Analog Devices,inc.

Richard F Grafton

John A Hayden

Gordon Cheung

James Frank Galeotos

John M Young

Matthew Puzey

David J Katz

In safety-critical computer systems, fault tolerance is an important design requirement. Data buses for on-chip interconnection in these processor-based systems are exposed to risk arising from faults in the interconnect itself or in any of the connected peripherals. To provide sufficient fault tolerance, a safety node is inserted between an upstream master section and a downstream slave section of an on-chip bus hierarchy or network. The safety node provides a programmable timeout monitor for detecting a timeout condition for a transaction. If timeout has occurred, the safety node transmits a dummy response back to the master, assumes the role of a master, and waits for the slave device to respond. Furthermore, the safety node rejects any subsequent requests by any of the masters on the upstream section by transmitting a dummy response to those subsequent requests, thus enabling these masters to avoid deadlock or stall.

Safety node in interconnect data buses

Trigger routing in computational hardware such as a digital-signal processor involves routing a trigger signal from a first, master module to a second, slave module, thereby initiating an event at the slave module without involving a core processing unit.

Trigger routing unit

A security-aware master is provided, such that a master can determine its security state before attempting access to secure resources or before requesting secure access level. An exemplary system include a system interconnect; one or more masters coupled with the system interconnect; and a master security check register coupled with the system interconnect. The master security check register is configured to receive a request from a master via the system interconnect to access the master security check register, wherein the request includes a master operating state signal that indicates a security state of the master requesting access, and return a data value to the master based on the master operating state signal, wherein the data value indicates a current security state of the master requesting access.

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Abington, MA, United States of America

Richard F Grafton