PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15939923
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2019-10
Patent Classification: ["365", "158000"]

Abstract:
Magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) employing an integrated physically unclonable function (PUF) memory. The MRAM includes an MRAM array comprising an MRAM data array of data MRAM bit cells and an MRAM PUF array comprising PUF MRAM bit cells to form an integrated MRAM PUF array in the MRAM array. A resistance sensed from the PUF MRAM bit cells is compared to a reference resistance between the reference MRAM bit cells in the accessed MRAM bit cell row circuit in response to a read operation to cancel or mitigate the effect of process variations on MRAM bit cell resistance. The difference in sensed resistance and reference resistance is used to generate a random PUF output. By integrating the MRAM PUF array into an MRAM array containing an MRAM data array, access circuitry can be shared to control access to the MRAM data array and MRAM PUF, thus saving memory area.

Claim (Index 15):
A magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM), comprising:\n an MRAM array, comprising:\n a plurality of MRAM bit cell row circuits each comprising a plurality of MRAM bit cells; and \n a plurality of MRAM bit cell column circuits each comprising an MRAM bit cell from an MRAM bit cell row circuit among the plurality of MRAM bit cell row circuits; \n an MRAM data array comprising one or more MRAM bit cell row circuits among the plurality of MRAM bit cell row circuits in the MRAM array, wherein the MRAM bit cells in the MRAM data array comprise a plurality of data MRAM bit cells; and an MRAM physically unclonable function (PUF) array comprising one or more MRAM bit cell row circuits among the plurality of MRAM bit cell row circuits in the MRAM array not included in the MRAM data array, wherein MRAM bit cells in the MRAM PUF array comprise a plurality of PUF MRAM bit cells; and a memory access circuit, comprising:\n a write driver circuit coupled to the MRAM array, the write driver circuit configured to generate a reference write signal to program at least one PUF MRAM bit cell in at least one MRAM bit cell column circuit to a reference memory state, in response to a PUF write operation selecting the MRAM bit cell row circuit to be written in the MRAM PUF array; \n a reference write driver circuit configured to generate a second reference write signal to program at least one reference MRAM bit cell in at least one reference MRAM bit cell column circuit to the reference memory state, in response to the PUF write operation selecting the MRAM bit cell row circuit to be written in the MRAM PUF array; and \n a data output circuit configured to, in response to a PUF read operation selecting an MRAM bit cell row circuit to be read:\n receive a PUF data signal representing a resistance of the at least one PUF MRAM bit cell in the at least one MRAM bit cell column circuit for the selected MRAM bit cell row circuit for the PUF read operation; \n receive a reference signal representing a resistance of the at least one reference MRAM bit cell in the at least one reference MRAM bit cell column circuit for the selected MRAM bit cell row circuit for the PUF read operation; \n compare the PUF data signal to the reference signal; and \n generate a PUF output based on a difference between the PUF data signal and the reference signal.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 42.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 2.36765
- Patent Class: 365.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15639099', '15849863', '15676957', '15414855', '15078182']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.7935761736921947
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5240009657377794
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7666186528967532
- Mean Citation Score: 314.784094
- Max Citation Score: 347.02042
- Similarity Product: 262.506636367693

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test