Method and apparatus for propagating error status over an ECC protected channel

A method comprising

• generating a code comprising data and a plurality of check bits such that a device, based upon the code, can correct up to a X bit error in the code and can detect up to a Y bit error in the code, where Y is greater than or equal to X+3, and
• injecting a Z bit error into the code in response to an uncorrectable error, wherein Z is greater than X+1 and less than Y.

An apparatus comprising

• a code generator to generate a code comprising data and a plurality of check bits that a device, based upon the code, can correct up to a X bit error in the code and can detect up to a Y bit error in the code, and
• an error injector to inject a Z bit error into the code in response to an uncorrectable error, wherein Z is greater than X+1 and less than Y.

A machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed result in a device,

• determining whether data has an uncorrectable error,
• generating a code comprising data and a plurality of check bits such that another device, based upon the code, can correct up to a X bit error in the code and can detect up to a Y bit error in the code, and
• injecting a Z bit error into the code in response to determining that the data comprises has the uncorrectable error, wherein Z is greater than X+1 and less than Y.

A system comprising

• a receiving device to receive a code, to correct up to a X bit error of the code, to detect up to a Y bit error of the code, and to detect an uncorrectable error of the code in response to detecting that the code comprises greater than a X bit error, and
• a transmitting device to transmit the code such that the code comprises data, a plurality of check bits, and a Z bit error in response to the data having the uncorrectable error, where Z is greater than X+1 and less than Y.