Layer control unit instruction addressing safety mechanism in an artificial neural network processor

Abstract

Novel and useful system and methods of several functional safety mechanisms for use in an artificial neural network (ANN) processor. The mechanisms can be deployed individually or in combination to provide a desired level of safety in neural networks. Multiple strategies are applied involving redundancy by design, redundancy through spatial mapping as well as self-tuning procedures that modify static (weights) and monitor dynamic (activations) behavior. The various mechanisms of the present invention address ANN system level safety in situ, as a system level strategy that is tightly coupled with the processor architecture. The NN processor incorporates several functional safety concepts which reduce its risk of failure that occurs during operation from going unnoticed. The mechanisms function to detect and promptly flag and report the occurrence of an error with some mechanisms capable of correction as well. The safety mechanisms cover data stream fault detection, software defined redundant allocation, cluster interlayer safety, cluster intralayer safety, layer control unit (LCU) instruction addressing, weights storage safety, and neural network intermediate results storage safety.