wherein the channel controller 143 is configured to direct a data transfer associated with at least one bank (e.g., 121-0) of the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N based on the threshold number of available concurrent data transfers. In at least one embodiment, the host 110 is configured to control the timing of an operation of at least one bank (e.g., 121-0) of the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N based at least in part on a priority of the operation being performed by the at least one bank (e.g., 121-0). In some embodiments, the threshold number of available concurrent data transfers can be a non-zero number between 1 and 8; however, examples are not so limited and the threshold number can be more than 8.


In at least one embodiment, the bank arbiter 145-1 can include counter (e.g., 349 illustrated in FIG. 3) coupled to the power budget register 147. The counter (e.g., 349 illustrated in FIG. 3) can be configured to decrement the threshold number of available concurrent data transfers in response to a bank among the plurality of banks executing an operation, and/or increment the threshold of available concurrent data transfers in response to a bank among the plurality of banks completing the operation. For example, as described in more detail in connection with FIG. 3, the counter (e.g., 349 illustrated in FIG. 3) can be used to ensure that the power budget is not exceeded.


In some embodiments, a plurality of controllers 140-0, . . . , 140-N can be coupled to the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N, and a respective controller (e.g., 140-0) among the plurality of controllers 140-0, . . . , 140-N is coupled to a respective bank (e.g., 121-0) among the plurality of banks 121-0, . . . , 121-N. In at least one embodiment, a plurality of subarray budget registers (e.g., 359-0, . . . , 359-7 illustrated in FIG. 3) are coupled to the plurality of controllers 140-0, . . . , 140-N, and a respective subarray budget register among the plurality of subarray budget registers can be coupled to respective sequencers among the plurality of controllers 140-0, . . . , 140-N. In some embodiments, the respective subarray budget registers can be configured to communicate power budget information associated with the respective bank among the plurality of banks to the power budget register, as described in more detail in connection with FIG. 3.


In some embodiments, memory device 120 can include sensing circuitry 150. Examples of the sensing circuitry 150 are described further below (e.g., in FIG. 2). For instance, in a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry 150 can include a number of sense amplifiers and corresponding compute components, which may serve as an accumulator and can be used to perform logical operations (e.g., on data associated with complementary sense lines). The sensing circuitry 150 can be used to reverse data stored in memory (e.g., in array 130) in accordance with embodiments described herein.


In a number of embodiments, the sensing circuitry 150 can also be used to perform logical operations (e.g., logical functions such as AND, OR, NOT, NOR, NAND, XOR, etc.) using data stored in memory array 130 as inputs and participate in movement of the data for writing and storage operations back to a different location in the memory array 130 without transferring the data via a sense line address access (e.g., without firing a column decode signal). As such, various compute functions can be performed using, and within, sensing circuitry 150 rather than (or in association with) being performed by processing resources external to the sensing circuitry 150 (e.g., by a processor associated with host 110 and other processing circuitry, such as ALU circuitry, located on device 120, such as on controller 140 or elsewhere).


In various previous approaches, data associated with an operand, for instance, would be read from memory via sensing circuitry and provided to external ALU circuitry via I/O lines (e.g., via local I/O lines and global I/O lines). The external ALU circuitry could include a number of registers and would perform compute functions using the operands, and the result would be transferred back to the array via the I/O lines. In contrast, in a number of embodiments of the present disclosure, sensing circuitry 150 is configured to perform logical operations on data stored in memory array 130 and store the result back to the memory array 130 without enabling a local I/O line and global I/O line coupled to the sensing circuitry 150. The sensing circuitry 150 can be formed on pitch with the memory cells of the array. Additional peripheral logic 170, which can include an additional number of sense amplifiers, can be coupled to the sensing circuitry 150. The sensing circuitry 150 and the peripheral logic 170 can cooperate in performing logical operations and/or in reversing data stored in memory, according to a number of embodiments described herein.



FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a portion of a memory array 230 including sensing circuitry in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. The sensing component 250 represents one of a number of sensing components that can correspond to sensing circuitry 150 shown in FIG. 1.


In the example shown in FIG. 2, the memory array 230 is a DRAM array of 1T1C (one transistor one capacitor) memory cells in which a transistor serves as the access device and a capacitor serves as the storage element; although other embodiments of configurations can be used (e.g., 2T2C with two transistors and two capacitors per memory cell). In this example, a first memory cell comprises transistor 202-1 and capacitor 203-1, and a second memory cell comprises transistor 202-2 and capacitor 203-2, etc. In a number of embodiments, the memory cells may be destructive read memory cells (e.g., reading the data stored in the cell destroys the data such that the data originally stored in the cell is refreshed after being read).


The cells of the memory array 230 can be arranged in rows coupled by access lines 204-X (Row X), 204-Y (Row Y), etc., and columns coupled by pairs of complementary sense lines (e.g., digit lines 205-1 labelled DIGIT(n) and 205-2 labelled DIGIT(n) in FIG. 2). Although only one pair of complementary digit lines are shown in FIG. 2, embodiments of the present disclosure are not so limited, and an array of memory cells can include additional columns of memory cells and digit lines (e.g., 4,096, 8,192, 16,384, etc.).


