Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090106616 | Integrated circuit using speculative execution - An integrated circuit | 04-23-2009 |
20090161442 | Data Processing System - A data processing system comprising a memory array having a plurality of memory cells ( | 06-25-2009 |
20100064287 | Scheduling control within a data processing system - A processor | 03-11-2010 |
20100235697 | Error detection in precharged logic - An integrated circuit | 09-16-2010 |
20100299557 | Providing tuning limits for operational parameters in data processing apparatus - The application discloses a means of setting tuning limits for operational parameters in a processing stage within a data processing apparatus for processing a signal. The processing stage comprises: an input for receiving the signal, processing circuitry for processing the signal and an output for outputting the processed signal at an output time; an error detecting circuit for determining if a signal output by the processing stage between the output time and a predetermined time later does not have a stable value, the predetermined time later being before a next output time, and for signaling an error if the signal is not stable; a tuning circuit for adjusting at least one operational parameter of the processing stage; a tuning limiting circuit for providing at least one tuning limit for the tuning circuit, such that the at least one operational parameter is not adjusted beyond the corresponding at least one tuning limit, a tuning limiting circuit for providing at least one tuning limit for said tuning circuit, such that said at least one operational parameter is not adjusted beyond said corresponding at least one tuning limit, the tuning limiting circuit being configured to provide the at least one tuning limit such that a signal passing along a critical path of the processing stage tuned to the tuning limit is estimated to reach the output of the processing stage at a preset time later than the output time, the preset time being less than the predetermined time. | 11-25-2010 |
20110246843 | ERROR DETECTION IN PRECHARGED LOGIC - An integrated circuit is provided with domino logic including a speculative node and a checker node. Precharged circuitry precharges both the speculative node and the checker node. Logic circuitry provides a discharge path for the speculative node and the checker node in dependence upon input signal values. Evaluation control circuitry first couples the speculative node to the logic circuitry and then subsequently couples the checker node to the logic circuitry such that these can be discharged if the input signals to the logic circuitry have appropriate values. Error detection circuitry detects an error when the speculative node and the checker node are not one of both discharged or both undischarged. | 10-06-2011 |
20120124421 | Error management within a data processing system - A data processing system | 05-17-2012 |
20130151891 | LIMITING CERTAIN PROCESSING ACTIVITIES AS ERROR RATE PROBABILITY RISES - A data processing apparatus configured to operate in a voltage and frequency operating region that is located beyond a safe region where errors do not arise, but within operating region limits such that the errors are rare. The data processing apparatus comprises: error detection circuitry and error recovery circuitry; the error detection circuitry being configured to determine if a signal sampled in the processing apparatus changes within a time window occurring after the signal has been sampled and during a same clock cycle as the sampling and to signal an error if the signal does change. The data processing apparatus further comprises performance control circuitry configured to determine when the data processing apparatus is operating close to the operating region limits where an error rate is raised and in response to determining operation close to the operating region limits to modify a behaviour of the data processing apparatus by at least one of: limiting speculative processing, and selecting timing insensitive processing paths and circuitry. | 06-13-2013 |
20130166952 | DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS WITH AN EXECUTION PIPELINE AND ERROR RECOVERY UNIT AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A data processing apparatus executes instructions in a sequence of pipelined execution stages. An error detection unit twice samples a signal associated with execution of an instruction and generates an error signal if the samples differ. An exception storage unit maintains an age-ordered list of entries corresponding to instructions issued to the execution pipeline and can mark an entry to show if the error signal has been generated in association with that instruction. A timer unit is responsive to generation of the error signal to initiate timing of a predetermined time period. An error recovery unit initiates a soft pipeline flush procedure if an oldest pending entry in the list has said error marker stored in association therewith and initiates a hard pipeline flush procedure if said predetermined time period elapses, said hard flush procedure comprising resetting said pipeline to a predetermined state. | 06-27-2013 |
20130166980 | ERROR RECOVERY IN A DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS - A data processing apparatus has error detection units each configured to generate an error signal if a first and second sample of a signal associated with execution of an instruction differ. Error value generation circuitry generates an error value showing if any of the error detection units have generated the error signal. Error value stabilisation circuitry performs a stabilisation procedure comprising re-sampling the error value to remove metastability. Error recovery circuitry initiates re-execution of the instruction if the error value is asserted. Count circuitry holds a counter value in association with the error value, the counter value set to a predetermined value when the error value is generated and decremented each time the error value is re-sampled prior to reaching the error value stabilisation circuitry. The error value bypasses the stabilisation procedure if the counter value is zero before the error value reaches the error value stabilisation circuitry. | 06-27-2013 |
