Register file apparatus and method incorporating read-after-write blocking using detection cells

• Main Authors: PAREDES JOSE ANGEL, KLIM PETER JUERGEN, CHU SAM GAT-SHANG, LEE MICHAEL JU HYEOK
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 17.03.2010
• Subjects: INFORMATION STORAGE; PHYSICS; STATIC STORES

A register file apparatus and method incorporating read-after-write blocking using detection cells (14) provides improved read access times in high performance register files. One or more detection cells (14) identical to the register file cells and located in the register file array are used to control the read operation in the register file by configuring the detection cells (14) to either alternate value at each write or change to a particular value after a write and then detecting when the write has completed by detecting the state change of an active detection cell (14). The state changedetection can be used to delay the leading edge of a read strobe or may be used in the access control logic (10) to delay generation of a next read strobe. The register file thus provides a scalable design that does not have to be tuned for each application and that tracks over voltage and clock skew variation.