Interface circuit and memory controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024241787-A1
Application number	US-202318215796-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2023
Priority date	Jan 17, 2023
Publication date	Jul 18, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

An interface circuit includes multiple signal processing devices and a monitor and calibration module. The monitor and calibration module includes multiple monitor circuits, multiple calibration circuits, a compensation accelerator and a processor. The monitor circuits monitor at least one of an amplitude, a frequency and jitter in at least one of a reception signal and a transmission signal to correspondingly generate a monitored result and monitor at least one of power supplying voltage and ground voltage to correspondingly generate a monitored result. The compensation accelerator collects the monitored results and generates a calibration control signal corresponding to each calibration circuit according to calibration commands. The processor generates the calibration commands based on the monitored results. The calibration circuits perform a corresponding calibration operation on the corresponding signal processing device in response to the calibration control signal to adjust a characteristic value of the signal processing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An interface circuit, comprising:
a signal processing circuit, configured to process a reception signal received from a host device and a transmission signal to be transmitted to the host device, wherein the signal processing circuit comprises: a plurality of signal processing devices; and a monitor and calibration module, comprising:
a plurality of monitor circuits, configured to monitor at least one of an amplitude, a frequency and a jitter in at least one of the reception signal and the transmission signal to generate a monitored result corresponding to the at least one of the amplitude, the frequency and the jitter in the at least one of the reception signal and the transmission signal and to monitor at least one of a power supplying voltage and a ground voltage to generate a monitored result corresponding to the at least one of the power supplying voltage and the ground voltage in a monitor and calibration procedure;
a plurality of calibration circuits, coupled to the signal processing devices and respectively configured to perform a calibration operation on at least one of the signal processing devices in the monitor and calibration procedure to adjust a characteristic value of the at least one of the signal processing devices;
a compensation accelerator, coupled to the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits and configured to collect the monitored results from the monitor circuits; and
a processor, coupled to the compensation accelerator and configured to generate a plurality of calibration commands based on the monitored results,
wherein the compensation accelerator is further configured to sequentially generate a calibration control signal corresponding to each calibration circuit according to the calibration commands, and the calibration circuits are respectively configured to perform the calibration operation in response to the calibration control signal.

2 . The interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the interface circuit is configured inside of a memory controller and the signal processing circuit is a Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes).

3 . The interface circuit of claim 1 , wherein the compensation accelerator comprises:
an interrupt handle interface, coupled to the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits and configured to manage a plurality of interrupt requests received from the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits, buffer the interrupt requests and generate an interrupt notification signal according to the interrupt requests, and issue the interrupt notification signal to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to sequentially handle events corresponding to the interrupt requests according to the interrupt notification signal and issue a process complete notification to the interrupt handle interface after completion of an event to notify the interrupt handle interface about the completion of the event, and the interrupt handle interface is further configured to delete the interrupt request corresponding to the event in response to the process complete notification.

4 . The interface circuit of claim 3 , wherein the compensation accelerator further comprises:
a command data handle interface, configured to buffer a plurality of commands and data, wherein the commands comprise the calibration commands, the data comprises the monitored results collected from the monitor circuits and calibration data corresponding to the calibration commands and provided by the processor.

5 . The interface circuit of claim 4 , wherein the compensation accelerator further comprises:
an accelerator management and control unit, configured to determine a next operation in the monitor and calibration procedure according to the commands and an event processing result reported by the interrupt handle interface, and accordingly generate a monitor control signal or the calibration control signal.

6 . The interface circuit of claim 5 , wherein the compensation accelerator further comprises:
a monitor handle interface, coupled to the monitor circuits and configured to receive and decode the monitor control signal and provide a decoded monitor control signal to one of the monitor circuits according to a decoding result of the monitor control signal.

7 . The interface circuit of claim 5 , wherein the compensation accelerator further comprises:
a calibration handle interface, coupled to the calibration circuits and configured to receive and decode the calibration control signal and provide a decoded calibration control signal to one of the calibration circuits according to a decoding result of the calibration control signal.

8 . A memory controller, coupled to a memory device to control access operations of the memory device, comprising:
a host interface, configured to communicate with a host device and comprise a signal processing circuit to process a reception signal received from the host device and a transmission signal to be transmitted to the host device, wherein the signal processing circuit comprises: a plurality of signal processing devices; and a monitor and calibration module, comprising:
a plurality of monitor circuits, configured to monitor at least one of an amplitude, a frequency and a jitter in at least one of the reception signal and the transmission signal to generate a monitored result corresponding to the at least one of the amplitude, the frequency and the jitter in the at least one of the reception signal and the transmission signal and monitor at least one of a power supplying voltage and a ground voltage to generate a monitored result corresponding to the at least one of the power supplying voltage and the ground voltage in a monitor and calibration procedure;
a plurality of calibration circuits, coupled to the signal processing devices and respectively configured to perform a calibration operation on at least one of the signal processing devices in the monitor and calibration procedure to adjust a characteristic value of the at least one of the signal processing devices;
a compensation accelerator, coupled to the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits and configured to collect the monitored results from the monitor circuits; and
a processor, coupled to the compensation accelerator and configured to generate a plurality of calibration commands based on the monitored results,
wherein the compensation accelerator is further configured to sequentially generate a calibration control signal corresponding to each calibration circuit according to the calibration commands, and the calibration circuits are respectively configured to perform the calibration operation in response to the calibration control signal.

9 . The memory controller of claim 8 , wherein the signal processing circuit is a Serializer-Deserializer (SerDes).

10 . The memory controller of claim 8 , wherein the compensation accelerator comprise:
an interrupt handle interface, coupled to the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits and configured to manage a plurality of interrupt requests received from the monitor circuits and the calibration circuits, buffer the interrupt requests and generate an interrupt notification signal according to the interrupt requests, and issue the interrupt notification signal to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to sequentially handle events corresponding to the interrupt requests according to the interrupt notification signal and issue a process complete notification to the interrupt handle interface after completion of an event to notify the interrupt handle interface about the completion of the event, and the interrupt handle interface is further configured to delete the interrupt request corr

Assignees

• Silicon Motion Inc

Inventors

• Shih Fu-Jen

Classifications

• H03K19/017509

  Interface arrangements · CPC title

• H03K19/00369

  Modifications for compensating variations of temperature, supply voltage or other physical parameters · CPC title

• H03M9/00

  Parallel/series conversion or vice versa (digital stores in which the information is moved stepwise per se G11C19/00) · CPC title

• G11C7/24

  Memory cell safety or protection circuits, e.g. arrangements for preventing inadvertent reading or writing; Status cells; Test cells · CPC title

• G11C7/1048 Primary

  Data bus control circuits, e.g. precharging, presetting, equalising · CPC title