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US 2002/0118567 A1Published application
Serial storage device
AssigneeRohm Co., Ltd.
InventorsHiroki Takagi, Yoshihiro Tada, Noriaki Katsuhara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Memory cells of a storage device are addressed in n-bit word(s). Each of the n-bit word memory cells are partitioned into k (k≧2) groups of n/k bits. The memory cells are sequentially selected in n/k bits. Data of the selected n/k bit memory cells are read by n/k sense amplifiers and serially output from the storage device as readout data. The storage device requires much less chip area for n/k sense amplifiers and reduced peak currents in a read operation.
Claims14
A serial storage device, comprising:
- at least one memory cell array addressable in multiple n-bit memory cells;
- selection means for partitioning said n-bit memory cells into k (k≧2) groups of n/k-bit memory cells and for selecting said n/k-bit memory cell groups in sequence;
- n/k sense amplifiers for determining the data retrieved from the n/k-memory cells selected by said selection means;
- and
- a register for parallelly receiving the outputs of said sense amplifiers and for serially outputting them as readout data.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.