Memory cells can be coupled to different digit lines and word lines. For instance, in this example, a first source/drain region of transistor 202-1 is coupled to digit line 205-1, a second source/drain region of transistor 202-1 is coupled to capacitor 203-1, and a gate of transistor 202-1 is coupled to word line 204-Y. A first source/drain region of transistor 202-2 is coupled to digit line 205-2, a second source/drain region of transistor 202-2 is coupled to capacitor 203-2, and a gate of transistor 202-2 is coupled to word line 204-X. A cell plate, as shown in FIG. 2, can be coupled to each of capacitors 203-1 and 203-2. The cell plate can be a common node to which a reference voltage (e.g., ground) can be applied in various memory array configurations.


The digit lines 205-1 and 205-2 of memory array 230 are coupled to sensing component 250 in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the sensing component 250 comprises a sense amplifier 206 and a compute component 231 corresponding to a respective column of memory cells (e.g., coupled to a respective pair of complementary digit lines). The sense amplifier 206 is coupled to the pair of complementary digit lines 205-1 and 205-2. The compute component 231 is coupled to the sense amplifier 206 via pass gates 207-1 and 207-2. The gates of the pass gates 207-1 and 207-2 can be coupled to selection logic 213.


The selection logic 213 can include pass gate logic for controlling pass gates that couple the pair of complementary digit lines un-transposed between the sense amplifier 206 and the compute component 231 and swap gate logic for controlling swap gates that couple the pair of complementary digit lines transposed between the sense amplifier 206 and the compute component 231. The selection logic 213 can be coupled to the pair of complementary digit lines 205-1 and 205-2 and configured to perform logical operations on data stored in array 230. For instance, the selection logic 213 can be configured to control continuity of (e.g., turn on/turn off) pass gates 207-1 and 207-2 based on a selected logical operation that is being performed.


The sense amplifier 206 can be operated to determine a data value (e.g., logic state) stored in a selected memory cell. The sense amplifier 206 can comprise a cross coupled latch 215 (e.g., gates of a pair of transistors, such as n-channel transistors 227-1 and 227-2 are cross coupled with the gates of another pair of transistors, such as p-channel transistors 229-1 and 229-2), which can be referred to herein as a primary latch. However, embodiments are not limited to this example.


In operation, when a memory cell is being sensed (e.g., read), the voltage on one of the digit lines 205-1 or 205-2 will be slightly greater than the voltage on the other one of digit lines 205-1 or 205-2. An ACT signal and an RNL* signal can be driven low to enable (e.g., fire) the sense amplifier 206. The digit line 205-1 or 205-2 having the lower voltage will turn on one of the transistors 229-1 or 229-2 to a greater extent than the other of transistors 229-1 or 229-2, thereby driving high the digit line 205-1 or 205-2 having the higher voltage to a greater extent than the other digit line 205-1 or 205-2 is driven high.


Similarly, the digit line 205-1 or 205-2 having the higher voltage will turn on one of the transistors 227-1 or 227-2 to a greater extent than the other of the transistors 227-1 or 227-2, thereby driving low the digit line 205-1 or 205-2 having the lower voltage to a greater extent than the other digit line 205-1 or 205-2 is driven low. As a result, after a short delay, the digit line 205-1 or 205-2 having the slightly greater voltage is driven to the voltage of the supply voltage Vcc through a source transistor, and the other digit line 205-1 or 205-2 is driven to the voltage of the reference voltage (e.g., ground) through a sink transistor. Therefore, the cross coupled transistors 227-1 and 227-2 and transistors 229-1 and 229-2 serve as a sense amplifier pair, which amplify the differential voltage on the digit lines 205-1 and 205-2 and operate to latch a data value sensed from the selected memory cell.


Embodiments are not limited to the sensing component configuration illustrated in FIG. 2. As an example, the sense amplifier 206 can be a current-mode sense amplifier and/or a single-ended sense amplifier (e.g., sense amplifier coupled to one digit line). Also, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to a folded digit line architecture such as that shown in FIG. 2.


As described further below, the sensing component 250 can be one of a plurality of sensing components selectively coupled to a shared I/O line. As such, the sensing component 250 can be used in association with reversing data stored in memory in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure.


In this example, the sense amplifier 206 includes equilibration circuitry 214, which can be configured to equilibrate the digit lines 205-1 and 205-2. The equilibration circuitry 214 comprises a transistor 224 coupled between digit lines 205-1 and 205-2. The equilibration circuitry 214 also comprises transistors 225-1 and 225-2 each having a first source/drain region coupled to an equilibration voltage (e.g., VDD/2), where VDD is a supply voltage associated with the array. A second source/drain region of transistor 225-1 is coupled to digit line 205-1, and a second source/drain region of transistor 225-2 is coupled to digit line 205-2. Gates of transistors 224, 225-1, and 225-2 can be coupled together and to an equilibration (EQ) control signal line 226. As such, activating EQ enables the transistors 224, 225-1, and 225-2, which effectively shorts digit lines 205-1 and 205-2 together and to the equilibration voltage (e.g., VDD/2). Although FIG. 2 shows sense amplifier 206 comprising the equilibration circuitry 214, embodiments are not so limited, and the equilibration circuitry 214 may be implemented discretely from the sense amplifier 206, implemented in a different configuration than that shown in FIG. 2, or not implemented at all.


