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:
Jan. 10, 2006
Filed:
Nov. 26, 2003
Augustus K. Uht, Cumberland, RI (US);
Augustus K. Uht, Cumberland, RI (US);
Abstract
The present invention performs a digital computation with a lower than worst-case-required clock period (i.e., a faster clock), and at the same time performs the same computation with a larger, worst-case-assumed, clock period (i.e., a slower clock) on a second system with identical hardware. The outputs from the computations are compared to determine if an error has occurred. If there is a difference in the two answers, the faster computation must be in error (i.e., a miscalculation has occurred), and the system uses the answer from the slower system. In one embodiment, the present invention utilizes two copies of the slower system that each run half as fast as the main system. However, the two copies produce results in the aggregate at the same rate as the main system, which is running at a much faster rate than possible without the invention. Hence the present invention improves performance (e.g., speed), albeit with more hardware. Advantageously, the present invention dynamically adapts to achieve the best performance possible under the actual operating conditions.