IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,482,510
Granted Patent B2
US 12,482,510 · App. 18/534,030 · Granted Nov 25, 2025

Row-hammer condition mitigation using a physically adjacent row mapping table

Inventors: Sang Tran (Encinitas, CA); Hung Vuong (Coronado, CA); Rongtian Zhang (San Diego, CA)
Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
G11C11/40618G11C11/40615G11C11/4078
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,482,510
App. No.
18/534,030
Granted
Nov 25, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

In some aspects, an apparatus includes a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors. The processing system is configured to send one or more memory access commands to a volatile memory. The one or more memory access commands are associated with a first address. The processing system if further configured to access, based on detecting a row-hammer condition associated with the one or more memory access commands, a physically adjacent row mapping table to determine at least a second address. The first address and the second address correspond to physically adjacent rows within the volatile memory. The processing system if further configured to send one or more row refresh commands to the volatile memory based on the row-hammer condition. The one or more row refresh commands are associated with at least the second address.

Claims (25)

1 . An apparatus comprising:

a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the processing system configured to:

send one or more memory access commands to a volatile memory, the one or more memory access commands associated with a first address;

based on detecting a row-hammer condition associated with the one or more memory access commands, access a physically adjacent row mapping table to determine at least a second address, wherein the first address and the second address correspond to physically adjacent rows within the volatile memory; and

send one or more row refresh commands to the volatile memory based on the row-hammer condition, the one or more row refresh commands associated with at least the second address.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:

load the physically adjacent row mapping table from a particular region of a non-volatile memory (NVM) to a local memory based on a security protocol; and

access the physically adjacent row mapping table from the local memory to determine the second address.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the particular region of the NVM is reserved for storing the physically adjacent row mapping table.

4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the physically adjacent row mapping table stored at the local memory corresponds to a copy of the physically adjacent row mapping table stored at the particular region of the NVM.

5 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the physically adjacent row mapping table stored at the local memory corresponds to a subset of a full version of the physically adjacent row mapping table stored at the particular region of the NVM.

6 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the security protocol includes one or more of a replay protected memory block (RPMB) security protocol or a replay protection monotonic counter (RPMC) security protocol.

7 . A method of operation of a device, the method comprising:

sending one or more memory access commands to a volatile memory, the one or more memory access commands associated with a first address;

based on detecting a row-hammer condition associated with the one or more memory access commands, accessing a physically adjacent row mapping table to determine at least a second address, wherein the first address and the second address correspond to physically adjacent rows within the volatile memory; and

sending one or more row refresh commands to the volatile memory based on the row-hammer condition, the one or more row refresh commands associated with at least the second address.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the physically adjacent row mapping table indicates that the first address is associated with the second address and with a third address, and wherein the first address, the second address, and the third address correspond to the physically adjacent rows within the volatile memory.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein a particular row of the physically adjacent row mapping table includes a first field and a second field, wherein the first field indicates the second address, and wherein the second field indicates the third address.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the physically adjacent row mapping table has a lookup table (LUT) format, and wherein the particular row is indexed within the physically adjacent row mapping table based on the first address.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first field is associated with a first quantity of bits used to represent the second address, and wherein the second field is associated with a second quantity of bits used to represent the third address, the second quantity of bits different than the first quantity of bits.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first field is associated with a first quantity of bits used to represent the second address, and wherein the second field is associated with a second quantity of bits used to represent the third address, the second quantity of bits equal to the first quantity of bits.

13 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first address is a first logical address in a logical address space, and wherein the second address is a second logical address that is non-adjacent to the first logical address in the logical address space.

14 . The method of claim 7 , wherein detecting the row-hammer condition includes one or more of:

determining that a quantity of the one or more memory access commands exceeds a threshold quantity; or

determining that a frequency associated with the one or more memory access commands exceeds a threshold frequency.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 8, 2024
From: TRAN, SANG; VUONG, HUNG; ZHANG, RONGTIAN
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 066053/0199 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20250191633A1 · Jun 12, 2025
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