Memory controller with fast reacquisition of read timing to support rank switching

1. A method for performing a fast timing reacquisition in a memory controller, comprising:

during a read operation,

receiving, via a signal line, a data signal at the memory controller, wherein the data signal includes a timing reference signal followed by read data; and

using the timing reference signal included in the data signal to perform the fast timing reacquisition to compensate for a timing drift between a clock path and a data path for the read data;

wherein performing the fast timing reacquisition comprises adjusting a data delay line coupled to the clock path and associated with a control loop, wherein the control loop controls a clock signal used to receive the data signal at the memory controller.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the timing reference signal comprises a calibration preamble.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control loop comprises one of:

a phase-locked loop (PLL); and

a delay-locked loop (DLL).

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the fast timing reacquisition comprises performing one of the following operations on a relative phase position to determine the data delay line adjustment:

a binary search;

a parallel search; and

a linear search.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein performing the binary search involves using a roving sampler with an associated roving-sampler delay line in conjunction with an edge sampler and an associated edge-sampler delay line to perform the binary search.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the binary search involves alternately adjusting the edge-sampler delay line and the roving-sampler delay line in increments that decrease by a factor of two to determine a position of a repeating edge transition in the timing reference signal.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a given step in the binary search involves:

aggregating multiple samples from the roving sampler and the edge sampler; and

using the aggregated samples to make a binary search decision.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the roving sampler and the edge sampler are coupled through respective delay lines to a shared phase mixer.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the roving sampler and the edge sampler are coupled through respective delay lines to different phase mixers.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data signal including the timing reference signal followed by the read data is received responsive to transmitting a request for read data to a memory rank being accessed after an idle period for the memory rank.

11. A memory controller that facilitates a fast timing reacquisition during a read operation, comprising:

a control loop which controls a clock signal used to receive a data signal at the memory controller;

a data delay line coupled to a clock path and associated with the control loop; and

fast-locking control logic configured to perform the fast timing reacquisition by,

receiving, via a signal line, the data signal for the read operation, wherein the data signal includes a timing reference signal followed by read data, and

using the timing reference signal to adjust the data delay line to compensate for a timing drift between the clock path and a data path for the data signal.

12. The memory controller of claim 11 , wherein the timing reference signal comprises a calibration preamble.

13. The memory controller of claim 11 , wherein the control loop comprises one of:

a phase-locked loop (PLL); and

a delay-locked loop (DLL).

14. The memory controller of claim 11 , wherein performing the fast timing reacquisition comprises performing one of the following operations on a relative phase position to determine the data delay line adjustment,

a binary search;

a parallel search; and

a linear search.

15. The memory controller of claim 14 , wherein the memory controller further comprises:

a data sampler configured to receive the clock signal through the data delay line;

an edge sampler configured to receive an edge clock signal through an edge-sampler delay line; and

a roving sampler configured to receive a roving clock signal through a roving-sampler delay line;

wherein performing the binary search involves using the data sampler, the edge sampler and the roving sampler to make binary search decisions.

16. The memory controller of claim 15 , wherein the binary search involves alternately adjusting the edge-sampler delay line and the roving-sampler delay line in increments that decrease by a factor of two to determine a position of a repeating edge transition in the timing reference signal.

17. The memory controller of claim 15 , wherein a given step in the binary search involves:

aggregating multiple samples from the roving sampler and the edge sampler; and

using the aggregated samples to make a binary search decision.

18. The memory controller of claim 15 , further comprising a shared phase mixer which is coupled to the roving sampler through the roving-sampler delay line, and to the edge sampler through the edge-sampler delay line.

19. The memory controller of claim 15 , further comprising:

an edge-sampler phase mixer coupled to the edge sampler through the edge-sampler delay line; and

a roving-sampler phase mixer coupled to the roving sampler through the roving-sampler delay line.

20. The memory controller of claim 11 , wherein the read operation is a first access to the rank after an idle period for the rank.

21. The memory controller of claim 20 , wherein the read operation is a first access to the rank after a fast rank-switching operation from a preceding rank.

22. The memory controller of claim 21 , wherein the fast rank-switching operation involves looking up a phase for the rank in a table containing phases for each rank in a memory system associated with the memory controller.