Multi-port memory device with stacked banks

A multi-port memory device comprising:

• a plurality of ports;
• a plurality of stacked banks two or more of which share one data line driver, each stacked bank including a plurality of memory cells;
• a plurality of write buffers coupled respectively to the ports and structured to store write data received through the ports;
• data line drivers coupled respectively between the stacked banks and the plurality of write buffers and structured to drive the write data using memory cells of a selected bank among the plurality of stacked banks;
• and
• write data lines respectively coupling the data line drivers to the plurality of write buffers.

A multi-port memory device comprising:

• a plurality of bi-directional data ports;
• a plurality of stacked banks, each stacked bank including a plurality of memory cells;
• data line sense amplifiers respectively coupled to the plurality of stacked banks and structured to sense data read from memory cells of a selected bank of the plurality of stacked banks;
• data line drivers respectively coupled between the stacked banks and write buffers and structured to drive write data using memory cells of a selected bank of the plurality of stacked banks;
• a plurality of read buffers respectively coupled to the plurality of ports, the buffers structured to store memory cell data output from the data line sense amplifiers, and to output the stored memory cell data to the plurality of ports;
• a plurality of write buffers respectively coupled to the ports and structured to store write data received through the ports;
• read data lines that couple the data line sense amplifiers to the plurality of read buffers, wherein first data transmitted between a first sense amplifier and a first read buffer is transmitted simultaneously with second data transmitted between a second sense amplifier and a second read buffer;
• and
• write data lines that couple the data line drivers to the plurality of write buffers, wherein third data transmitted between a first write buffer and a first data line driver is transmitted simultaneously with fourth data transmitted between a second write buffer and a second data line driver.

A method comprising:

• reading data from memory cells within stacked banks;
• sensing data with at least two data line sense amplifiers;
• and
• simultaneously transmitting the sensed data from at least two data line sense amplifiers to at least two buffers, respectively.

A method comprising:

• transmitting a first data to a port in a multi-port memory;
• transmitting a second data to a different port in the multi-port memory;
• storing the first data in memory cells within stacked banks in the multi-port memory;
• and
• storing the second data in different memory cells within the stacked banks in the multi-port memory,
• wherein storing the first data and storing the second data occurs simultaneously.

A method comprising:

• selecting first memory cell data to be read from a first memory cell in a plurality of stacked memory banks;
• selecting second memory cell data to be read from a second memory cell in the plurality of stacked memory banks;
• sensing and amplifying the first memory cell data with a first sense amplifier connected to a first buffer;
• sensing and amplifying the second memory cell data with a second sense amplifier connected to a second buffer;
• and
• storing the first memory cell data in the first buffer and the second memory cell data in the second buffer, wherein the first and second memory cell data is respectively stored to the first and second memory buffers substantially simultaneously.