What is claimed is:
1. An advertising content redelivery system for use with real-time broadcasting and time shift recording, comprising:
a confirmation component detecting skipping of advertising content by a user;
an input receptive of user preferences relating to redelivery of skipped advertising content; and
a redelivery module redelivering skipped advertising content to the user in accordance with the user preferences.
2. The system of claim 1, comprising a redelivery verification module verifying redelivery of skipped advertising content by detecting user interaction with skipped advertising content.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein said redelivery verification module includes an interaction detector detecting user manipulation of skipped advertising content on an active display.
4. The system of claim 1, comprising a user incentive sub-system rewarding the user based on user interaction with skipped advertising content.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein said user incentive subsystem includes a media interface delivering additional media content to the user contingent upon user interaction with skipped advertising content.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the additional media content corresponds to an electronic programming guide providing information relating to available primary media content.
7. The system of claim 5, wherein said media interface is adapted to deliver additional media content and skipped advertising content via a first active display, thereby avoiding intrusion upon delivery of primary media content via a second active display.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein said user incentive sub-system includes a points accumulation sub-system permitting a user to accumulate points based on user interaction with skipped advertising content, and said media interface is adapted to apply accumulated points to delivery of additional media content.
9. The system of claim 1, comprising a data store storing skipped advertising content.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein said confirmation component is adapted to deliver advertising content to said data store upon detecting skipping of the advertising content by the user.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein said redelivery module is adapted to redeliver skipped advertising content by email to the user in accordance with user preferences.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein said redelivery module is adapted to redeliver skipped advertising content by voicemail to the user in accordance with user preferences.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein said redelivery module is adapted to redeliver skipped advertising content by communicating the skipped advertising content from a recording device to a remote control device having an active display and adapted to deliver the advertising content via the active display.
14. The system of claim 1, comprising a metadata parser adapted to generate metadata by adding identifying information to event markers and associating the event markers with corresponding time codes, and adapted to associate the metadata with corresponding portions of advertising content.
15. An advertising content redelivery method for use with real-time broadcasting and time shift recording, comprising:
detecting skipping of advertising content by a user;
storing skipped advertising content; and
redelivering skipped advertising content to the user in a non-intrusive manner that does not interfere with user enjoyment of primary media content.
16. The method of claim 15, comprising detecting user interaction with skipped advertising content, thereby verifying redelivery of skipped advertising content.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein said detecting user interaction with skipped advertising content includes detecting user manipulation of skipped advertising content on an active display.
18. The method of claim 15, comprising rewarding the user based on user interaction with skipped advertising content.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said rewarding includes delivering additional media content to the user contingent upon user interaction with skipped advertising content.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein said rewarding includes granting the user access to an electronic programming guide providing information relating to available primary media content.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein said rewarding includes delivering additional media content and skipped advertising content via a first active display, thereby avoiding intrusion upon delivery of primary media content via a second active display.
22. The system of claim 19, wherein said rewarding includes:
permitting a user to accumulate points based on user interaction with skipped advertising content; and
applying accumulated points to delivery of additional media content.
23. The system of claim 15, comprising:
receiving user preferences relating to redelivery of skipped advertising content; and
redelivering skipped advertising content to the user in accordance with the user preferences.
24. The system of claim 15, wherein said redelivering skipped advertising content includes redelivering skipped advertising content by email to the user.
25. The method of claim 15, wherein said redelivering skipped advertising content includes redelivering skipped advertising content by voicemail to the user.
26. The method of claim 15, wherein said redelivering skipped advertising content includes transferring the skipped advertising content from a recording device to a remote control device having an active display and redelivering the skipped advertising content via the active display.
27. The method of claim 15, comprising:
adding identifying information to event markers;
associating the event markers with corresponding time codes to generate metadata;
associating the metadata with corresponding portions of advertising content decoded from a broadcast signal,
wherein said detecting skipping of advertising content by a user includes identifying a skipped advertisement during replay of corresponding primary media content based on the metadata.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A device comprising:
a first current mirror electrically connected to a reference current source of a memory array;
a second current mirror electrically connected to a cell current source of the memory array;
a first inverter having:
a first input terminal electrically connected to the first current mirror; and
a first output terminal; and
a second inverter having:
a second input terminal electrically connected to the second current mirror and the first output terminal; and
a second output terminal electrically connected to the first current mirror and the first input terminal.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein:
the first inverter has:
a first transistor;
a second transistor having a gate electrode electrically connected to a gate electrode of the first transistor; and
a first enable transistor having a source electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the first transistor, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the second transistor; and
the second inverter has:
a third transistor;
a fourth transistor having a gate electrode electrically connected to a gate electrode of the third transistor; and
a second enable transistor having a source electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the third transistor, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the fourth transistor.
3. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a first pre-charge transistor electrically connected to the first input terminal; and
a second pre-charge transistor electrically connected to the second input terminal.
4. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a first clamp transistor electrically connected to the first current mirror and the reference current source; and
a second clamp transistor electrically connected to the second current mirror and the cell current source.
5. The device of claim 4, further comprising:
a first select transistor electrically connected to the first clamp transistor and the reference current source; and
a second select transistor electrically connected to the second clamp transistor and the cell current source.
6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a third inverter having an input terminal electrically connected to the first output terminal; and
a fourth inverter having an input terminal electrically connected to the second output terminal.
7. A device comprising:
at least two sense amplifier blocks, each sense amplifier block including:
a first multiplexer having at least two inputs electrically connected to first bit cells of a memory array;
a second multiplexer having at least two inputs electrically connected to second bit cells of the memory array;
a reference current source having:
a first reference line electrically connected to a first reference bit cell; and
a second reference line electrically connected to a second reference bit cell;
a first sense amplifier having a first input electrically connected to an output of the first multiplexer, and a second input electrically connected to a first output terminal of the reference current source; and
a second sense amplifier having a first input electrically connected to an output of the second multiplexer, and a second input electrically connected to a second output terminal of the reference current source; and
at least one switch configured to merge reference currents supplied through the first and second reference lines of the at least two sense amplifier blocks.
8. The device of claim 7, wherein each of the first and second sense amplifiers comprises:
a first current mirror electrically connected to the reference current source;
a second current mirror electrically connected to the first or second multiplexer;
a first inverter having:
a first input terminal electrically connected to the first current mirror;
a first output terminal; and
a second inverter having:
a second input terminal electrically connected to the second current mirror and the first output terminal; and
a second output terminal electrically connected to the first current mirror and the first input terminal.
9. The device of claim 8, wherein:
the first inverter has:
a first transistor;
a second transistor having a gate electrode electrically connected to a gate electrode of the first transistor; and
a first enable transistor having a source electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the first transistor, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the second transistor; and
the second inverter has:
a third transistor;
a fourth transistor having a gate electrode electrically connected to a gate electrode of the third transistor; and
a second enable transistor having a source electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the third transistor, and a drain electrode electrically connected to a drain electrode of the fourth transistor.
10. The device of claim 8, wherein each of the first and second sense amplifiers further comprises:
a first pre-charge transistor electrically connected to the first input terminal; and
a second pre-charge transistor electrically connected to the second input terminal.
11. The device of claim 8, wherein each of the first and second sense amplifiers further comprises:
first clamp transistor electrically connected to the first current mirror and the reference current source; and
a second clamp transistor electrically connected to the second current mirror and a memory cell.
12. The device of claim 11, wherein each of the first and second sense amplifiers further comprises:
a first select transistor electrically connected to the first clamp transistor and the reference current source; and
a second select transistor electrically connected to the second clamp transistor and the memory cell.
13. The device of claim 8, wherein each of the first and second sense amplifiers further comprises:
a third inverter having an input terminal electrically connected to the first output terminal; and
a fourth inverter having an input terminal electrically connected to the second output terminal.
14. A method comprising:
(a) receiving a reference current;
(b) mirroring the reference current to generate a mirrored reference current;
(c) receiving a cell current;
(d) mirroring the cell current to generate a mirrored cell current;
(e) charging a first input node of a sense amplifier to a first voltage by the mirrored reference current;
(f) charging a second input node of the sense amplifier to a second voltage by the mirrored cell current; and
(g) latching the first and second voltages.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
(h) discharging the first and second input nodes of the sense amplifier to a third voltage prior to (e) and (f).
16. The method of claim 14, wherein (a) includes receiving the reference current from a reference current source shared between the sense amplifier and another sense amplifier.
17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:
(i) outputting a differential sense signal by inverting the first voltage by a first inverter and inverting the second voltage by a second inverter.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein (c) includes receiving the cell current generated by a resistive random access memory (RRAM) bit cell.
19. The method of claim 14, wherein (a) includes receiving the reference current from a reference current source shared between the sense amplifier and at least three other sense amplifiers.
20. The method of claim 14, wherein (a) includes receiving a merged current including first current from a first bit cell programmed to binary \u201c1\u201d and second current from a second bit cell programmed to binary \u201c0.\u201d