ECC code mechanism to detect wire stuck-at faults
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorDebendra Das Sharma
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The inventive mechanism detects wire stuck-at faults, which can be used with any other ECC code. The inventive mechanism determines the number of 1's (or 0's) in the data portion and the ECC code of the data portion. This counted number is then provided with ECC code. The data portion, its ECC, the counted number, and its ECC are transmitted to the destination. At the destination, the message is decoded, and the number of 1's in the received message is compared with the counted number, if there is a discrepancy, then a wire fault is signaled. The mechanism may also detect any number of faults provided the number of 0 to 1 transitions is not the same as the number of 1 to 0 transitions. The mechanism can be reconfigured to work with any transmission wire width.
Claims18
A method for detecting wire failures during transmission of a data message, wherein the data message comprises a data portion and a first error code (EC) portion that is associated with the data portion, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a counter value that represents a number of a specific bit present in the data portion and the first EC portion, wherein the specific bit is selected from the group consisting of a binary one and a binary zero;
- forming a second EC portion that is associated with the counter value;
- encoding the data message with the counter value and the second EC portion;
- and
- using, by a receiving entity, the encoded counter value to determine whether an error exists in the data portion from a wire failure during transmission of the data message.
A method for detecting wire failures during transmission of a data message, wherein the data message comprises a data portion, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a counter value that represents a number of a specific bit present in the data portion, wherein the specific bit is selected from the group consisting of a binary one and a binary zero;
- truncating the counter value by removing the higher order bits such that the remaining bits are wide enough to indicate twice a number of cycles required to transmit the data portion;
- encoding the data message with the truncated counter value;
- and
- using, by a receiving entity, the encoded counter value to determine whether an error exists in the data portion from a wire failure during transmission of the data message.
A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for detecting wire failures during transmission of a data message, wherein the data message comprises a data portion and a first error code (EC) portion that is associated with the data portion, the computer program product comprising:
- means for determining a counter value that represents a number of a specific bit present in the data portion and the first EC portion, wherein the specific bit is selected from the group consisting of a binary one and a binary zero;
- means for forming a second EC portion that is associated with the counter value;
- means for encoding the data message with the counter value and the second EC portion;
- and
- means for using, by a receiving entity, the encoded counter value to determine whether an error exists in the data portion from a wire failure during transmission of the data message.
A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for detecting wire failures during transmission of a data message, wherein the data message comprises a data portion, the computer program product comprising:
- means for determining a counter value that represents a number of a specific bit present in the data portion, wherein the specific bit is selected from the group consisting of a binary one and a binary zero;
- means for truncating the counter value by removing the higher order bits such that the remaining bits are wide enough to indicate twice a number of cycles required to transmit the data portion;
- means for encoding the data message with the truncated counter value;
- and
- means for using, by a receiving entity, the encoded counter value to determine whether an error exists in the data portion from a wire failure during transmission of the data message.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.