Scaleable analog multiplier-accumulator with shared result bus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12014151-B2
Application number	US-202017139935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2020
Priority date	Dec 31, 2020
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A plurality of unit elements share a charge transfer bus, each unit element accepts A and B digital inputs and generates a product P as an analog charge transferred to the charge transfer bus, each unit element comprised of groups of AND gates coupled to charge transfer lines through a capacitor Cu. Each unit element receives one bit of the B input applied to all of the AND gates of the unit element, and each unit element having the bits of A applied to each associated AND gate input of each unit element. The AND gates of each unit element are coupled to charge transfer lines through a capacitor Cu, and the charge transfer lines couple to binary weighted charge summing capacitors which sum and scale the charges contributed by all unit elements to the charge transfer lines according to a bit weight and converted to a digital value output.

First claim

We claim:

1. A multiplier-accumulator comprising:
a plurality of unit elements, each unit element having a digital A input value and a digital B input value, the unit element comprising a plurality of AND-groups, each AND-group comprising a plurality of AND gates, each AND gate having one input coupled to unique one of the A input bits and the other AND gate inputs commonly coupled to one of the B input bits;
a plurality of analog charge lines, each AND gate of a product generator coupled to particular analog charge line through a charge transfer capacitor of value C;
a charge summing unit comprising a plurality of binary weighted charge summing capacitors, one terminal of each charge summing capacitor coupled to a respective analog charge line, the other terminal of the charge summing capacitors coupled to an analog to digital converter input;
each capacitor of the charge summing unit having a value Cs*2 n where n is the binary weighted order of the respective analog charge line and a value Cs which is smaller than a total value of charge transfer capacitors coupled to a respective analog charge line.

2. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 1 where the charge summing capacitors have values which provide an analog charge line with a factor of two greater charge transfer to the analog to digital converter than a different analog charge line.

3. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 1 where each charge summing capacitor is selected to provide a charge transfer of charge for each analog charge line which is a factor of 2 greater than a transfer of charge for an adjacent analog charge line.

4. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 1 where a number of AND-groups in the plurality of AND-groups is three or four.

5. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 1 where a bias charge is introduced into the analog charge lines by switched elements.

6. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 1 where the analog charge lines are operative to remove charge from at least one of the charge transfer capacitors and the summing capacitors.

7. A multiplier-accumulator having a first plurality of digital inputs comprising an A and B pair, the multiplier-accumulator comprising:
a plurality of unit elements, each unit element multiplying an A input and B input of a respective A and B pair and transferring the multiplication result as a plurality of charges to a plurality of analog charge lines;
each unit element comprising a plurality of AND-groups, each AND-group comprising a plurality of AND gates, each AND gate of an AND group coupled to a bit of a respective A input of a pair, each AND gate of an AND group coupled to one of the bits of a respective B input of a pair, each AND gate output coupled to an analog charge line of a shared analog charge bus;
each analog charge line of the shared analog charge bus coupled to a binary weighted charge summing unit comprising a plurality of binary weighted summing capacitors, each binary weighted summing capacitor having a terminal connected to one of the analog charge lines, the other terminal of the binary weighted summing capacitors coupled together and to the input of an analog to digital converter for providing an accumulated multiplication result of the plurality of digital inputs.

8. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where each A input and B input comprise three or four bits.

9. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where the shared analog charge bus includes switches for initializing a charge value on charge transfer capacitors and binary weighted summing capacitors.

10. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where the shared analog charge bus includes switchable capacitors for providing a bias value.

11. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where the binary weighted summing capacitors have a value which provides that each AND gate output coupled to a particular charge transfer line provides a factor of two more charge transfer than an AND gate output coupled to a different charge transfer line.

12. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where each AND gate charge transfer capacitor has the same value as other AND gate charge transfer capacitors.

13. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where the total capacitance of charge transfer capacitors on a particular charge transfer bus is at least eight times greater than a capacitance of an associated charge summing capacitor coupled to the particular charge transfer line.

14. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 7 where each AND gate has an associated B input bit number and an associated A input bit number, and each associated charge transfer capacitor is coupled to a charge transfer line according to the sum of the A input bit number and the B input bit number.

15. A multiplier-accumulator comprising:
a shared analog charge bus comprising a plurality of analog charge lines;
a binary weighted charge summing unit comprising a binary weighted capacitor having one terminal coupled to each analog charge line, the binary weighted capacitor second terminals connected together and to an analog to digital converter for converting a transferred charge into a digital output;
a plurality of unit elements coupled to the shared analog charge bus, each unit element comprising:
a digital A input having bits and a digital B input having bits;
a plurality of AND-groups, each AND-group comprising a plurality of AND gates, each AND gate having one input coupled to a unique one of the A input bits and another input coupled to a B input bit;
each AND gate having a charge transfer capacitor connecting an output of the AND gate to a particular analog charge line.

16. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 15 where each AND gate has an associated B input bit number and an associated A input bit number, and each associated charge transfer capacitor is coupled to a charge transfer line according to the sum of the A input bit number and the B input bit number.

17. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 16 where each particular charge transfer line has a bit significance equal to a sum of the A input bit number and the B input bit number associated the AND gate coupled through the charge transfer capacitor to the particular charge transfer line, and the associated summing capacitor for the charge summing unit provides a factor of two greater charge transfer to the analog to digital converter for each increment of the sum of the A input bit number and the B input bit number.

18. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 15 where each charge summing capacitor has a value Cs*2 n .

19. The multiplier-accumulator of claim 15 where each AND gate is coupled to a separate analog charge line.

Assignees

• Ceremorphic Inc

Inventors

• Kraemer Martin
• Boesch Ryan
• Xiong Wei

Classifications

• H03M1/12

  Analogue/digital converters ({H03M1/001 – } H03M1/10 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F2207/4824

  Neural networks · CPC title

• G06F2207/4814

  Non-logic devices, e.g. operational amplifiers · CPC title

• G06F7/5443 Primary

  Sum of products (for applications thereof, see the relevant places, e.g. G06F17/10, H03H17/00) · CPC title