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US 12,131,792 B2Granted
Analog signals monitoring for functional safety
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsYoram Betser, Oleg Dadashev, Kobi Danon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating a memory device includes: supplying one or more supply voltages to a memory array; and monitoring the one or more supply voltages, which includes: selecting, from the one or more supply voltages, a selected supply voltage; converting, using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), an internal reference voltage of the memory device and a scaled version of the selected supply voltage into one or more digital values; generating a calibrated measurement result using the one or more digital values; and determining whether the calibrated measurement result is within a pre-determined range.
Claims20
A memory device comprising:
- a memory array comprising memory cells;
- and
- a power management circuit for the memory array, comprising:
- a voltage supply configured to provide one or more supply voltages to the memory array;
- an internal voltage reference configured to provide an internal reference voltage, wherein the internal reference voltage has a constant nominal value and is uncorrelated with the one or more supply voltages;
- a multiplexer configured to receive the one or more supply voltages and configured to output a selected supply voltage selected from the one or more supply voltages;
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the internal reference voltage and a scaled version of the selected supply voltage into one or more digital values;
- and
- a digital comparator configured to:
- generate a calibrated measurement result using the one or more digital values, a first stored digital value of the internal reference voltage, and a second stored digital value of an external reference voltage;
- compare the calibrated measurement result with a pre-determined range;
- and
- in response to detecting that the calibrated measurement result is outside the pre-determined range, set an error flag indicating a fault condition of the memory device.
10 more elements
An integrated circuit (IC) device comprising:
- a memory array comprising memory cells;
- a controller coupled to the memory array;
- and
- a power management circuit coupled to the memory array and the controller, the power management circuit comprising:
- a voltage supply circuit configured to provide supply voltages to the memory array;
- a multiplexer coupled to the voltage supply circuit and configured to output a selected supply voltage that is selected from the supply voltages;
- an internal voltage reference circuit configured to provide an internal reference voltage, wherein the internal reference voltage has a constant nominal value and is uncorrelated with the supply voltages;
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the internal reference voltage and a scaled version of the selected supply voltage into ADC outputs;
- and
- a digital comparator configured to:
- generate a calibrated measurement result using the ADC outputs, a first pre-stored digital value of the internal reference voltage, and a second pre-stored digital value of an external reference voltage;
- determine whether the calibrated measurement result is within a pre-determined range;
- and
- in response to determining that the calibrated measurement result is outside the pre-determined range, set an error flag indicating a fault condition of the IC device.
11 more elements
A method of operating a memory device, the method comprising:
- supplying one or more supply voltages to a memory array;
- and
- monitoring the one or more supply voltages, comprising:
- selecting, from the one or more supply voltages, a selected supply voltage;
- converting, using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), an internal reference voltage of the memory device and a scaled version of the selected supply voltage into one or more digital values, wherein the internal reference voltage has a constant nominal value and is uncorrelated with the one or more supply voltages;
- generating a calibrated measurement result using the one or more digital values, wherein generating the calibrated measurement result comprises generating the calibrated measurement result using a conversion function ƒ(A, B, Asort, Ksort), wherein A is a first digital value of the internal reference voltage converted by the ADC, B is a second digital value of the scaled version of the selected supply voltage converted by the ADC, Asort is a first pre-stored digital value of the internal reference voltage, and Ksort is a second pre-stored digital value of an external reference voltage, wherein the external reference voltage has a higher accuracy than the internal reference voltage;
- and
- determining whether the calibrated measurement result is within a pre-determined range.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.