Comparison operations in memory
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorSanjay Tiwari
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Examples of the present disclosure provide apparatuses and methods related to performing comparison operations in a memory. An example apparatus might include a first group of memory cells coupled to a first access line and configured to store a first element. An example apparatus might also include a second group of memory cells coupled to a second access line and configured to store a second element. An example apparatus might also include sensing circuitry configured to compare the first element with the second element by performing a number of AND operations, OR operations, SHIFT operations, and INVERT operations without transferring data via an input/output (I/O) line.
Claims18
An apparatus comprising:
- a first group of memory cells coupled to a first access line of an array of memory cells and configured to store a first element;
- a second group of memory cells coupled to a second access line of the array of memory cells and configured to store a second element;
- sensing circuitries coupled to a respective plurality of columns of the array of memory cells corresponding to the first group of memory cells and the second group of memory cells;
- and
- a controller coupled to the sensing circuitries and configured to control the sensing circuitries to perform a number of AND operations, OR operations, shift operations, and invert operations to compare the first element to the second element.
A method for comparing elements comprising:
- performing, using sensing circuitries coupled to respective columns of an array of memory cells corresponding to a first group of memory cells and a second group of memory cells, a comparison operation on:
- a first element stored in the first group of memory cells coupled to a first access line and to a number of complementary sense lines corresponding to the respective columns;
- and
- a second element stored in the second group of memory cells coupled to a second access line and to the number of complementary sense lines corresponding to the respective columns sense lines of the array;
- wherein the comparison operation provides a result that indicates whether the first element is equal to the second element or which of the first element and the second element is greater.
A system, comprising:
- a memory device comprising:
- an array of memory cells comprising:
- a first group of memory cells coupled to a first access line of the array of memory cells and configured to store a first element;
- a second group of memory cells coupled to a second access line of the array of memory cells and configured to store a second element;
- and
- a third group of memory cells;
- and
- sensing circuitries coupled to respective columns of the array of memory cells corresponding to the first group of memory cells and the second group of memory cells;
- and
- a controller coupled to the sensing circuitries and configured to control the sensing circuitries to:
- perform a comparison operation by comparing the first element stored in the first group of memory cells and the second element stored in the second group of memory cells;
- and
- store a result of the comparison operation in the third group of memory cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.