Cluster Interlayer Safety Mechanism In An Artificial Neural Network Processor

A method of cluster interlayer neural network tensor data flow path failure detection for use in a neural network processor, the method comprising:

• providing a stream of tensors output from a previous layer to be forwarded to a subsequent layer;
• calculating a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) checksum over said tensors wherein each CRC checksum is generated across a plurality of features of a corresponding tensor;
• writing said tensors and corresponding CRC checksums to a memory wherein said corresponding CRC checksums are stored as an additional feature of each tensor;
• reading said tensors and corresponding CRC checksums from said memory;
• and
• verifying said CRC checksums and raising an error flag if a CRC checksum error is detected.

An apparatus for cluster interlayer neural network tensor data flow path failure detection for use in a neural network processor, comprising:

• a first circuit element operative to provide a stream of tensors;
• said first circuit element including a first CRC engine operative to calculate a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) checksum over said tensors wherein each CRC checksum is generated across a plurality of features of a corresponding tensor;
• a memory coupled to said first circuit element and operative to store said tensors and corresponding CRC checksums to a memory wherein said corresponding CRC checksums are stored as an additional feature of each tensor;
• a second circuit element coupled to said memory and operative to read said tensors and corresponding CRC checksums from said memory;
• and
• said second circuit element including a second CRC engine operative to verify said CRC checksums and raise an error flag if a CRC checksum error is detected.