IP Library Granted Patent US 9,792,963
Granted Patent B2
US 9,792,963 · App. 14/938,221 · Granted Oct 17, 2017

Managing disturbance induced errors

Inventors: Prashant S. Damle (Portland, OR); Frank T. Hady (Portland, OR); Paul D. Ruby (Folsom, CA); Kiran Pangal (Fremont, CA); Sowmiya Jayachandran (Portland, OR)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
G11C7/1072G11C11/406G11C11/40618G11C16/3431
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,792,963
App. No.
14/938,221
Granted
Oct 17, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

In an embodiment, a memory controller may determine that one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell in a memory device are to be refreshed. The controller may generate a command associated with refreshing the one or more neighboring memory cells. The controller may transfer the command from the memory controller to the memory device containing the target memory cell. The command may direct the memory device to refresh the neighboring memory cells and/or return one or more addresses associated with the neighboring memory cells.

Claims (58)

1. A method comprising:

determining at a memory controller that one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell are to be refreshed;

generating a command associated with refreshing the one or more neighboring memory cells, the command including an identifier that identifies the target memory cell; and

transmitting the command from the memory controller to a memory device that contains the target memory cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to refresh the one or more neighboring memory cells.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to return one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

acquiring the one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells from the memory device.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

refreshing the one or more neighboring memory cells associated with the acquired one or more addresses.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining further comprises:

generating a random number for an access of the target memory cell; and

determining whether the generated random number matches a predefined criteria.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining further comprises:

maintaining a count associated with accessing the target memory cell; and

determining whether the maintained count matches a predefined count.

8. One or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums to store executable instructions for execution by one or more processors, the executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

determine at a memory controller that one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell are to be refreshed;

generate a command associated with refreshing the one or more neighboring memory cells, the command including an identifier that identifies the target memory cell; and

cause transmission of the command from the memory controller to a memory device that contains the target memory cell.

9. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of claim 8 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to refresh the one or more neighboring memory cells.

10. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of claim 8 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to return one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells.

11. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of claim 10 , the executable instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

acquire the one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells from the memory device.

12. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of 11 , the executable instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

refresh one or more neighboring memory cells associated with the acquired one or more addresses.

13. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of claim 8 , the executable instructions to further cause to the one or more processors to:

generate a random number for an access of the target memory cell; and

determine whether the generated random number matches a predefined criteria.

14. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable mediums of claim 8 , the executable instructions to further cause the one or more processors to:

maintain a count associated with accessing the target memory cell; and

determine whether the maintained count matches a predefined count.

15. A system comprising:

a controller to:

determine that one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell are to be refreshed,

generate a command associated with refreshing the one or more neighboring memory cells, the command including an identifier that identifies the target memory cell, and

transmit the command to a memory device that contains the one or more neighboring memory cells and the target memory cell.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to refresh the one or more neighboring memory cells.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the command is to direct the memory device to return one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the controller is to further:

acquire the one or more addresses associated with the one or more neighboring memory cells from the memory device, and

refresh the one or more neighboring memory cells associated with the acquired one or more addresses.

19. A memory system comprising:

a memory device; and

a controller to:

identify one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell in the memory device, the one or more neighboring memory cells being identified by the controller based on a technique used by the memory device to identify the one or more neighboring memory cells,

generate a command associated with refreshing at least one of the identified one or more neighboring memory cells, and

transmit the command to the memory device, the command causing the memory device to refresh the at least one of the one or more neighboring memory cells.

20. The memory system of claim 19 , wherein the controller further comprises:

device processing logic; and

a local storage, and

wherein the local storage stores one or more computer executable instructions that when executed by the device processing logic causes the memory system to perform at least one of the identify, generate, or transmit.

21. A memory device comprising:

logic to:

acquire a command to refresh one or more neighboring memory cells associated with a target memory cell, the one or more neighboring memory cells and the target memory cell being contained in the memory device, the command including an identifier that identifies the target memory cell, and

identify the one or more neighboring memory cells based on the identifier contained in the command, and

refresh the identified one or more neighboring memory cells.

22. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the identifier includes an address of the target memory cell.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 18, 2025
From: INTEL CORPORATION
To: SK HYNIX NAND PRODUCT SOLUTIONS CORP. (DBA SOLIDIGM)
Reel/Frame 072890/0340 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 7, 2017
From: DAMLE, PRASHANT S.; HADY, FRANK T.; RUBY, PAUL D.; PANGAL, KIRAN; JAYACHANDRAN, SOWMIYA
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 042625/0088 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 13832278 · Mar 15, 2013
Related Publication 20160189757A1 · Jun 30, 2016