As shown in FIG. 2, the compute component 231 can also comprise a latch, which can be referred to herein as a secondary latch 264. The secondary latch 264 can be configured and operated in a manner similar to that described above with respect to the primary latch 215, with the exception that the pair of cross coupled p-channel transistors (e.g., PMOS transistors) included in the secondary latch can have their respective sources coupled to a supply voltage (e.g., VDD), and the pair of cross coupled n-channel transistors (e.g., NMOS transistors) of the secondary latch can have their respective sources selectively coupled to a reference voltage (e.g., ground), such that the secondary latch is continuously enabled. The configuration of the compute component 231 is not limited to that shown in FIG. 2, and various other embodiments are feasible.



FIG. 3 is another block diagram of an apparatus in the form of a computing system including a memory device in accordance with a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 3, a bank arbiter 345, including a power budget register 347 and counter 349, can be configured for bank power coordination on a memory device. In at least one embodiment, each respective bank 321-0, . . . , 321-7 can include 64 subarrays 325-0, . . . , 325-N, 326-0, . . . , 326-N, 327-0, . . . , 327-N. Embodiments are not so limited; however, and the respective banks 321-0, . . . , 321-7 can include more or fewer than 64 subarrays 325-0, . . . , 325-N, 326-0, . . . , 326-N, 327-0, . . . , 327-N.


As illustrated in FIG. 3, the bank arbiter 345 can be in communication with a plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N. Each bank (e.g., 320-0) of the plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N can include a respective controller 340, subarray budget register 359, and/or a plurality of subarrays 325, 326, 327, etc. In at least one embodiment, the subarray budget registers 359-0, . . . , 359-N can be in communication with the power budget register 347 and can communicate power budget information regarding the subarrays 325, 326, 327 associated with a respective bank 321-0, . . . , 321-N to the power budget register 347. For example, each respective subarray budget register 359-0, . . . , 359-7 can communicate power information (e.g., how much power an operation or operations will consume, how much power is available to perform an operation on a subarrays or plurality of subarrays, etc.) to the power budget register 347. In this regard, the power budget register 347 can act as a shared register and can control a number of banks 321 and/or subarrays 325, 326, 327 that can perform concurrent operations at a given time or within a given time period.


In at least one embodiment, the power budget register 347 can control a maximum number of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N that can perform an operation concurrently. In the example of FIG. 3, there are eight banks (e.g., BANK #0 through BANK #7). As a non-limiting example, the power budget register 347 can be configured such that no more than four banks can perform an operation concurrently based on the counter 349. For example, if the power budget register 347 is configured to allow no more than four banks to perform concurrent operations, and three banks are ready to perform their respective operations, the power budget register 347 will allow the three banks to perform their respective operations. However, if five banks are ready to perform their respective operations, the power budget register 347 can deny the respective operations to the banks.


In at least one embodiment, bank power coordination can be achieved via an apparatus comprising a memory device, a plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N, each of the plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N including a plurality of subarrays 325-0, . . . , 325-N of memory cells, and a bank arbiter 345 coupled to the plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N. In some embodiments, the bank arbiter 345 can include a power budget register 347 configured to allow a threshold number of available concurrent data transfers within the plurality of banks 321-0, . . . , 321-N.


As an additional non-limiting example, if the power budget register 347 is configured to allow no more than five banks to perform respective operations concurrently and three banks are ready to perform their respective operations, the power budget register 347 will allow the three banks to perform their respective operations. If three additional banks are prepared to perform operations while the first three banks are still performing operations, the power budget register 347 will deny the respective operations to the second three banks until at least one of the first group of banks has completed a respective operation. That is, the power budget register 347 can be configured such that no more than the allotted number of banks can be performing respective operations concurrently. As will be appreciated by those in the art, the power budget register 347 can provide power coordination by limiting the number of subarrays 325, 326, 327, etc. in addition to or in lieu of bank power coordination via the banks 321-0, . . . , 321-7. That is, in at least one embodiment, the power budget register 347 can, via the respective subarray budget registers 359-0, . . . , 359-7, control a number of subarrays that can perform respective concurrent operations.


In at least one embodiment, a method for bank power coordination can include concurrently performing a memory operation by a threshold number of subarrays and executing a command cause a power budget register to perform a bank power coordination operation associated with the memory operation. In some embodiments, the method can further include providing a counter having a value representing the threshold number of subarrays to concurrently perform the respective memory operation. The method can also include decrementing a counter corresponding to the threshold number of subarrays while performing the operation associated with a subarray among a plurality of subarrays. In some embodiments, the method can include incrementing a counter corresponding to the threshold number of subarrays when the operation associated with a subarray among the plurality of subarrays is completed. In some embodiments, the method can further include setting the threshold number of subarrays to concurrently perform the respective operation based at least in part on a threshold power consumption value. In addition, as described herein, executing the command can be in association with a processing in memory (PIM) device and/or the power budget register operation can be performed based at least in part on the threshold number of subarrays.


