Programmable signal aggregator

An integrated circuit comprising:

• a first plurality of safety monitors coupled to respective fault channels of a first plurality of fault channels, wherein each safety monitor of the first plurality of safety monitors is configured to generate faults in the respective fault channels of the first plurality of fault channels;
• a fault collection and control unit (FCCU) configured to determine an action of the integrated circuit based on the faults generated by the first plurality of safety monitors;
• a first fault management circuit coupled between the first plurality of safety monitors and the FCCU, the first fault management circuit comprising:
• a set of internal registers,
• a set of user registers, and
• a decoder;
• and
• a processor configured to program the set of user registers, wherein the decoder is configured to program the set of internal registers in response to the processor programming the set of user registers, wherein the first fault management circuit is configured to receive faults from the first plurality of fault channels, generate first aggregated faults based on the received faults and on a content of the set of internal registers, and transmit the first aggregated faults to the FCCU.

A method comprising:

• writing to a write data register of a set of user registers of a fault management circuit that is coupled between a plurality of safety monitors and a fault collection and control unit (FCCU), the write data register comprising a data write field;
• after writing to the write data register, writing to a command register of the set of user registers, the command register comprising a command field and an index field;
• in response to the writing of the command register, writing a plurality of internal registers of a set of internal registers of the fault management circuit based on the command, index and data write fields;
• receiving faults generated by the plurality of safety monitors with the fault management circuit;
• generating aggregated faults based on the received faults and on the set of internal registers;
• transmitting the aggregated faults to the FCCU;
• and
• generating interrupt requests or reset requests using the FCCU based on the aggregated faults.