Managing concurrent access to multiple storage bank domains by multiple interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9690494-B2
Application number	US-201514805185-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2015
Priority date	Jul 21, 2015
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

System, methods and apparatus are described that facilitate access to a memory device. A memory space within the memory device is divided into a plurality of storage bank domains. Thereafter, application interface circuits configured to access the memory space are classified into a plurality of interface groups based on one or more application usage requirements. Each interface group of the plurality of interface groups is assigned to a corresponding storage bank domain from the plurality of storage bank domains. Access between each interface group and the corresponding storage bank domain is then provided, wherein a first application interface circuit of a first interface group accesses a first corresponding storage bank domain while a second application interface circuit of a second interface group accesses a second corresponding storage bank domain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of accessing a memory device, comprising:
dividing a memory space within the memory device into a plurality of storage bank domains;
classifying application interface circuits configured to access the memory space into a plurality of interface groups based on one or more application usage requirements;
assigning each interface group of the plurality of interface groups to a corresponding storage bank domain from the plurality of storage bank domains; and
providing access between each interface group and the corresponding storage bank domain, wherein a first application interface circuit of a first interface group accesses a storage bank of a first corresponding storage bank domain while a second application interface circuit of a second interface group accesses a storage bank of a second corresponding storage bank domain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more application usage requirements includes at least one of:
an application storage size requirement;
an application interface bandwidth requirement; or
an application interface latency requirement.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access is provided by a plurality of routers managing concurrent data flow between the plurality of interface groups and the plurality of storage bank domains, wherein the plurality of routers are located between the application interface circuits and the plurality of storage bank domains.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each router of the plurality of routers is located adjacent to a corresponding set of storage banks, the corresponding set of storage banks including storage banks of different storage bank domains.

5. The method of claim 4 , further including sending data having a low-latency requirement from an application interface circuit of an interface group to a storage bank of a corresponding storage bank domain via a router providing lowest-latency access to the storage bank.

6. The method of claim 1 , further including separately power-controlling the plurality of storage bank domains.

7. An apparatus for accessing a memory device, comprising:
means for dividing a memory space within the memory device into a plurality of storage bank domains;
means for classifying application interface circuits configured to access the memory space into a plurality of interface groups based on one or more application usage requirements;
means for assigning each interface group of the plurality of interface groups to a corresponding storage bank domain from the plurality of storage bank domains; and
means for providing access between each interface group and the corresponding storage bank domain, wherein a first application interface circuit of a first interface group accesses a first corresponding storage bank domain while a second application interface circuit of a second interface group accesses a second corresponding storage bank domain.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the one or more application usage requirements includes at least one of:
an application storage size requirement;
an application interface bandwidth requirement; or
an application interface latency requirement.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the means for providing access includes a plurality of routers managing concurrent data flow between the plurality of interface groups and the plurality of storage bank domains, wherein the plurality of routers are located between the application interface circuits and the plurality of storage bank domains.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each router of the plurality of routers is located adjacent to a corresponding set of storage banks, the corresponding set of storage banks including storage banks of different storage bank domains.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further including means for sending data having a low-latency requirement from an application interface circuit of an interface group to a storage bank of a corresponding storage bank domain via a router providing lowest-latency access to the storage bank.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , further including means for separately power-controlling the plurality of storage bank domains.

13. An apparatus for accessing a memory device, comprising:
at least one processing circuit configured to:
divide a memory space within the memory device into a plurality of storage bank domains;
classify application interface circuits configured to access the memory space into a plurality of interface groups based on one or more application usage requirements;
assign each interface group of the plurality of interface groups to a corresponding storage bank domain from the plurality of storage bank domains; and
provide access between each interface group and the corresponding storage bank domain, wherein a first application interface circuit of a first interface group accesses a first corresponding storage bank domain while a second application interface circuit of a second interface group accesses a second corresponding storage bank domain.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more application usage requirements includes at least one of:
an application storage size requirement;
an application interface bandwidth requirement; or
an application interface latency requirement.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processing circuit is configured to provide the access via a plurality of routers managing concurrent data flow between the plurality of interface groups and the plurality of storage bank domains, wherein the plurality of routers are located between the application interface circuits and the plurality of storage bank domains.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein each router of the plurality of routers is located adjacent to a corresponding set of storage banks, the corresponding set of storage banks including storage banks of different storage bank domains.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processing circuit is further configured to send data having a low-latency requirement from an application interface circuit of an interface group to a storage bank of a corresponding storage bank domain via a router providing lowest-latency access to the storage bank.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processing circuit is further configured to separately power-control the plurality of storage bank domains.

19. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one processing circuit, cause the at least one processing circuit to:
divide a memory space within a memory device into a plurality of storage bank domains;
classify application interface circuits configured to access the memory space into a plurality of interface groups based on one or more application usage requirements;
assign each interface group of the plurality of interface groups to a corresponding storage bank domain from the plurality of storage bank domains; and
provide access between each interface group and the corresponding storage bank domain, wherein a first application interface circuit of a first interface group accesses a first corresponding storage bank domain while a second application interface circuit of a second interface group accesses a second corresponding storage bank domain.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the one or more application usage requirements includes at least one of:
an application storage size requirement;
an applicatio

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Barot Nitinkumar
• Li Yifan

Classifications

• G06F13/16 Primary

  for access to memory bus (G06F13/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F12/00

  Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures (digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06) · CPC title

• G06F12/0623

  for memory modules · CPC title

• G06F2212/1028

  Power efficiency · CPC title

• G06F3/0685

  Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays · CPC title