In at least one embodiment, an apparatus for bank power coordination can include an array of memory cells, sensing circuitry coupled to the array, and a bank arbiter including a register coupled to the controller. In at least one embodiment, the sensing circuitry can include a sense amplifier and a compute component configured to implement logical operations, the controller can be configured to execute a command to cause a register to perform a power budget operation, and the register is configured to control a threshold number of subarrays that can concurrently perform a subarray operation.


In some embodiments, the apparatus can include a counter associated with at least one of the number of subarrays, wherein the counter is configured to decrement based on a subarray among the number of subarrays performing a subarray operation. The counter can be configured to increment upon completion of the subarray operation. In some embodiments, the controller can be configured to execute a command to cause the register to assign a threshold amount of power to be consumed by the concurrently performed subarray operations, execute the command to cause the register to perform the power budget operation based at least in part on a number of banks accessed by the bank arbiter, and/or execute the command to cause the register to perform the power budget operation based at least in part on the threshold number of subarrays within a bank.


In at least one embodiment, a method for bank power coordination can include receiving a command at a controller on a memory device, providing a counter corresponding to a threshold number of banks to concurrently perform an operation, decrementing the counter while performing the operation associated with a particular bank among a plurality of banks, and incrementing the counter upon completing associated with the particular bank among the plurality of banks. In at least one embodiment, the plurality of subarrays and the register can be associated with a processing in memory (PIM) device.


In some embodiments, the method can include denying the operation associated with the particular bank among the plurality of banks based on the counter having a value of zero. The counter can be associated with the bank arbiter, and the bank arbiter can control the threshold number of banks to concurrently perform the memory operation. In some embodiments, the counter can be associated with the register, for example, a power budget register, and the register can be coupled to the bank arbiter and configured to control the threshold number of banks to concurrently perform the memory operation.


The method can further include denying the operation associated with the particular subarray among the plurality of subarrays based on the threshold number associated with the counter being exceeded. In some embodiments, the counter can be associated with a register, for example, a power budget register. In at least one embodiment, the plurality of subarrays and the register can be associated with a processing in memory device as described herein.


As described herein, bank power coordination can include selecting a number of banks among a plurality of banks to perform a respective memory operation, wherein the number of selected banks is less than a total number of the plurality of banks, and performing the respective memory operation on each of the selected banks, wherein the number of banks selected is controlled by a bank arbiter coupled to the plurality of banks. In some embodiments, the method can include decrementing a counter associated with the number of selected banks in response to a respective bank among the number of banks performing a respective memory operation, and/or incrementing the counter in response to the respective bank completing the respective memory operation.


In at least one embodiment, bank power coordination can be provided by an apparatus including a first number of subarrays associated with a first bank, a second number of subarrays associated with a second bank, and a bank arbiter coupled to the first bank and the second bank. In at least one embodiment, the bank arbiter can control a threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation by at least one of the first number of subarrays, the first bank, the second number of subarrays, and the second bank. In some embodiments, the memory can include a register coupled to the bank arbiter. In at least one embodiment, the register can allocate a threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation by at least one of the first number of subarrays, the first bank, the second number of subarrays, and the second bank.


Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that an arrangement calculated to achieve the same results can be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover adaptations or variations of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the above description has been made in an illustrative fashion, and not a restrictive one. Combination of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the one or more embodiments of the present disclosure includes other applications in which the above structures and methods are used. Therefore, the scope of one or more embodiments of the present disclosure should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.


In the foregoing Detailed Description, some features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the disclosed embodiments of the present disclosure have to use more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims
  • 1. An apparatus, comprising: a first number of subarrays within a first memory region;a second number of subarrays within a second memory region; anda bank arbiter coupled to the first memory region and the second memory region, the bank arbiter to control a threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation, the threshold amount of power available being based on at least one of the first number of subarrays, the second number of subarrays, or any combination thereof.
  • 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a register coupled to the bank arbiter, wherein the register is to allocate the threshold amount of power available to perform the memory operation by at least one of the first number of subarrays, the first memory region, the second number of subarrays, or the second memory region, or any combination thereof.
  • 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first memory region and the second memory region each comprise a respective memory bank of a memory device.
  • 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory operation comprises a processing in memory operation.
  • 5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a counter coupled to the bank arbiter, wherein the counter is: decremented in response to performance of the memory operation; andincremented in response to completion of the memory operation.
  • 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bank arbiter is configured to store a result of the memory operation in the first memory region or the second memory region, or both without transferring the result of the memory operation to circuitry external to a memory device that includes the first memory region, the second memory region, and the bank arbiter.
  • 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bank arbiter is configured to control the threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation based at least in part on a quantity of the first memory regions and a quantity of the second memory regions accessed by the bank arbiter.
  • 8. A method, comprising: controlling, by a bank arbiter coupled to a first memory region comprising a first number of subarrays and a second memory region comprising a second number of subarrays, a threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation, the threshold amount of power available being based on at least one of the first number of subarrays, the second number of subarrays, or any combination thereof.
  • 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising allocating, by a register coupled to the bank arbiter, the threshold amount of power available to perform the memory operation.
  • 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first memory region and the second memory region each comprise a respective memory bank of a memory device.
  • 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the memory operation comprises a processing in memory operation.
  • 12. The method of claim 8, further comprising: decrementing a counter coupled to the bank arbiter in response to performance of the memory operation; andincrementing the counter in response to completion of the memory operation.
  • 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing a result of the memory operation in the first memory region or the second memory region, or both without transferring the result of the memory operation to circuitry external to a memory device that includes the first memory region, the second memory region, and the bank arbiter.
  • 14. The method of claim 8, further comprising controlling, by the bank arbiter, the threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation based at least in part on a quantity of memory regions similar to the first memory region and a quantity of memory regions similar to the second memory region accessed by the bank arbiter.
  • 15. A memory device, comprising: a first number of subarrays within a first memory region;a second number of subarrays within a second memory region;a bank arbiter coupled to the first memory region and the second memory region, the bank arbiter to control a threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation, the threshold amount of power available being based on at least one of the first number of subarrays, the second number of subarrays, or any combination thereof; anda register coupled to the bank arbiter, wherein the register is to allocate the threshold amount of power available to perform the memory operation.
  • 16. The memory device of claim 15, wherein the first memory region and the second memory region each comprise a respective memory bank of the memory device.
  • 17. The memory device of claim 15, wherein the memory operation comprises a processing in memory operation.
  • 18. The memory device of claim 15, further comprising a counter coupled to the bank arbiter, wherein the counter is: decremented in response to starting performance of the memory operation; andincremented in response to completion of the memory operation.
  • 19. The memory device of claim 15, wherein the bank arbiter is configured to store a result of the memory operation in the first memory region or the second memory region, or both without transferring the result of the memory operation to circuitry external to a memory device that includes the first memory region, the second memory region, and the bank arbiter.
  • 20. The memory device of claim 15, wherein the bank arbiter is configured to control the threshold amount of power available to perform a memory operation based at least in part on a quantity of regions similar to the first memory regions and a quantity of memory regions similar to the second memory region accessed by the bank arbiter.
PRIORITY INFORMATION

