Fault Injection Reduction in Functional Safety Gate Netlists

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current fault injection techniques for electronic circuits are time-consuming, computationally intensive, and lack automated methods to identify and eliminate redundant sub-circuits, leading to inaccurate diagnostic coverage and inefficient use of computing resources.

Innovation Solution

An automated methodology using sub-graph isomorphism and toggle coverage equivalence to identify and eliminate duplicate sub-circuits after synthesis, reducing the fault injection list and maintaining diagnostic coverage accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If a complete fault list is used for fault injection simulation, then diagnostic coverage accuracy is improved, but computing time and resources are excessively consumed

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic coverage accuracyVSAvoidcomputing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The circuit design is divided into sub-circuits, and the fault list is segmented accordingly. By identifying and eliminating duplicate sub-circuits through sub-graph isomorphism, the fault injection simulation processes only unique sub-circuits, significantly reducing computing time while maintaining diagnostic coverage accuracy through systematic segmentation and analysis of circuit components

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses graph representations (copies) of circuit sub-circuits to identify duplicates. By creating and comparing graph models of sub-circuits, the system can efficiently identify identical structures without re-simulating them multiple times, reducing computational overhead while preserving the complete diagnostic coverage that would be obtained from analyzing all original instances

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

2Reliability

If fault injection simulation is performed on all sub-circuits, then comprehensive diagnostic coverage is achieved, but computing resources are wasted on redundant simulations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic coverageVSAvoidcomputing resources

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The circuit is segmented into sub-circuits that are represented as graphs. By comparing these graph representations, duplicate sub-circuits are identified and eliminated from the simulation list. This segmentation approach ensures that computing resources are allocated only to unique sub-circuits, preventing waste on redundant simulations while maintaining comprehensive diagnostic coverage through systematic analysis of all unique circuit components

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms the circuit representation into graph parameters (nodes, edges, connectivity) that enable efficient comparison and identification of duplicate sub-circuits. By changing the representation parameters from traditional circuit diagrams to graph structures with specific attributes, the system can quickly identify duplicates using sub-graph isomorphism algorithms, reducing computational resource consumption while preserving diagnostic integrity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Loss of energy

If manual identification of duplicate sub-circuits is performed, then redundant simulations are eliminated, but automation and efficiency are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecomputing resource efficiencyVSAvoidautomated duplicate detection

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSExtent of automation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual visual inspection and identification of duplicate sub-circuits with automated graph-based algorithms. By substituting the mechanical/manual process with computational sub-graph isomorphism detection, the system achieves both high automation and computing resource efficiency. The automated graph comparison algorithms systematically identify duplicate sub-circuits without human intervention, eliminating the trade-off between automation extent and resource efficiency

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS12579351B2Programmatically generated reduced fault injections for functional safety circuits

Publication Date: 2026.03.17 INTEL CORP

AI summary

Techniques are disclosed for eliminating redundancy in fault simulations to improve efficiency and to reduce the time and computing power required to generate a robust fault list, which results in adequate diagnostic coverage of a particular post-silicon electronic device for functional safety applications. The techniques described herein implement an automated methodology to identify identical sub-circuits in a design after the design is synthesized to gates, and utilize isomorphism to define a manner in which identical blocks may be reliably identified to ensure adequate coverage and accurate, consistent fault injection results. The netlist may advantageously implement a “flat” as opposed to a hierarchal design. Moreover, multiple levels of granularity may be identified for the various sub-circuits associated with the reference graphs used to identify isomorphic sub-graphs.