Fault detection and error reduction in systolic array
AssigneeUtah State University
InventorsSanghamitra Roy, Koushik Chakraborty, Noel Daniel Gundi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
For detecting faults and reducing errors, a multiply accumulator (MAC) includes an activation register that receives a next activation and outputs a current activation. The MAC further includes a weight register that stores a weight. The MAC includes an accumulator that multiplies the weight and the current activation to generate a MAC product. The MAC includes a control unit that outputs a previous MAC output as a MAC output in response to a zero condition comprising a zero weight else outputs the MAC sum as the MAC output in response to no zero condition.
Claims20
A multiply accumulator (MAC) comprising:
- an activation register that receives a next activation and outputs a current activation;
- a weight register that stores a weight;
- a multiplier that multiplies the weight and the current activation to generate a MAC product;
- an accumulator that adds the MAC product to a previous MAC output to generate a MAC sum;
- and
- a control unit that outputs a previous MAC output as a MAC output in response to a zero condition comprising a zero weight else outputs the MAC sum as the MAC output in response to no zero condition.
A semiconductor comprising:
- a systolic array of multiply accumulators (MAC);
- a fault correction unit storing a fault detection for each MAC;
- wherein each MAC comprises:
- an activation register that receives a next activation and outputs a current activation;
- a weight register that stores a weight;
- a multiplier that multiplies the weight and the current activation to generate a MAC product;
- an accumulator that adds the MAC product to a previous MAC output to generate a MAC sum;
- and
- a control unit that outputs a previous MAC output as a MAC output in response to a zero condition comprising a zero weight else outputs the MAC sum as the MAC output in response to no zero condition.
A method comprising:
- storing a weigh in a weight register of a multiplier accumulator (MAC);
- receiving a next activation at an activation register of the MAC and outputting a current activation;
- calculating the MAC sum by multiplying the weight and the current activation with a multiplier to generate a MAC product and adding the previous MAC output to the MAC product to generate the MAC sum;
- and
- outputting the previous MAC output as a MAC output in response to a zero condition comprising a zero weight else outputting the MAC sum as the MAC output in response to no zero condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.