IP Library Granted Patent US 12669963
Granted Patent B2
US 12669963 · App. 18/944,972 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Memory searching component

Inventors: Elliott C. Cooper-Balis (San Jose, CA); Robert M. Walker (Raleigh, NC); Paul Rosenfeld (Rockville, MD)
Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
G06F3/0659G06F3/061G06F3/0653G06F3/0658G06F3/0679
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12669963
App. No.
18/944,972
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An apparatus can include a memory device comprising a memory component and a memory controller that is coupled to the memory component. A memory searching component (MSC) is resident on the apparatus. The MSC can receive an external instruction indicative of performance of an operation to retrieve particular data from the memory component and issue, responsive to receipt of the instruction, a command to the memory controller to cause the memory controller to perform a read request invoking the memory component as part of performance of the operation in the absence of a further external instruction.

Claims (44)

1 . A method, comprising:

receiving, by circuitry resident on a memory device, a search command comprising an address of a starting node and information corresponding to a request node, wherein the starting node is a root node of a tree structure that includes a key;

issuing, by the circuitry resident on the memory device, a request to retrieve particular data associated with the request node through traversal of the tree structure based on the key; and

determining, by the circuitry resident on the memory device, whether received data corresponds to the particular data associated with the request node.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing, by the circuitry, the received data with the particular data associated with the request node as part of determining whether the received data corresponds to the particular data associated with the request node.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the circuitry, that the received data corresponds to the particular data associated with the request node; and

causing, by the circuitry, the received data to be transferred to a host couplable to the circuitry.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the circuitry, that the received data does not correspond to the particular data associated with the request node;

extracting, by the circuitry, an address associated with at least one node that is connected to the request node; and

issuing, by the circuitry, a second read request to retrieve particular data associated with the request node, wherein the second read request includes the address associated with the at least one node that is connected to the request node.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the request node is included in a serially accessible data structure.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the circuitry, data associated with the request node.

7 . An apparatus, comprising:

a memory component;

a first circuitry coupled to the memory component; and

a second circuitry coupled to the first circuitry, wherein the second circuitry is configured to:

receive an external instruction, comprising an address of a starting node and information corresponding to a request node, to access particular data from the memory component, wherein the starting node is a root node of a tree structure that includes a key;

issue, responsive to receipt of the instruction, an instruction to the first circuitry to perform an operation to access the particular data from the memory component through traversal of the tree structure based on the key in the absence of a further external instruction; and

determine whether the operation was successfully performed.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to transfer the particular data to circuitry external to the memory component responsive to a determination that the operation was successfully performed.

9 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to reperform the operation to access the particular data from the memory component responsive to a determination that the operation was not successfully performed.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to receive the external instruction via an abstracted interface.

11 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:

the first circuitry comprises a memory controller, and

the second circuitry comprises a state machine or a comparator, or an instruction set architecture, or any combination thereof.

12 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to perform a compare operation as part of the operation to access the particular data from the memory component.

13 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the external instruction references address information corresponding to the particular data or address offset information corresponding to the particular data, or any combination thereof.

14 . A system, comprising:

a host;

a memory device comprising:

a plurality of memory components;

a first circuitry coupled to the plurality of memory components; and

a second circuitry coupled to the first circuitry, wherein the second circuitry is configured to:

receive, from the host via an abstracted interface, a first instruction, comprising an address of a starting node and information corresponding to a request node, to retrieve particular data from at least one memory component among the plurality of memory components, wherein the starting node is a root node of a tree structure that includes a key;

issue, to the first circuitry, a second instruction to cause the first circuitry to perform a memory access operation to retrieve the particular data through traversal of the tree structure based on the key; and

responsive to a determination that the memory access operation was successfully performed by the first circuitry, transfer the retrieved particular data to the host via the abstracted interface in the absence of an instruction generated by the host.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to transfer the retrieved particular data to the host in a non-deterministic fashion.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to perform a compare operation to determine whether the memory access operation was successfully performed.

17 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the first circuitry is configured to perform a first memory access operation involving a first memory component among the plurality of memory components and a second memory access operation involving a second memory component among the plurality of memory components substantially concurrently as part of performance of the memory access operation to retrieve the particular data.

18 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the second circuitry is deployed between a last level cache of the host and the first circuitry.

19 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the at least one memory component is included in a serially accessible data structure.

20 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the second circuitry is configured to determine whether the memory access operation was successfully performed.