This application is a Divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/657,445, filed Oct. 18, 2019, which issues as U.S. Pat. No. 11,107,510 on Aug. 31, 2021, which is a Divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/090,301, filed Apr. 4, 2016, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,453,502 on Oct. 22, 2019, the contents of which are included herein by reference.

US Referenced Citations (295)
Number Name Date Kind
4380046 Fung Apr 1983 A
4435792 Bechtolsheim Mar 1984 A
4435793 Ochii Mar 1984 A
4727474 Batcher Feb 1988 A
4843264 Galbraith Jun 1989 A
4958378 Bell Sep 1990 A
4977542 Matsuda et al. Dec 1990 A
5023838 Herbert Jun 1991 A
5034636 Reis et al. Jul 1991 A
5201039 Sakamura Apr 1993 A
5210850 Kelly et al. May 1993 A
5253308 Johnson Oct 1993 A
5276643 Hoffmann et al. Jan 1994 A
5325519 Long et al. Jun 1994 A
5367488 An Nov 1994 A
5379257 Matsumura et al. Jan 1995 A
5386379 Ali-Yahia et al. Jan 1995 A
5398213 Yeon et al. Mar 1995 A
5440482 Davis Aug 1995 A
5446690 Tanaka et al. Aug 1995 A
5473576 Matsui Dec 1995 A
5481500 Reohr et al. Jan 1996 A
5485373 Davis et al. Jan 1996 A
5506811 McLaury Apr 1996 A
5615404 Knoll et al. Mar 1997 A
5638128 Hoogenboom Jun 1997 A
5638317 Tran Jun 1997 A
5654936 Cho Aug 1997 A
5678021 Pawate et al. Oct 1997 A
5724291 Matano Mar 1998 A
5724366 Furutani Mar 1998 A
5751987 Mahant-Shetti et al. May 1998 A
5787458 Miwa Jul 1998 A
5854636 Watanabe et al. Dec 1998 A
5867429 Chen et al. Feb 1999 A
5870504 Nemoto et al. Feb 1999 A
5915084 Wendell Jun 1999 A
5935263 Keeth et al. Aug 1999 A
5986942 Sugibayashi Nov 1999 A
5991209 Chow Nov 1999 A
5991785 Alidina et al. Nov 1999 A
6005799 Rao Dec 1999 A
6009020 Nagata Dec 1999 A
6092186 Betker et al. Jul 2000 A
6115316 Mori Sep 2000 A
6122211 Morgan et al. Sep 2000 A
6125071 Kohno et al. Sep 2000 A
6134164 Lattimore et al. Oct 2000 A
6147514 Shiratake Nov 2000 A
6151244 Fujino et al. Nov 2000 A
6157578 Brady Dec 2000 A
6163862 Adams et al. Dec 2000 A
6166942 Vo et al. Dec 2000 A
6172918 Hidaka Jan 2001 B1
6175514 Henderson Jan 2001 B1
6181698 Hariguchi Jan 2001 B1
6208544 Beadle et al. Mar 2001 B1
6226215 Yoon May 2001 B1
6301153 Takeuchi et al. Oct 2001 B1
6301164 Manning et al. Oct 2001 B1
6304477 Naji Oct 2001 B1
6389507 Sherman May 2002 B1
6418498 Martwick Jul 2002 B1
6466499 Blodgett Oct 2002 B1
6510098 Taylor Jan 2003 B1
6563754 Lien et al. May 2003 B1
6578058 Nygaard Jun 2003 B1
6731542 Le et al. May 2004 B1
6754746 Leung et al. Jun 2004 B1
6768679 Le et al. Jul 2004 B1
6807614 Chung Oct 2004 B2
6816422 Hamade et al. Nov 2004 B2
6819612 Achter Nov 2004 B1
6894549 Eliason May 2005 B2
6943579 Hazanchuk et al. Sep 2005 B1
6948056 Roth et al. Sep 2005 B1
6950771 Fan et al. Sep 2005 B1
6950898 Merritt et al. Sep 2005 B2
6956770 Khalid et al. Oct 2005 B2
6961272 Schreck Nov 2005 B2
6965648 Smith et al. Nov 2005 B1
6985394 Kim Jan 2006 B2
6987693 Cernea et al. Jan 2006 B2
7020017 Chen et al. Mar 2006 B2
7028170 Saulsbury Apr 2006 B2
7045834 Tran et al. May 2006 B2
7054178 Shiah et al. May 2006 B1
7061817 Raad et al. Jun 2006 B2
7079407 Dimitrelis Jul 2006 B1
7173857 Kato et al. Feb 2007 B2
7187585 Li et al. Mar 2007 B2
7196928 Chen Mar 2007 B2
7260565 Lee et al. Aug 2007 B2
7260672 Garney Aug 2007 B2
7372715 Han May 2008 B2
7400532 Aritome Jul 2008 B2
7406494 Magee Jul 2008 B2
7447720 Beaumont Nov 2008 B2
7454451 Beaumont Nov 2008 B2
7457181 Lee et al. Nov 2008 B2
