Apple has been granted patents involves SRAM cells and distributed computers by the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Patent 8027213 is for a mechanism for measuring read current viability of SRAM cells. Per the patent, a mechanism for measuring the variability of the read current of SRAM cells on an integrated circuit includes the integrated circuit having an SRAM array including a plurality of SRAM cells. The integrated circuit may also include a selection circuit configured to select a particular SRAM cell in response to a selection input.

An oscillator circuit such as a ring oscillator, for example, on the integrated circuit may be configured to oscillate at a frequency that is dependent upon a read current of a selected SRAM cell during operation in a first mode. A frequency determining circuit that is coupled to the oscillator circuit may be configured to output a value corresponding to the frequency of oscillation of the oscillator circuit. The inventors are Ashish R. Jain, Priya Ananthanarayanan, Greg M. Hess and Edgardo F. Klass.

Patent 8028077 involves managing distributed computers. Per the patent, a method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment provides for a management and resource policy for computers. The policy may control whether users can access or not access local and network software and hardware resources and affects the computer's human interface. A hierarchy of management data may be combined into managed and unmanaged preference data and conflicts within the management data are resolved based on the policy. The inventors are Bruce Gaya, Scott Marcy and Chris Parker.

-- Dennis Sellers