US Patent 7447828 - Reconfigurable mem-resistor crossbar signal processor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7447828.html

An article in Nature by Hewlett-Packard researchers earlier this year have popularized a nanoscale memristor material as a fourth fundamental passive circuit element (after resistors, capacitors, and inductors) which has the properites of programmable resistance. This is one of my patents teaching using similar materials as part of a reconfigurable signal processing system providing adaptive communication and control systems. More information is available here. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method comprising:

providing a crossbar array including a programmable material layer, wherein the crossbar array is configured to function as part of a signal processing system; and

reprogramming at least one impedance value of the programmable material layer formed at crosspoints of the crossbar array to change the signal processing system, wherein the signal processing system is not configured to function as an arithmetic processing system for implementing basic logic functions but is instead configured to perform a matrix transformation on signals input to columns of the crossbar array and produce output signals from rows of the crossbar array based on combinations of the input signals,

wherein the crossbar array includes a rectifying layer.