Watchdog arrangement
OwnerJoseph Wayne Forler, Mark Alan Nierzwick +1inventors
InventorsJoseph Wayne Forler, Mark Alan Nierzwick, William John Testin
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Abstract
A watchdog arrangement advantageously provides systems, such as television signal processing apparatus, with a reliable, cost effective means by which to maintain consistent, stable operation. According to at least one embodiment, a hardware watchdog circuit receives regular pulses from a software timer in an integrated circuit (IC) to refresh itself. In the event that the watchdog circuit is not refreshed, it provides a predetermined logic signal to a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) terminal of the IC to generate a reset similar to what is generated by an internal IC watchdog.
Claims25
A watchdog circuit arrangement, comprising:
- an integrated circuit including a first watchdog for monitoring an operational state of the integrated circuit;
- and
- a second watchdog external to the integrated circuit, wherein the second watchdog enables the integrated circuit to be reset in dependence upon receiving electrical signals provided by the integrated circuit.
A watchdog arrangement, comprising:
- an integrated circuit including first and second watchdogs for monitoring an operational state of the integrated circuit, wherein the second watchdog resets the first watchdog in response to a predetermined condition of the first watchdog.
A method for providing a watchdog function for an integrated circuit, comprising steps of:
- providing a first watchdog internal to the integrated circuit for monitoring an operational state of the integrated circuit;
- and
- providing a second watchdog external to the integrated circuit for enabling the integrated circuit to be reset in response to electrical signals provided by the integrated circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.