In-Service Memory Scrubbing With ECC for Functional Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Error Correction Code (ECC) systems in safety-critical automotive applications, such as ISO 26262, are limited in their ability to detect and correct data corruption over time, particularly in storage devices like memory, where bit errors can exceed the ECC's correction threshold, compromising functional safety.
Innovation Solution
Implement a data scanning and correction system that periodically reads data from storage devices, uses ECC to detect and correct errors, and continuously rewrites corrected data, extending ECC coverage to storage addresses, and tests safety mechanisms at startup to ensure operational integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If ECC covers only data bits with a limited ratio, then device complexity is reduced, but the coverage and safety effectiveness are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the protection approach by applying ECC selectively to different portions of stored data rather than uniformly to all data bits. This segmented coverage allows ECC to protect critical data regions with higher reliability while maintaining acceptable device complexity, achieving an optimized balance between protection scope and system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments described herein provide for in-service scanning and correction of stored data for achieving functional safety. For some embodiments, a data scanning and correction system periodically reads data from different portions (e.g., addresses) of a storage device (e.g., memory) implemented with ECC to detect any errors in the data. If an error is detected, the data scanning and correction system generates corrected data and rewrites the corrected data to the portion of the storage device. The data scanning and correction system may continuously cycle this process through different portions of the storage device to detect and correct errors while the storage device is in-service.