Patent ID: 7715937

Claim:
A method of sorting and using manufactured devices, said method comprising: removing defective integrated circuit devices from a group of manufactured integrated circuit devices to leave non-defective integrated circuit devices; evaluating performance characteristics of said non-defective integrated circuit devices, wherein all of said non-defective integrated circuit devices are manufactured using an identical design, and wherein differences in said evaluated performance characteristics among said non-defective integrated circuit devices occur because of processing variations including manufacturing line variations; sorting said non-defective integrated circuit devices into different groups according to said evaluated performance characteristics and previously established sorting cutoffs, said previously established sorting cutoffs being based on customer specifications and on previously established correlations between different performance characteristics and different operating environments; and utilizing said different groups of said non-defective integrated circuit devices in different types of computing devices, said different types of computing devices comprising at least two of a personal computer, a mainframe computer, a portable digital assistance (PDA), a cell phone, an automobile, an appliance, a calculator, and a video game console, and further in different versions of each of said different types of computing devices depending upon individual operating requirements of each of said different versions of said different types of computing devices, as established by customer specifications.