IP Library Granted Patent US 10,839,867
Granted Patent B2
US 10,839,867 · App. 16/368,280 · Granted Nov 17, 2020

Apparatuses and methods for parity determination using sensing circuitry

Inventors: Troy A. Manning (Meridian, ID); Richard C. Murphy (Boise, ID)
Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
G11C7/06G06F11/10G06F11/1048G11C7/10G11C7/22G11C7/24G11C11/4078G11C11/4091
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,839,867
App. No.
16/368,280
Granted
Nov 17, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to parity determinations using sensing circuitry. An example method can include protecting, using sensing circuitry, a number of data values stored in a respective number of memory cells coupled to a sense line of an array by determining a parity value corresponding to the number of data values without transferring data from the array via an input/output line. The parity value can be determined by a number of XOR operations, for instance. The method can include storing the parity value in another memory cell coupled to the sense line.

Claims (46)

1. A method, comprising:

protecting a number of data values stored in a respective number of memory cells coupled to a sense line of an array via a parity value corresponding to the number of data values that is determined without transferring data from the array via an input/output (I/O) line, wherein protecting the number of data values comprises:

performing an XOR operation on:

a data value stored in a first memory cell; and

a data value stored in a second memory cell of the array resulting in a first resultant value without enabling a decode line; and

storing the parity value in another memory cell coupled to the sense line.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein protecting the number of data values comprises performing, using sensing circuitry, exclusive OR (XOR) operations on the number of data values stored in the respective number of memory cells to determine the parity value.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein performing the XOR operations without transferring data from the array via an I/O line comprises performing the XOR operations without performing a sense line address access.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein performing XOR operations comprises performing a first XOR operation on a data value stored in a memory cell coupled to a first access line of the number of memory cells and a data value stored in a memory cell of the number of memory cells coupled to a second access line.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein performing XOR operations comprises performing a second XOR operation on a result of the first XOR operation and a data value stored in a memory cell coupled to a third access line of the number of memory cells.

6. The method of claim 5 , comprising performing subsequent corresponding XOR operations on a previous result from a preceding XOR operation with a subsequent data value stored in a subsequent memory cell coupled to a subsequent access line.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing an XOR operation on the first resultant value and a data value stored in a third memory cell of the array resulting in a second resultant value without enabling the decode line.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the parity value responsive to updated data being written to a particular memory cell of the number of memory cells by removing, from the parity value determination, the data value stored in the particular memory cell.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein removing, from the parity value determination, the data value stored in the particular memory cell comprises:

sensing the data value stored in the particular memory cell;

performing an XOR operation on the data value stored in the particular memory cell and the parity value to obtain an updated parity value; and

storing the updated parity value in the another memory cell.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising recovering data stored in a particular memory cell of the respective number of memory cells determined to contain an error.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein recovering data stored in the particular memory cell further comprises performing additional XOR operations on data values stored in the respective number of memory cells other than the particular memory cell and the parity value.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein recovering data stored in the particular memory cell further comprises storing a result from the additional XOR operations in the particular memory cell.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein recovering data stored in the particular memory cell further comprises detecting the error during a compute transaction and recovering the data before restarting the compute transaction.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

an array of memory cells comprising a plurality of sense lines each coupled to corresponding sensing circuitry and having a number of memory cells coupled thereto, wherein each of the number of memory cells are coupled to one of a respective number of access lines; and

wherein the sensing circuitry is operable to perform, on a sense line by sense line basis, a number of exclusive OR (XOR) operations on data values stored in the number of memory cells to determine parity values corresponding to the data without transferring data from the array via an input/output (I/O) line.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein:

the sensing circuitry corresponding to the respective plurality of sense lines each comprises a sense amplifier and a compute component; and

the plurality of sense lines each have a corresponding complementary sense line also coupled to the corresponding sense amplifier and to the corresponding compute component.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the sensing circuitry is operated to:

perform a first AND operation on the data values;

perform an invert operation on the data values;

perform an OR operation on the data values; and

perform a second AND operation on a result from the first AND operation and a result from the OR operation.

17. A system, comprising:

a host configured to generate instructions; and

a memory device comprising an array of memory cells and sensing circuitry, wherein the memory device is configured to execute the instructions from the host to:

perform an XOR operation on a data value stored in a first memory cell and a data value stored in a second memory cell of the array resulting in a first resultant value without enabling a decode line corresponding to the sensing circuitry; and

perform an XOR operation on the first resultant value and a data value stored in a third memory cell of the array resulting in a second resultant value without enabling the decode line; and

send the second resultant value to the host.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the memory device further comprises a controller and the host is further configured to send an indication to the controller to cause a rollback to a prior state of the data values stored in the array when an error is detected.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the memory device is further configured to perform the XOR operation on the data value stored in the first memory cell and the data value stored in the second memory cell by:

performing a NAND operation on the data values stored in the first memory cell and the second memory cell;

performing an OR operation on the data values; and

performing an AND operation on a result of the NAND operation and a result of the OR operation.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the memory device is further configured to execute the instructions to:

determine a parity value corresponding to the data based on a result of the AND operation; and

send the determined first parity value to the host.

Assignments (5)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 15, 2019
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 051041/0317 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 14, 2019
From: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 050724/0392 →
SUPPLEMENT NO. 12 TO PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 19, 2019
From: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
To: MORGAN STANLEY SENIOR FUNDING, INC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 048948/0677 →
SUPPLEMENT NO. 3 TO PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 19, 2019
From: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 048951/0902 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 28, 2019
From: MANNING, TROY A.; MURPHY, RICHARD C.
To: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 048731/0326 →