Apparatuses and methods for performing operations using sense amplifiers and intermediary circuitry
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsGlen E. Hush, Honglin Sun, Richard C. Murphy
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Abstract
Systems, apparatuses, and methods related to performing operations within a memory device are described. Such operations may be performed using data latched in multiple sense amplifiers that are distributed among a plurality of sense amplifiers of the memory device. For example, those sense amplifiers, among the plurality of sense amplifiers, storing data associated with the operation(s) can be determined, and the data can be selectively sent from the determined sense amplifiers to an operation unit, in which the operations are performed. The operations may be made without affecting a subsequent read command that requests data from the plurality of sense amplifiers.
Claims17
An apparatus, comprising:
- column control circuitry coupled to:
- a plurality of sense amplifiers storing respective data latched from an array of memory cells;
- and
- intermediary circuitry coupled to the plurality of sense amplifiers;
- and
- wherein the column control circuitry configured to control the plurality of sense amplifiers and the intermediary circuitry to:
- receive signaling that indicates a request to perform a number of compare operations;
- determine a portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers that stores data on which the number of compare operations is requested to be performed, wherein the data corresponds to a number of data values respectively stored in the portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers;
- and
- send the data stored in the portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers to the intermediary circuitry to cause the intermediary circuitry to:
- perform the number of compare operations using the data received from the portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers;
- and
- output one of the number of data values having a greater value than other data values of the number of data values.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of sense amplifiers;
- intermediary circuitry comprising a plurality of operation units each coupled to the plurality of sense amplifiers, wherein at least one of the plurality of operation units is configured to perform a pooling operation on data values stored in at least a portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers;
- and
- column control circuitry coupled to the plurality of sense amplifiers and the intermediary circuitry, wherein the column control circuitry is configured to:
- receive signaling that indicates requests for a first operation and a second operation;
- determine which portions of the plurality of sense amplifiers store respective data values to be used in performing the first operation and the second operation;
- send, in response to a determination that a first portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers stores data values associated with the first operation, the data values of the first portion to a first one of the plurality of operation units;
- and
- send, in response to a determination that a second portion of the plurality of sense amplifiers stores data values associated with the second operation, the data values of the second portion to a second one of the plurality of operation units.
A method, comprising:
- receiving, at a memory device, signaling that indicates a request for an operation on a first subset of data stored in a plurality of sense amplifiers;
- sending, in response to the signaling, the first subset of data from the plurality of sense amplifiers to intermediary circuitry configured to perform the operation;
- receiving, at the memory device, a read command for a second subset of data stored in the plurality of sense amplifiers;
- and
- sending, based at least in part on the read command, the second subset of data from the plurality of sense amplifiers directly to a buffer by skipping the intermediary circuitry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.