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:
Dec. 12, 2006
Filed:
Nov. 28, 2001
James A. Davis, Richmond, VA (US);
Jonathan Jedwab, Bristol, GB;
Stephen Morley, Bristol, GB;
Kenneth Graham Paterson, Middlesex, GB;
Frederick A. Perner, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Kenneth K. Smith, Boise, ID (US);
Stewart R. Wyatt, Boise, ID (US);
James A. Davis, Richmond, VA (US);
Jonathan Jedwab, Bristol, GB;
Stephen Morley, Bristol, GB;
Kenneth Graham Paterson, Middlesex, GB;
Frederick A. Perner, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Kenneth K. Smith, Boise, ID (US);
Stewart R. Wyatt, Boise, ID (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A fault-tolerant magnetoresistive solid-state storage device (MRAM) in use performs error correction coding and decoding of stored information, to tolerate physical defects. At manufacture, the MRAN device is tested to confirm that each set of storage cells is suitable for storing ECC encoded data, using either a parametric evaluation (step), or a logical evaluation (step) or preferably a combination of both. Failed cells are identified and a count is formed, suitably in terms of ECC symbolsthat would be affected by such failed cells (step). The count can be compared to a threshold (step) to determine suitability of the accessed storage cells and a decision made (step) on whether to continue with use of those cells, or whether to take remedial action.