Patent ID: 7624318
Filing Date: 2009-11-24
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented method for automatically identifying components, the computer implemented method comprising: providing a non-volatile storage device on an integrated circuit chip, wherein the integrated circuit chip includes a plurality of replicated sub-components that are partially defective, and wherein the integrated circuit chip is functionally equivalent to another integrated circuit chip with an equal number of replicated sub-components as long as a number of available sub-components of a type on the integrated circuit chip and the another integrated circuit chip are equal; identifying a set of available sub-components and a set of unavailable sub-components in the plurality of replicated sub-components based on a series of testing; storing information about the set of available sub-components and the set of unavailable sub-components within the non-volatile storage device on the integrated circuit chip; reading the information from the non-volatile storage device on the integrated circuit chip; configuring available sub-components based on the information read from the non-volatile storage device on the integrated circuit chip, wherein the configuring is performed by a configuration agent implemented within the integrated circuit chip; and de-configuring unavailable sub-components based on the information read from the non-volatile storage device on the integrated circuit chip, wherein the de-configuring is performed by the configuration agent implemented within the integrated circuit chip.