System signaling schemes for processor and memory module
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsBasavaraj I. Pawate, Matthew A. Woolsey, Douglas L. Mahlum, Fred J. Reuter, Yoshihide Iwata, Judd E. Heape
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A computer system includes a main processing unit (12) coupled to a DSP/memory module (40). The DSP/memory module (40) includes semiconductor memory (42) and digital signal processor circuitry (44) including one or more digital signal processors (56). The DSP/memory module (40) may be placed in standard main memory sockets, such as a SIMM or DIMM sockets, and used as conventional main memory. The memory module can also be used in a smart mode, wherein the digital signal processor (56) performs operations on data for retrieval by the main processing unit (12).
Claims42
A computer system comprising:
- system processing circuitry;
- a processor/memory module coupled to said system processing circuitry comprising:
- semiconductor memory;
- a processor coupled to said semiconductor memory;
- and
- control circuitry for providing communications between said system processing circuitry and said processor
- such that said system processing circuitry can access said semiconductor memory as main memory and can instruct said processor to transform data and store transformed data in said semiconductor memory for access by said system processing circuitry,
- said system processing circuitry determines whether a processor/memory module is installed in the system by successively writing signature data to a memory location for a predetermined number of times and reading the data stored in the location to see if it matches an expected response.
A computer comprising:
- system processing circuitry;
- a memory bus;
- and
- a processor/memory module coupled to said processing circuitry via said memory bus comprising:
- semiconductor memory;
- one or more processors coupled to said semiconductor memory;
- and
- control circuitry for providing communications between said system processing circuitry and said processor
- such that said system processing circuitry can access said semiconductor memory as main memory and can instruct said processor to transform data and store transformed data in said semiconductor memory for access by said system processing circuitry,
- said system processing circuitry determines whether a processor/memory module is installed in the system by successively writing signature data to a memory location for a predetermined number of times and reading the data stored in the location to see if it matches an expected response.
A method of processing data in a computer system, comprising the steps of:
- processing a first set of instructions using system processing circuitry;
- processing a second set of instructions using one or more processors coupled to said system processing circuitry via a memory bus;
- and
- sharing semiconductor memory on said memory bus between said processing circuitry and said processor;
- and determining whether a processor is coupled to the memory bus by successively writing signature data to a memory location for a predetermined number of times and reading the data stored in the location to see if it matches an expected response.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.