Qualcomm Incorporated

Texas Instruments Corporation

Virendra Bansal

Palkesh Jain

Rahul Gulati

Keith Alan Bowman

Manoj Mehrotra

Roberto Avanzi

Ashutosh Tiwari

Pranav Murthy

Ish Kumar Dham

The disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for false pass detection in lockstep dual processing core systems, triple modular redundancy (TMR) systems, or other redundant processing systems. A false pass occurs when two processing cores generate matching data outputs, both of which are in error. A false pass may occur when the processing core are both subjected to substantially the same adverse condition, such as a supply voltage drop or a sudden temperature change or gradient. The apparatus includes processing cores configured to generate first and second data outputs and first and second timing violation signals. A voter-comparator validates the first and second data outputs if they match and the first and second timing violation signals indicate no timing violations. Otherwise, the voter comparator invalidates the first and second data outputs. Validated data outputs are used for performing additional operations, and invalidated data outputs may be discarded.

System and method for false pass detection in lockstep dual core or triple modular redundancy (TMR) systems

The present disclosure is directed to mitigating voltage droops. An aspect includes outputting, by a clock module coupled to a multiplexor, a first clock signal to the multiplexor, the first clock signal generated by a clock delay component of the clock module, receiving, by the clock module, a second clock signal from a phase-locked loop (PLL), wherein the PLL outputs a third clock signal to a processor coupled to the PLL and the multiplexor, selecting, by the multiplexor, the first clock signal to output to the processor based on detecting a droop in voltage on a power supply, and selecting, by the multiplexor, the third clock signal to output to the processor based on detecting that the droop in the voltage on the power supply has passed, wherein the clock module and the processor are coupled to the power supply.

Systems and methods for adaptive clock design

Various aspects include a clock monitoring unit/component that is configured to repeatedly/continuously monitor a clock with the speed required to support automobile automation systems without the use of a reference clock. The clock monitoring unit/component may be configured to identify, report, and/or respond to variations or abnormalities in the monitored clock, and initiate an action to prevent the variation from causing or resulting in a failure or a vulnerability to attack. The clock monitoring unit/component in the various aspects may be configured, organized, or arranged to operate so that the circuit is immune or resistant to manipulation, modification, tampering, hacks, and other attacks.

Ultra-fast autonomous clock monitoring circuit for safe and secure automotive applications

An adaptive clock distribution (ACD) system with a voltage tracking clock generator (VTCG) is disclosed. The ACD system includes a tunable-length delay (TLD) circuit, to generate a TLD clock by adding a preselected delay to a root clock, and a voltage droop detector for detecting a voltage droop in a supply voltage. The VTCG is configured to generate a VTCG clock, wherein a frequency of the VTCG clock is finely tuned to one of two or more values to correspond to a magnitude of the supply voltage during the voltage droop. A clock selector selects the VTCG clock as an ACD clock to be provided to an electronic circuit during the voltage droop and the TLD clock as the ACD clock when there is no voltage droop detected.

Supply voltage tracking clock generator in adaptive clock distribution systems

An integrated circuit (IC) includes a plurality of input/output (I/O) terminals through which signals pass into or out of the IC and an I/O timing module. The I/O timing module is configured to add propagation delay to signals passing between the I/O terminals and I/O subsystems of the IC. The I/O timing module includes a plurality of delay elements associated with each of the I/O terminals, a control register associated with each of the I/O terminals, a memory, and I/O delay control logic. The control register is coupled to each of the delay elements associated with the I/O terminal. The memory is encoded with delay information. The I/O delay control logic is configured to initialize the propagation delay associated with each of the I/O terminals by selecting which of the delay elements are to be applied to produce the propagation delay based on the delay information stored in the memory.

Growing community of inventors

Bengaluru, India

Virendra Bansal