7535769 Cernea May 2009 B2
7546438 Chung Jun 2009 B2
7562198 Noda et al. Jul 2009 B2
7574466 Beaumont Aug 2009 B2
7602647 Li et al. Oct 2009 B2
7663928 Tsai et al. Feb 2010 B2
7685365 Rajwar et al. Mar 2010 B2
7692466 Ahmadi Apr 2010 B2
7752417 Manczak et al. Jul 2010 B2
7791962 Noda et al. Sep 2010 B2
7796453 Riho et al. Sep 2010 B2
7805587 Van Dyke et al. Sep 2010 B1
7808854 Takase Oct 2010 B2
7827372 Bink et al. Nov 2010 B2
7869273 Lee et al. Jan 2011 B2
7898864 Dong Mar 2011 B2
7924628 Danon et al. Apr 2011 B2
7937535 Ozer et al. May 2011 B2
7957206 Bauser Jun 2011 B2
7979667 Allen et al. Jul 2011 B2
7996749 Ding et al. Aug 2011 B2
8042082 Solomon Oct 2011 B2
8045391 Mokhlesi Oct 2011 B2
8059438 Chang et al. Nov 2011 B2
8095825 Hirotsu et al. Jan 2012 B2
8117462 Snapp et al. Feb 2012 B2
8164942 Gebara et al. Apr 2012 B2
8208328 Hong Jun 2012 B2
8213248 Moon et al. Jul 2012 B2
8223568 Seo Jul 2012 B2
8238173 Akerib et al. Aug 2012 B2
8274841 Shimano et al. Sep 2012 B2
8279683 Klein Oct 2012 B2
8310884 Iwai et al. Nov 2012 B2
8332367 Bhattacherjee et al. Dec 2012 B2
8339824 Cooke Dec 2012 B2
8339883 Yu et al. Dec 2012 B2
8347154 Bahali et al. Jan 2013 B2
8351292 Matano Jan 2013 B2
8356144 Hessel et al. Jan 2013 B2
8411523 Bains Apr 2013 B2
8417921 Gonion et al. Apr 2013 B2
8462532 Argyres Jun 2013 B1
8484276 Carlson et al. Jul 2013 B2
8495438 Roine Jul 2013 B2
8503250 Demone Aug 2013 B2
8526239 Kim Sep 2013 B2
8533245 Cheung Sep 2013 B1
8555037 Gonion Oct 2013 B2
8599613 Abiko et al. Dec 2013 B2
8605015 Guttag et al. Dec 2013 B2
8625376 Jung et al. Jan 2014 B2
8644101 Jun et al. Feb 2014 B2
8650232 Stortz et al. Feb 2014 B2
8769318 Seroff Jul 2014 B2
8873272 Lee Oct 2014 B2
8964496 Manning Feb 2015 B2
8971124 Manning Mar 2015 B1
9015390 Klein Apr 2015 B2
9047193 Lin et al. Jun 2015 B2
9165023 Moskovich et al. Oct 2015 B2
20010007112 Porterfield Jul 2001 A1
20010008492 Higashiho Jul 2001 A1
20010010057 Yamada Jul 2001 A1
20010028584 Nakayama et al. Oct 2001 A1
20010043089 Forbes et al. Nov 2001 A1
20020059355 Peleg et al. May 2002 A1
20030167426 Slobodnik Sep 2003 A1
20030222879 Lin et al. Dec 2003 A1
20040066671 Scheuerlein et al. Apr 2004 A1
20040073592 Kim et al. Apr 2004 A1
20040073773 Demjanenko Apr 2004 A1
20040085840 Vali et al. May 2004 A1
20040095826 Perner May 2004 A1
20040154002 Ball et al. Aug 2004 A1
20040205289 Srinivasan Oct 2004 A1
20040240251 Nozawa et al. Dec 2004 A1
20050015557 Wang et al. Jan 2005 A1
20050078514 Scheuerlein et al. Apr 2005 A1
20050097417 Agrawal et al. May 2005 A1
20060047937 Selvaggi et al. Mar 2006 A1
20060069849 Rudelic Mar 2006 A1
20060146623 Mizuno et al. Jul 2006 A1
20060149804 Luick et al. Jul 2006 A1
20060181917 Kang et al. Aug 2006 A1
20060215432 Wickeraad et al. Sep 2006 A1
20060225072 Lari et al. Oct 2006 A1
20060256628 Kim Nov 2006 A1
20060291282 Liu et al. Dec 2006 A1
20070103986 Chen May 2007 A1
20070171747 Hunter et al. Jul 2007 A1
20070180006 Gyoten et al. Aug 2007 A1
20070180184 Sakashita et al. Aug 2007 A1
20070195602 Fong et al. Aug 2007 A1
20070285131 Sohn Dec 2007 A1
20070285979 Turner Dec 2007 A1
20070291532 Tsuji Dec 2007 A1
20080025073 Arsovski Jan 2008 A1
20080037333 Kim et al. Feb 2008 A1
20080052711 Forin et al. Feb 2008 A1
20080137388 Krishnan et al. Jun 2008 A1
20080165601 Matick et al. Jul 2008 A1
20080178053 Gorman et al. Jul 2008 A1
20080212386 Riho Sep 2008 A1
20080215937 Dreibelbis et al. Sep 2008 A1
20090067218 Graber Mar 2009 A1
