Redundant DRAM Data Interfaces for High-Capacity Memory Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional memory systems face limitations in the number of DRAM components that can be connected to a single channel, leading to degraded signaling integrity and reduced signaling rates as the number of modules per channel increases.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of redundant and interconnected data interfaces in DRAM components allows for increased connectivity, enabling more DRAM components per memory channel without compromising signaling speeds through multiplexers and configurable delay elements, which facilitate data transfer between components and optimize memory interconnect topologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the number of modules per memory channel is increased, then memory capacity per channel is improved, but signaling integrity and signaling rates are degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The memory channel is segmented into multiple independent data interfaces (first data interface and second data interface), each capable of operating independently at high signaling rates. This segmentation allows the system to connect more memory modules without degrading the signaling integrity of individual interfaces, as each interface handles a subset of the total data traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an additional dimension to the memory interconnect by implementing redundant data interfaces that provide alternative data paths. Instead of increasing the load on a single interface, the system adds another interface dimension, allowing memory modules to be connected through multiple parallel paths, thereby maintaining signaling integrity while increasing overall capacity.
2Quantity of substance
If the number of modules per memory channel is increased, then memory capacity per channel is improved, but signaling rates are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The data transfer function is segmented across multiple independent interfaces, each operating at full signaling rate. By dividing the total data traffic across the first and second data interfaces, each interface maintains high signaling rates even as the number of connected memory modules increases, preventing the rate degradation that would occur in a single-interface architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple data interfaces at the memory module level, where each module possesses both a first data interface and a second data interface. These interfaces are combined to provide redundant and parallel data paths, allowing the system to achieve high memory capacity while maintaining high signaling rates through parallel operation of multiple interfaces.
3Quantity of substance
If redundant data interfaces are implemented, then memory capacity per channel is enhanced, but device complexity is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The first and second data interfaces are designed with universal functionality, where each interface can serve multiple purposes: direct connection to the memory controller, interconnection between memory modules, or redundant backup. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity while still achieving enhanced memory capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The interconnect topology is made dynamic through configurable multiplexers that can route data through different paths based on operational requirements. The multiplexers enable the system to adaptively switch between using one or both data interfaces, allowing flexible configuration that optimizes performance while managing complexity through software-controlled routing rather than fixed hardwired connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A memory system includes dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) components that include interconnected and redundant component data interfaces. The redundant interfaces facilitate memory interconnect topologies that accommodate considerably more DRAM components per memory channel than do traditional memory systems, and thus offer considerably more memory capacity per channel, without concomitant reductions in signaling speeds. Each DRAM component includes multiplexers that allow either of the data interfaces to write data to or read data from a common set of memory banks, and to selectively relay write and read data to and from other components, bypassing the local banks. Delay elements can impose selected read/write delays to align read and write transactions from and to disparate DRAM components.