Apple patents chip design that spreads memory across multiple controllers
Apple has been granted a patent for a system on a chip that uses a unified memory architecture to distribute data across multiple memory controllers. This design allows processor cores, graphics units, and other components to share memory efficiently within a single integrated circuit.
In the filing’s own words
A system including a plurality of processor cores, a plurality of graphics processing units, a plurality of peripheral circuits, and a plurality of memory controllers is configured to support scaling of the system using a unified memory architecture.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A system, comprising: a plurality of processor cores; a plurality of graphics processing units; a plurality of peripheral devices distinct from the processor cores and the graphics processing units; a plurality of memory controller circuits configured to interface with a system memory; and an interconnect fabric configured to provide communication between the memory controller circuits and the processor cores, the graphics processing units, and the peripheral devices; wherein the processor cores, the graphics processing units, the peripheral devices and the memory controller circuits are configured to communicate via a unified memory architecture in which adjacent blocks of a given page within a unified address space defined by the unified memory architecture are distributed among the plurality of memory controller circuits; and wherein the processor cores, the graphics processing units, the peripheral devices, the memory controller circuits, and the interconnect fabric are included in a system on a chip (SOC) integrated onto one or more co-packaged semiconductor dies.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Scalable system on a chip
- Patent number
- US12737296B2
- Application number
- 18607128
- Filed
- Mar 15, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 12/0831 Physics & computingG06F 12/0811 Physics & computingG06F 12/0815 Physics & computingG06F 12/109 Physics & computingG06F 12/128 Physics & computingG06F 13/161 Physics & computingMore from Apple in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.