Patent ID: 8074120
Filing Date: 2011-12-06
Classification: G06F,G11C

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting a power failure supplied to a volatile data memory, the volatile data memory containing memory cells, each of the memory cells including an associated parity bit, the method comprising: reading a memory cell and associated parity bit when the memory cell is read-accessed; deciding, based on the parity bit, whether the memory cell is corrupted; and identifying a power failure when at least two read memory cells within a predefined number of successive read accesses are found to be corrupted, wherein the reading processes are not performed specifically for the purpose of identifying errors or failures, wherein the reading process is performed within a scope of carrying out a task that is different from the detecting of a power failure, and processing of the task is not delayed by the detecting, and wherein the predefined number are chosen such that a likelihood of at least two radiation-induced corruptions of the data units is substantially low.