Microcontroller Data Access Control Circuit Failure Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for detecting failures in microcontrollers, such as duplexing processing, are inefficient due to increased circuit area and power consumption, and may not effectively detect failures when the same failure occurs in both functional blocks, especially when different compile processing is involved.
Innovation Solution
A semiconductor integrated circuit device that performs two types of accesses: individual access and shared access, using a data access control circuit to execute different processing for each thread and compare commands and addresses in shared access, reducing the occurrence of same failures and enabling high-speed operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If duplexed functional blocks are provided to detect failures by comparing output signals, then failure detection capability is improved, but circuit area and power consumption are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the failure detection function into the existing data access control circuit by adding a comparison function. Instead of providing separate duplexed functional blocks with dedicated comparators, the invention utilizes the data access control circuit that already exists in the system to perform both data access control and failure detection through comparison operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The data access control circuit is given multiple functions: it controls data access operations and simultaneously performs failure detection by comparing commands and addresses. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate dedicated comparison circuits while maintaining failure detection capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different compile processing is performed on original programs for duplexing, then program diversity is improved, but failure detection becomes complex due to different operation processing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential elements for failure detection (commands and addresses) from the program execution process. By comparing only these specific elements rather than entire program executions, the system achieves failure detection while handling program diversity from different compile processing without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The comparison operation is applied locally to specific critical elements (commands and addresses) rather than to the entire program execution. This localized approach allows the system to handle diverse programs from different compile processing while maintaining simple and effective failure detection.
3Reliability
If comparison processing is performed on temporary results in internal memory between two threads, then failure detection may be achieved, but error occurrence increases due to different operation processing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention performs comparison of commands and addresses before the execution of different operation processing. By comparing these elements in advance, the system detects potential failures before they propagate through different processing paths, thereby maintaining comparison accuracy despite subsequent divergent operations.
Data Source
AI summary
To have a problem of occurrence of the same failure in failure detection of a microcontroller. A microcontroller has a CPU and a data access control circuit. The data access control circuit performs two types of accesses: an individual access in which a data access of the CPU is performed for each thread, and a shared access in which a data access of the CPU is performed by executing two threads. The data access control circuit detects a failure of the CPU by making a comparison between the command and the address, respectively, in the shared access generated by executing the two threads.