The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 15, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 17, 2000
Reid James Riedlinger, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Donald R. Weiss, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed which provide a built-in self test (BIST) for a content addressable memory (CAM) structure. In a preferred embodiment, an integrated circuit (chip) comprises a CAM structure that is accessible by a processor to satisfy memory access requests and a BIST implemented within such chip, which enables testing the integrity of the CAM structure. Such a preferred embodiment comprises a BIST that enables testing the integrity of the CAM structure that does not require circuitry for reading memory data out of the CAM structure. A preferred embodiment can also be utilized for testing a random access memory structure. In a preferred embodiment, a CAM BIST comprises logic capable of generating test values (e.g., a test pattern), a shift register that temporarily stores the test values generated by the logic, and compare circuitry that determines whether a test value matches an entry within the CAM structure.