Error recover within processing stages of an integrated circuit
First Claim
1. An integrated circuit for performing data processing, said integrated circuit comprising:
- an error detector configured to detect errors in operation of said integrated circuit;
error-repair circuitry configured to repair errors in operation of said integrated circuit; and
an operational parameter controller configured to control one or more performance controlling operational parameters of said integrated circuit;
whereinsaid operational parameter controller controls at least one of said one or more performance controlling parameters in dependence upon one or more characteristics of errors detected by said error detector such that a gain in one or more performance characteristics of said integrated circuit from operating with said one or more performance controlling parameters having values resulting in errors in operation of said integrated circuit exceeds a loss in said one or more performance characteristics from repairing errors in operation of said integrated circuit with said error-repair circuitry.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated circuit includes a plurality of processing stages each including processing logic 1014, a non-delayed signal-capture element 1016, a delayed signal-capture element 1018 and a comparator 1024. The non-delayed signal-capture element 1016 captures an output from the processing logic 1014 at a non-delayed capture time. At a later delayed capture time, the delayed signal-capture element 1018 also captures a value from the processing logic 1014. An error detection circuit 1026 and error correction circuit 1028 detect and correct random errors in the delayed value and supplies an error-checked delayed value to the comparator 1024. The comparator 1024 compares the error-checked delayed value and the non-delayed value and if they are not equal this indicates that the non-delayed value was captured too soon and should be replaced by the error-checked delayed value. The non-delayed value is passed to the subsequent processing stage immediately following its capture and accordingly error recovery mechanisms are used to suppress the erroneous processing which has occurred by the subsequent processing stages, such as gating the clock and allowing the correct signal values to propagate through the subsequent processing logic before restarting the clock. The operating parameters of the integrated circuit, such as the clock frequency, the operating voltage, the body biased voltage, temperature and the like are adjusted so as to maintain a finite non-zero error rate in a manner that increases overall performance.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. An integrated circuit for performing data processing, said integrated circuit comprising:
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an error detector configured to detect errors in operation of said integrated circuit; error-repair circuitry configured to repair errors in operation of said integrated circuit; and an operational parameter controller configured to control one or more performance controlling operational parameters of said integrated circuit;
whereinsaid operational parameter controller controls at least one of said one or more performance controlling parameters in dependence upon one or more characteristics of errors detected by said error detector such that a gain in one or more performance characteristics of said integrated circuit from operating with said one or more performance controlling parameters having values resulting in errors in operation of said integrated circuit exceeds a loss in said one or more performance characteristics from repairing errors in operation of said integrated circuit with said error-repair circuitry. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of controlling an integrated circuit for performing data processing, said method comprising the steps of:
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detecting errors in operation of said integrated circuit; repairing detected errors in operation; and controlling one or more performance controlling operational parameters of said integrated circuit;
wherein at least one of said one or more performance controlling parameters is controlled in dependence upon one or more characteristics of detected error such that a gain in one or more performance characteristics of said integrated circuit from operating with said one or more performance controlling parameters having values resulting in errors in operation of said integrated circuit exceeds a loss in said one or more performance characteristics from repairing errors in operation of said integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An integrated circuit for performing data processing, said integrated circuit comprising:
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error detecting means for detecting errors in operation of said integrated circuit; error-repair means for repairing errors in operation of said integrated circuit; and operational parameter controlling means for controlling at least one of said one or more performance controlling parameters of said integrated circuit;
whereinsaid operational parameter controlling means controls at least one of said one or more performance controlling parameters in dependence upon one or more characteristics of errors detected by said error detecting means such that a gain in one or more performance characteristics of said integrated circuit from operating with said one or more performance controlling parameters having values resulting in errors in operation of said integrated circuit exceeds a loss in one or more performance characteristics from repairing errors in operation of said integrated circuit with said error-repair means.
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Specification