20090103386 Rao Apr 2009 A1
20090154238 Lee Jun 2009 A1
20090154273 Borot et al. Jun 2009 A1
20090254697 Akerib Oct 2009 A1
20100067296 Li Mar 2010 A1
20100091582 Vali et al. Apr 2010 A1
20100172190 Lavi et al. Jul 2010 A1
20100210076 Gruber et al. Aug 2010 A1
20100226183 Kim Sep 2010 A1
20100308858 Noda et al. Dec 2010 A1
20100332895 Billing et al. Dec 2010 A1
20110051523 Manabe et al. Mar 2011 A1
20110063919 Chandrasekhar et al. Mar 2011 A1
20110093662 Walker et al. Apr 2011 A1
20110103151 Kim et al. May 2011 A1
20110119467 Cadambi et al. May 2011 A1
20110122695 Li et al. May 2011 A1
20110140741 Zerbe et al. Jun 2011 A1
20110219260 Nobunaga et al. Sep 2011 A1
20110258367 Tanaka et al. Oct 2011 A1
20110267883 Lee et al. Nov 2011 A1
20110317496 Bunce et al. Dec 2011 A1
20120005397 Lim et al. Jan 2012 A1
20120017039 Margetts Jan 2012 A1
20120023281 Kawasaki et al. Jan 2012 A1
20120120705 Mitsubori et al. May 2012 A1
20120134216 Singh May 2012 A1
20120134225 Chow May 2012 A1
20120134226 Chow May 2012 A1
20120140540 Agam et al. Jun 2012 A1
20120182798 Hosono et al. Jul 2012 A1
20120195146 Jun et al. Aug 2012 A1
20120198310 Tran et al. Aug 2012 A1
20120246380 Akerib et al. Sep 2012 A1
20120265964 Murata et al. Oct 2012 A1
20120281486 Rao et al. Nov 2012 A1
20120303627 Keeton et al. Nov 2012 A1
20130003467 Klein Jan 2013 A1
20130061006 Hein Mar 2013 A1
20130107623 Kavalipurapu et al. May 2013 A1
20130117541 Choquette et al. May 2013 A1
20130124783 Yoon et al. May 2013 A1
20130132702 Patel et al. May 2013 A1
20130138646 Sirer et al. May 2013 A1
20130163362 Kim Jun 2013 A1
20130173888 Hansen et al. Jul 2013 A1
20130205114 Badam et al. Aug 2013 A1
20130219112 Okin et al. Aug 2013 A1
20130227361 Bowers et al. Aug 2013 A1
20130275781 Ramage et al. Oct 2013 A1
20130283122 Anholt et al. Oct 2013 A1
20130286705 Grover et al. Oct 2013 A1
20130326154 Haswell Dec 2013 A1
20130332707 Gueron et al. Dec 2013 A1
20140185395 Seo Jul 2014 A1
20140215185 Danielsen Jul 2014 A1
20140250279 Manning Sep 2014 A1
20140344934 Jorgensen Nov 2014 A1
20150029798 Manning Jan 2015 A1
20150042380 Manning Feb 2015 A1
20150063052 Manning Mar 2015 A1
20150078108 Cowles et al. Mar 2015 A1
20150120987 Wheeler Apr 2015 A1
20150134713 Wheeler May 2015 A1
20150255149 Nango et al. Sep 2015 A1
20150270015 Murphy et al. Sep 2015 A1
20150279466 Manning Oct 2015 A1
20150324290 Leidel Nov 2015 A1
20150325272 Murphy Nov 2015 A1
20150356009 Wheeler et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150356022 Leidel et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150357007 Manning et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150357008 Manning et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150357019 Wheeler et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150357020 Manning Dec 2015 A1
20150357021 Hush Dec 2015 A1
20150357022 Hush Dec 2015 A1
20150357023 Hush Dec 2015 A1
20150357024 Hush et al. Dec 2015 A1
20150357047 Tiwari Dec 2015 A1
20160062672 Wheeler Mar 2016 A1
20160062673 Tiwari Mar 2016 A1
20160062692 Finkbeiner et al. Mar 2016 A1
20160062733 Tiwari Mar 2016 A1
20160063284 Tiwari Mar 2016 A1
20160064045 La Fratta Mar 2016 A1
20160064047 Tiwari Mar 2016 A1
20160139639 Dash et al. May 2016 A1
20170206031 Yin Jul 2017 A1
Foreign Referenced Citations (13)
Number Date Country
102141905 Aug 2011 CN
0214718 Mar 1987 EP
2026209 Feb 2009 EP
H0831168 Feb 1996 JP
2009259193 Mar 2015 JP
