Apparatus and method for generating an error code for a block comprising a plurality of data bits and a plurality of address bits

Abstract

An apparatus and method are provided for generating an error code for a block comprising a plurality of data bits and a plurality of address bits. The apparatus has block generation circuitry to generate a block comprising a plurality of data bits and a plurality of address bits, and error code generation circuitry for receiving that block and a mask array comprising a plurality of mask rows, and for then applying an error code generation algorithm to generate an error code for the block. The error code comprises a plurality of check bits, where each check bit is determined using the block and a corresponding mask row of the mask array. Each mask row comprises a plurality of mask bits, each mask bit being associated with a corresponding bit of the block. At least one mask row has its mask bit values constrained so as to ensure that when all of the data bits of the block have the same value, the error code generated by the error code generation circuitry has at least one check bit having a different value to the value of the data bits irrespective of the value of the address bits. In addition to supporting detection and/or correction of errors in the data bits, such an approach also allows memory address decode errors to be detected while in addition allowing detection of stuck at zero or stuck at one errors in a memory's output.