Logical operations using memory cells
View Patent ↗The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to logical operations using memory cells. An example apparatus comprises a first memory cell controlled to invert a data value stored therein and a second memory cell controlled to invert a data value stored therein. The apparatus may further include a controller coupled to the first memory cell and the second memory cell. The controller may be configured to cause performance of a logical operation between the data value stored in the first memory cell and the data value stored in the second memory cell.
1. A method, comprising:
operating a first memory cell to invert a data value stored therein corresponding to a first operand for a logical operation, wherein the data value corresponding to the first operand is inverted without transferring the data value to a latch outside of a sense amplifier latch; and
performing the logical operation between the inverted data value stored in the first memory cell and a data value corresponding to a second operand stored in a storage location associated with a memory device; and
enabling a first transistor associated with the storage location to write a result of the logical operation to the first memory cell and enabling a second transistor associated with the storage location to write a complement of the logical operation to a second memory cell of the memory device.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising preserving the data value corresponding to the first operand subsequent to performing the logical operation.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage location comprises a third memory cell associated with the memory device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage location comprises a sense amplifier associated with the memory device.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shifting a result of the logical operation from a first sense amplifier associated with the memory device to a second sense amplifier associated with the memory device.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transferring the complement of a result of the logical operation to at least one of a third memory cell associated with the memory device or a sense amplifier associated with the memory device.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing a result of the logical operation in a sense amplifier coupled to the first memory cell.
8. A method, comprising:
performing a logical operation by:
charging, to a first voltage, a read digit line coupled to a plurality of memory cells associated with a memory device, wherein each one of the memory cells of the plurality of memory cells stores a data value corresponding to a respective input of the logical operation;
activating, after charging the read digit line, a plurality of read word lines corresponding to the plurality of memory cells;
enabling a sense amplifier coupled to the read digit line; and
sensing, via the sense amplifier, a result of the logical operation, wherein:
the result of the logical operation is a logic 0 value responsive to the read digit having a second voltage that is less than the first voltage after activating the plurality of read word lines, wherein the read digit line transitions from the first voltage to the second voltage based on at least one of the plurality of memory cells storing a first data value corresponding to a logic 1 value; or
the result of the logical operation is the logic 1 value responsive to the read digit line having the first voltage after activating the plurality of read word lines, wherein the read digit line maintains the first voltage based on all of the plurality of memory cells storing a second data value corresponding to the logic 0 value; and
writing the result of the logical operation or a complement of the result of the logical operation to memory cells coupled to a write digit line of the memory device based on enabling a first transistor coupled to the sense amplifier or enabling a second transistor coupled to the sense amplifier.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein, subsequent to enabling the sense amplifier, the result of the logical operation resides in the sense amplifier.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of memory cells are nondestructive read memory cells such that the activating the plurality of read word lines and enabling the sense amplifier does not destroy the data values stored in the plurality of memory cells.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the logical operation is a logical NOR operation having a quantity, K, inputs.
12. An apparatus, comprising:
an array of memory cells; and
a controller coupled to the array of memory cells, wherein the controller is configured to cause performance of a multi-input logical operation by:
charging, to a first voltage, a read digit line coupled to a plurality of memory cells, wherein each one of the plurality of memory cells stores a data value corresponding to a respective one of the inputs;
activating, after charging the read digit line, a plurality of read word lines corresponding to the plurality of memory cells;
enabling a sense amplifier coupled to the read digit line; and
controlling the sense amplifier to sense a result of the logical operation, wherein:
the result of the logical operation is a logic 0 value responsive to the read digit having a second voltage that is less than the first voltage after activating the plurality of read word lines, wherein the read digit line transitions from the first voltage to the second voltage based on at least one of the plurality of memory cells storing a first data value corresponding to a logic 1 value; or
the result of the logical operation is the logic 1 value responsive to the read digit line having the first voltage after activating the plurality of read word lines, wherein the read digit line maintains the first voltage based on all of the plurality of memory cells storing a second data value corresponding to the logic 0 value;
and
enable a first transistor coupled to the sense amplifier to write the result of the multi-input logical operation to memory cells coupled to a first write row line and enable a second transistor coupled to the sense amplifier to write a complement of the result of the multi-input logical operation to memory cells coupled to a second write row line.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the plurality of read word lines corresponding to the plurality of memory cells to be activated simultaneously.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the plurality of read word lines corresponding to the plurality of memory cells to be activated at different times.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of memory cells are three transistor (3T) dynamic random-access memory (3T DRAM) cells.
16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of memory cells are nondestructive read memory cells such that activating the plurality of read word lines and enabling the sense amplifier does not overwrite data values stored in the plurality of memory cells.
17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the multi-input logical operation is a multi-input logical NOR operation.
18. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to cause the result of the multi-input logical operation to be shifted from the sense amplifier to a different sense amplifier.
19. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the sense amplifier is a sense amplifier among a plurality of sense amplifiers coupled to respective memory cells among the plurality of memory cells.