10-0211482 Aug 1999 KR
10-2010-0134235 Dec 2010 KR
10-2013-0049421 May 2013 KR
2001065359 Sep 2001 WO
2010079451 Jul 2010 WO
2013062596 May 2013 WO
2013081588 Jun 2013 WO
2013095592 Jun 2013 WO
Non-Patent Literature Citations (18)
Entry
Boyd et al., “On the General Applicability of Instruction-Set Randomization”, Jul.-Sep. 2010, (14 pgs.), vol. 7, Issue 3, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing.
Stojmenovic, “Multiplicative Circulant Networks Topological Properties and Communication Algorithms”, (25 pgs.), Discrete Applied Mathematics 77 (1997) 281-305.
“4.9.3 MINLOC and MAXLOC”, Jun. 12, 1995, (5pgs.), Message Passing Interface Forum 1.1, retrieved from http://www.mpi-forum.org/docs/mpi-1.1/mpi-11-html/node79.html.
Derby, et al., “A High-Performance Embedded DSP Core with Novel SIMD Features”, Apr. 6-10, 2003, (4 pgs), vol. 2, pp. 301-304, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Accoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.
Debnath, Biplob, Bloomflash: Bloom Filter on Flash-Based Storage, 2011 31st Annual Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, Jun. 20-24, 2011, 10 pgs.
Pagiamtzis, Kostas, “Content-Addressable Memory Introduction”, Jun. 25, 2007, (6 pgs.), retrieved from: http://www.pagiamtzis.com/cam/camintro.
Pagiamtzis, et al., “Content-Addressable Memory (CAM) Circuits and Architectures: A Tutorial and Survey”, Mar. 2006, (16 pgs.), vol. 41, No. 3, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.
International Search Report and Written Opinion for PCT Application No. PCT/US2013/043702, dated Sep. 26, 2013, (11 pgs.).
Elliot, et al., “Computational RAM: Implementing Processors in Memory”, Jan.-Mar. 1999, (10 pgs.), vol. 16, Issue 1, IEEE Design and Test of Computers Magazine.
Dybdahl, et al., “Destructive-Read in Embedded DRAM, Impact on Power Consumption,” Apr. 2006, (10 pgs.), vol. 2, Issue 2, Journal of Embedded Computing-Issues in embedded single-chip multicore architectures.
Kogge, et al., “Processing in Memory: Chips to Petaflops,” May 23, 1997, (8 pgs.), retrieved from: http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cda5106/summer02/papers/kogge97PIM.pdf.
Draper, et al., “The Architecture of the DIVA Processing-In-Memory Chip,” Jun. 22-26, 2002, (12 pgs.), ICS '02, retrieved from: http://www.isi.edu/˜draper/papers/ics02.pdf.
Adibi, et al., “Processing-In-Memory Technology for Knowledge Discovery Algorithms,” Jun. 25, 2006, (10 pgs.), Proceeding of the Second International Workshop on Data Management on New Hardware, retrieved from: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/˜damon2006/pdf/adibi06inmemory.pdf.
U.S. Appl. No. 13/449,082, entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Pattern Matching,” filed Apr. 17, 2012, (37 pgs.).
U.S. Appl. No. 13/743,686, entitled, “Weighted Search and Compare in a Memory Device,” filed Jan. 17, 2013, (25 pgs.).
U.S. Appl. No. 13/774,636, entitled, “Memory as a Programmable Logic Device,” filed Feb. 22, 2013, (30 pgs.).
U.S. Appl. No. 13/774,553, entitled, “Neural Network in a Memory Device,” filed Feb. 22, 2013, (63 pgs.).
U.S. Appl. No. 13/796,189, entitled, “Performing Complex Arithmetic Functions in a Memory Device,” filed Mar. 12, 2013, (23 pgs.).
Related Publications (1)
Number Date Country
20210390988 A1 Dec 2021 US
Divisions (2)
Number Date Country
Parent 16657445 Oct 2019 US
Child 17461084 US
Parent 15090301 Apr 2016 US
Child 16657445 US