20140068371 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH ERROR REPAIR AND FAULT TOLERANCE - An integrated circuit is provided with error detection circuitry and error repair circuitry. Error tolerance circuitry is responsive to a control parameter to selectively disable the error repair circuitry. The control parameter is dependent on the processing performed within the circuit. For example, the control parameter may be generated in dependence upon the program instruction being executed, the output signal value which is in error, the previous behavior of the circuit or in other ways. | 03-06-2014 |
20140115376 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH ERROR REPAIR AND FAULT TOLERANCE - An integrated circuit is provided with error detection circuitry and error repair circuitry. Error tolerance circuitry is responsive to a control parameter to selectively disable the error repair circuitry. The control parameter is dependent on the processing performed within the circuit. For example, the control parameter may be generated in dependence upon the program instruction being executed, the output signal value which is in error, the previous behavior of the circuit or in other ways. | 04-24-2014 |
20140115377 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH ERROR REPAIR AND FAULT TOLERANCE - An integrated circuit is provided with error detection circuitry and error repair circuitry. Error tolerance circuitry is responsive to a control parameter to selectively disable the error repair circuitry. The control parameter is dependent on the processing performed within the circuit. For example, the control parameter may be generated in dependence upon the program instruction being executed, the output signal value which is in error, the previous behavior of the circuit or in other ways. | 04-24-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080250271 | Error recovery following speculative execution with an instruction processing pipeline - An instruction processing pipeline | 10-09-2008 |
20090282281 | Low power, high reliability specific compound functional units - To prevent short path errors from occurring in systems having error detection and recovery mechanisms, functional elements are combined to form compound functional units comprising at least two evaluation stages, each evaluation stage including at least one functional element. At least one functional element includes error detection/recovery circuitry. The flow of input values to the first evaluation stage in the compound functional unit is controlled so that the input values are changed at most every second clock cycle. | 11-12-2009 |
20100064109 | Managing storage units in multi-core and multi-threaded systems - A data processing apparatus is provided comprising processing circuitry for executing multiple program threads. At least one storage unit is shared between the multiple program threads and comprises multiple entries, each entry for storing a storage item either associated with a high priority program thread or a lower priority program thread. A history storage for retaining a history field for each of a plurality of blocks of the storage unit is also provided. On detection of a high priority storage item being evicted from the storage unit as a result of allocation to that entry of a lower priority storage item, the history field for the block containing that entry is populated with an indication of the evicted high priority storage item. When later a high priority storage item is allocated to a selected entry of the storage unit, a comparison operation between the allocated high priority storage item and the indication in the history field for the block containing the selected entry is carried out, and on detection of a match condition a lock indication associated with that entry is set to inhibit further eviction of that high priority storage item. | 03-11-2010 |
20100134148 | Detecting transitions in circuits during periodic detection windows - Transition detection circuitry for detecting during multiple clock cycles, transitions occurring within a detection period in each of said multiple clock cycles at a plurality of nodes within a circuit is disclosed. The transition detection circuitry comprises: a clock signal generator for generating a detection clock signal from a clock signal clocking a sampling element within said circuit, said detection clock signal defining said detection period; a plurality of transition detectors for detecting transitions at respective ones of said plurality of nodes during said detection period, each of said plurality of transition detectors being clocked by said detection clock signal; and combining circuitry for combining said detected transitions output by said plurality of transition detectors to generate a composite transition detection signal. | 06-03-2010 |
20100232250 | Interface circuit and method for coupling between a memory device and processing circuitry - Interface circuitry is provided for coupling between a memory device and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry issuing a plurality of access signals relating to accesses to be performed in the memory device. The interface circuitry comprises write address latch circuitry for storing a write address signal, and write address decoder circuitry that is responsive to a set first enable signal to decode the write address signal provided from the write address latch circuitry. Further, read address latch circuitry is provided for storing a read address signal issued by the processing circuitry, and read address decoder circuitry is responsive to a set second enable signal for decoding the read address signal provided from the read address latch circuitry. Decoder select latch circuitry is responsive to an access type indication signal from the processing circuitry to generate the first and second enable signals in dependence on that access type indication signal. In the event of metastability occurring in the decoder select latch circuitry, the decoder select latch circuitry is arranged not to set at least the second enable signal, thereby disabling at least the read address decoder circuitry in the presence of such metastability. Such an approach prevents metastable signals being used in the arbitration of data accesses in a manner which could corrupt the state of the memory device. | 09-16-2010 |
