Metadata registers for a memory device
This disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for memory systems that support metadata. In a first aspect, a method of handling data and metadata at a memory device includes receiving data from the host via the at least one data connection into the first plurality of registers; receiving metadata from the host via the at least one non-data connection into the second plurality of registers; storing the data in the first portion of the memory array; and storing the metadata in the second portion of the memory array. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.
1. A memory device, comprising:
a dynamic random access memory array comprising a first portion and a second portion; a memory I/O module:
coupled to the dynamic random access memory array;
configured to communicate with a host through a channel comprising a plurality of connections including at least one data connection and at least one non-data connection; and
comprised of at least one first register and at least one second register,
the memory I/O module further configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving data from the host via the at least one data connection into the at least one first register;
receiving metadata from the host via the at least one non-data connection into the at least one second register;
storing the data in the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array; and
storing the metadata in the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a write command received by the memory I/O module corresponding to the data.
2. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the data and the metadata are received simultaneously during a single write command.
3. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the memory I/O module is further configured for performing operations comprising: receiving a first address through at least one second non-data connection corresponding to the data, wherein: storing the data in the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array is based on the first address; and storing the metadata in the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array is to a second address corresponding to the first address.
4. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein: receiving metadata from the host via the at least one non-data connection into the at least one second register comprises receiving a plurality of metadata comprising first metadata corresponding to a first write operation and second metadata corresponding to a second write operation into the at least one second register, the plurality of metadata corresponding to a plurality of memory addresses of a page of the dynamic random access memory array; and storing the metadata in the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array comprises writing the plurality of metadata into the page of the dynamic random access memory array from the at least one second register to complete the first write operation and the second write operation.
5. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises an error correction code (ECC).
6. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises a signature for authenticating the data corresponding to the metadata.
7. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a data mask inversion (DMI) portion of the channel, wherein a number of connections of the data mask inversion (DMI) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
8. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a read data strobe (RDQS) portion of the channel, wherein a number of connections of the read data strobe (RDQS) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
9. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion associated with a first column address and a second portion associated with a second column address, and receiving the metadata comprises receiving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a write command received by the memory I/O module corresponding to the data.
10. The memory device of claim 1 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion and a second portion, and receiving the metadata comprises receiving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on an indicator specified by a write command received by the memory I/O module.
11. A method, comprising: receiving data, at a memory device, from a host via at least one data connection into at least one first register; receiving metadata, at the memory device, from the host via at least one non-data connection into at least one second register; storing, by the memory device, the data from the at least one first register into a first portion of a dynamic random access memory array; and storing, by the memory device, the metadata from the at least one second register into a second portion of the dynamic random access memory array based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a write command corresponding to the data.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: retrieving the data from the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one first register; retrieving the metadata from the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one second register; transmitting the data to the host via the at least one data connection from the at least one first register; and transmitting the metadata to the host via the at least one non-data connection from the at least one second register.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising: receiving a first address through at least one second non-data connection corresponding to the data, wherein: storing the data in the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array is based on the first address; and storing the metadata in the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array is to a second address corresponding to the first address.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein: receiving metadata from the host via the at least one non-data connection into the at least one second register comprises receiving a plurality of metadata comprising first metadata corresponding to a first write operation and second metadata corresponding to a second write operation into the at least one second register, the plurality of metadata corresponding to a plurality of memory addresses of a page of the dynamic random access memory array; and storing the metadata in the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array comprises writing the plurality of metadata into the page of the dynamic random access memory array from the at least one second register to complete the first write operation and the second write operation.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the metadata comprises an error correction code (ECC).
16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the metadata comprises a signature for authenticating the data corresponding to the metadata.
17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a data mask inversion (DMI) portion of a channel, wherein a number of connections of the data mask inversion (DMI) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a read data strobe (RDQS) portion of a channel, wherein a number of connections of the read data strobe (RDQS) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
19. The method of claim 11 , wherein: at least one second register comprises a first portion associated with a first column address and a second portion associated with a second column address, and receiving the metadata comprises receiving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a write command corresponding to the data.
20. The method of claim 11 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion and a second portion, and receiving the metadata comprises receiving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on an indicator specified by a write command.
21. A memory device, comprising: a dynamic random access memory array comprising a first portion and a second portion; a memory I/O module: coupled to the dynamic random access memory array; configured to communicate with a host through a channel comprising a plurality of connections including at least one data connection and at least one non-data connection; and comprised of at least one first register and at least one second register, the memory I/O module further configured to perform operations comprising: retrieving data from the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one first register; retrieving metadata from the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one second register; transmitting the data to the host via the at least one data connection from the at least one first register; and transmitting the metadata to the host via the at least one non-data connection from the at least one second register based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a read command received by the memory I/O module corresponding to the data.
22. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the data and the metadata are retrieved simultaneously during a single read command.
23. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the memory I/O module is further configured for performing operations comprising: receiving a first address through at least one second non-data connection corresponding to the data, wherein: retrieving the data from the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array is based on the first address; and retrieving the metadata from the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array is from a second address corresponding to the first address.
24. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein: retrieving metadata from the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one second register comprises retrieving a plurality of metadata comprising first metadata corresponding to a first read operation and second metadata corresponding to a second read operation during a single page operation, the plurality of metadata corresponding to a plurality of memory addresses of a page of the dynamic random access memory array; and transmitting metadata to the host via the at least one non-data connection from the at least one second register comprises transmitting the plurality of metadata.
25. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the metadata comprises an error correction code (ECC).
26. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the metadata comprises a signature for authenticating the data corresponding to the metadata.
27. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a data mask inversion (DMI) portion of the channel, wherein a number of connections of the data mask inversion (DMI) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
28. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a read data strobe (RDQS) portion of the channel, wherein a number of connections of the read data strobe (RDQS) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
29. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion associated with a first column address and a second portion associated with a second column address, and retrieving the metadata comprises retrieving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a read command received by the memory I/O module corresponding to the data.
30. The memory device of claim 21 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion and a second portion, and retrieving the metadata comprises retrieving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on an indicator specified by a read command received by the memory I/O module.
31. A method, comprising: retrieving data from a first portion of a dynamic random access memory array into at least one first register; retrieving metadata from a second portion of the dynamic random access memory array into at least one second register; transmitting the data to a host via at least one data connection from the at least one first register; and transmitting the metadata to the host via at least one non-data connection from the at least one second register based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a read command corresponding to the data.
32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the data and the metadata are retrieved simultaneously during a single read command.
33. The method of claim 31 , further comprising: receiving a first address through at least one second non-data connection corresponding to the data, wherein: retrieving the data from the first portion of the dynamic random access memory array is based on the first address; and retrieving the metadata from the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array is from a second address corresponding to the first address.
34. The method of claim 31 , wherein: retrieving metadata from the second portion of the dynamic random access memory array into the at least one second register comprises retrieving a plurality of metadata comprising first metadata corresponding to a first read operation and second metadata corresponding to a second read operation during a single page operation, the plurality of metadata corresponding to a plurality of memory addresses of a page of the dynamic random access memory array; and transmitting metadata to the host via the at least one non-data connection from the at least one second register comprises transmitting the plurality of metadata.
35. The method of claim 31 , wherein the metadata comprises an error correction code (ECC).
36. The method of claim 31 , wherein the metadata comprises a signature for authenticating the data corresponding to the metadata.
37. The method of claim 31 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a data mask inversion (DMI) portion of a channel, wherein a number of connections of the data mask inversion (DMI) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
38. The method of claim 31 , wherein the at least one non-data connection comprises a read data strobe (RDQS) portion of a channel, wherein a number of connections of the read data strobe (RDQS) portion is less than a number of connections of the at least one data connection.
39. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion associated with a first column address and a second portion associated with a second column address, and retrieving the metadata comprises retrieving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on a memory address for the data associated with the metadata specified by a read command corresponding to the data.
40. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the at least one second register comprises a first portion and a second portion, and retrieving the metadata comprises retrieving the metadata into the first portion or the second portion based on an indicator specified by a read command.
41. An apparatus, comprising: a host device configured to communicate with a memory device through a channel, wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory array, the host device comprising a memory controller coupled to the channel, the memory controller configured perform operations including: transmitting data between the memory controller and at least one first register of the memory device through at least one data connection of the channel; and] transmitting metadata between the memory controller and at least one second register of the memory device through at least one non-data connection of the channel; and signaling a read command on the channel specifying at least one read address for retrieving the data and retrieving the metadata from the memory device, wherein the at least one read address identifies a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
42. The apparatus of claim 41 , wherein the read command comprises an indicator specifying a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
43. An apparatus, comprising: a host device configured to communicate with a memory device through a channel, wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory array, the host device comprising a memory controller coupled to the channel, the memory controller configured perform operations including: transmitting data between the memory controller and at least one first register of the memory device through at least one data connection of the channel; transmitting metadata between the memory controller and at least one second register of the memory device through at least one non-data connection of the channel; and
signaling a write command on the channel specifying a write address for storing the data and transmitting the data to the memory device, wherein the write address identifies a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
44. The apparatus of claim 43 , wherein the write command comprises an indicator specifying one of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
45. A method, comprising: transmitting, by a memory controller of a host device coupled to a memory device by a channel, data to at least one first register of the memory device through at least one data connection of the channel wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory array; transmitting, by the memory controller of the host device, metadata to at least one second register of the memory device through at least one non-data connection of the channel; and signaling, by the memory controller, a read command on the channel specifying a read address for retrieving the data and retrieving the metadata from the memory device, wherein the read address identifies a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
46. The method of claim 45 , wherein the read address identifies a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
47. The method of claim 45 , wherein the read command comprises an indicator specifying a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
48. A method, comprising: transmitting, by a memory controller of a host device coupled to a memory device by a channel, data to at least one first register of the memory device through at least one data connection of the channel, wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory array; transmitting, by the memory controller of the host device, metadata to at least one second register of the memory device through at least one non-data connection of the channel; and signaling a write command on the channel specifying a write address for storing the data and transmitting the data to the memory device; wherein the write address identifies a set of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.
49. The method of claim 48 , wherein the write command comprises an indicator specifying one of the at least one second register for storing the metadata.