Patent ID: 8437167

Claim:
A shift register memory device, comprising: a shift register including a plurality of rotors arranged along one direction and provided with an uniaxial anisotropy, each of the plurality of rotors having a characteristic direction rotatable around a rotational axis extending in the one direction; a program/read element configured to program data to the shift register by causing the characteristic direction of one of the rotors to match one selected from two directions conforming to the uniaxial anisotropy and configured to read the data by detecting the characteristic direction; and a rotating force application unit configured to apply a rotating force to the shift register to urge the characteristic direction to rotate, the plurality of rotors being organized into a plurality of pairs of every two mutually adjacent rotors, a first coupling acting to urge the characteristic directions to be opposingly parallel for two of the rotors belonging to the same pair, a second coupling acting to urge the characteristic directions to be opposingly parallel for two mutually adjacent rotors belonging to mutually adjacent pairs, the second coupling being weaker than the first coupling.