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:
Mar. 04, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 12, 2001
Andrew Crosland, Haddenham, GB;
Roger May, Bichester, GB;
Edward Flaherty, Kingsley, GB;
Andrew Draper, Chesham, GB;
Andrew Crosland, Haddenham, GB;
Roger May, Bichester, GB;
Edward Flaherty, Kingsley, GB;
Andrew Draper, Chesham, GB;
Altera Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A programmable logic integrated circuit has an embedded processor with a watchdog timer circuit. The watchdog timer circuit is used to detect software or hardware failures. In one implementation, the watchdog timer circuit includes a counter register that advances (e.g., incremented or decremented) with each clock. To prevent the watchdog timer circuit from becoming triggered, the watchdog timer circuit should be reset or reloaded by software. For example, the count register may be reset to a value to start the count over. If the count register is allowed to count to a final or maximum value, the watchdog timer circuit will become triggered, generating a triggered signal that causes the programmable logic integrated circuit to be reset. A reset causes a reloading of the configuration data used to program the programmable logic and embedded processor portions of the integrated data. The configuration data may be stored in an external nonvolatile storage memory.