20110185262 | ERROR MANAGEMENT - An electronic device is described which receives data from a transmitting device via a communications channel. The electronic device comprises digital processing circuitry arranged to process the data received via the communications channel to generate output data, error detection circuitry arranged to detect errors in the output data, and monitoring circuitry arranged to monitor the quality of digital processing conducted by the digital processing circuitry and generate digital performance data indicative of the monitored quality of digital processing. The electronic device also comprises control circuitry responsive to error information comprising errors detected by the error detection circuitry and the performance data generated by the monitoring circuitry to modify the operation of one or both of the transmitting device and the electronic device. The digital performance data provides the control circuitry with additional information for use in identifying where errors in signal processing are arising, enabling an informed decision be made to modify the operation of either the transmitting device or receiving device in some way, either to reduce the occurrence of errors in the output signal or to improve the speed and/or efficiency of the transmitter and/or receiver. | 07-28-2011 |
20110302460 | Apparatus and method for detecting an approaching error condition - An apparatus and method are provided for detecting an approaching error condition within a data processing apparatus. The data processing apparatus includes a second sequential storage structure which is arranged to latch the output signal generated by combinatorial circuitry dependent on a second clock signal. The second sequential storage structure has a main storage element to latch a value of the output signal for provision to subsequent combinatorial circuitry, and transition detection circuitry for detecting a change of the value of the output signal latched by the main storage element during a predetermined timing window, said change indicating an approaching error condition whilst the value stored in the main storage element is still correct. The second sequential storage structure can be operated in either a first mode of operation or a second mode of operation. In the first mode of operation, the predetermined timing window is a timing window ahead of a time at which the main storage element latches said value of the output signal, to thereby enable an approaching setup timing error due to a propagation delay within the combinatorial circuitry to be detected. In the second mode of operation, the predetermined timing window is a timing window after the time at which the main storage element latches said value of the output signal such that an approaching hold timing error due to an increase in skew between the first and second clock signals is detected. Such a technique provides a simple and efficient mechanism for detecting a variety of approaching error conditions whilst the second sequence storage structure continues to operate correctly. | 12-08-2011 |
20120131313 | Error recovery following speculative execution with an instruction processing pipeline - An instruction processing pipeline | 05-24-2012 |
20120216067 | Data processing apparatus and method using monitoring circuitry to control operating parameters - A data processing apparatus and method are provided that use monitoring circuitry to control operating parameters of the data processing apparatus. The data processing apparatus has functional circuitry for performing data processing, the functional circuitry including error correction circuitry configured to detect errors in operation of the functional circuitry and to repair those errors in operation. Tuneable monitoring circuitry monitors a characteristic indicative of changes in signal propagation delay within the functional circuitry and produces a control signal dependent on the monitored characteristic. In a continuous tuning mode operation, the tuneable monitoring circuitry modifies the dependency between the monitored characteristic and the control signal in dependence upon certain characteristics of the errors detected by the error correction circuitry. An operating parameter controller is then arranged, in the continuous mode of operation, to control one or more performance controlling operating parameters of the data processing apparatus in dependence upon the control signal. This enables efficient and robust control of those operating parameters in response to changes in environmental conditions. | 08-23-2012 |
20130002298 | Signal value storage circuitry with transition detector - A D-type flip-flop | 01-03-2013 |
20130169350 | SENSING SUPPLY VOLTAGE SWINGS WITHIN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - An integrated circuit comprising a plurality of sensors configured to sense variations in supply voltage levels at points within the integrated circuit is disclosed. The plurality of sensors are distributed across the integrated circuit and have transistor devices such that process variations in the transistor devices within the sensors are such that a sensing result will have a random voltage offset that has a predetermined probability of lying within a pre-defined voltage offset range. The integrated circuit is configured to transmit results from multiple ones of the plurality of sensors to processing circuitry such that the variations in the supply voltage levels can be determined with a voltage offset range that is reduced compared to the pre-defined voltage offset range. | 07-04-2013 |
20140019815 | PROCESSING ERROR DETECTION WITHIN PIPELINE CIRCUITRY - An integrated circuit | 01-16-2014 |