Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to programmable logic devices such as field-programmable gate array (FPGA) integrated circuits. More particularly, the present invention relates to FPGA integrated circuits using non-volatile memory for providing configuration information for the FPGA and to a non-volatile FPGA configuration memory with an ECC generator/checker for generating ECC information and memory cells reserved for storage of ECC information generated by the ECC generator/checker. 
         [0003]    2. The Prior Art 
         [0004]    An FPGA includes programmable circuitry that is configured and interconnected using programmable elements. Some FPGA integrated circuits employ non-volatile memory cells, such as flash memory cells, as the programmable elements. Whenever the state of a single memory cell in a non-volatile-memory-based FPGA changes due to ionizing radiation or for any other reason, there is presently no way to detect the failure. Because the FPGA configuration depends on the programmed or unprogrammed status of the non-volatile memory cells, any change in the contents of the configuration memory is likely to have disastrous consequences for the circuit implemented in the FPGA integrated circuit. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    An FPGA integrated circuit includes a non-volatile-memory programming controller. A non-volatile FPGA configuration memory is coupled to the non-volatile-memory programming controller and has a group of configuration non-volatile memory cells into which FPGA configuration data is written by the non-volatile-memory programming controller. An ECC generator/checker is coupled to the non-volatile-memory programming controller and generates ECC data from the FPGA configuration data written into the group of configuration non-volatile memory cells. A group of ECC data memory cells is coupled to the non-volatile-memory programming controller into which the ECC data is written by the non-volatile memory programming controller. 
         [0006]    In an exemplary method according to the present invention, during programming of the FPGA, ECC data is generated and programmed into the ECC rows. An integrity-check bit may be set, for example, at the factory if it is desired to check the integrity of the memory bits at boot up. This gives the user the ability to trade boot up time with reliability. While booting up, it is determined whether the integrity-check bit is set. If the integrity-check bit is set, an integrity check is performed during boot-up to detect errors. If a single-bit error is detected, the location is known and the particular bit is reprogrammed. If the error bit should have been programmed and has become erased, the bit is reprogrammed. If the error bit should have remained erased and has become programmed, then the data is saved in a non-volatile memory (NVM) block, and the configuration memory block containing the error is then erased and reprogrammed using the corrected bit. If there is more than one error, an error flag may be set. In some embodiments, the user reads the status of the error flag through the JTAG port. If the error flag is set then a full reprogramming cycle is initiated. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of an illustrative non-volatile memory based FPGA integrated circuit according to the present invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a diagram of a portion of an illustrative configuration memory block in an FPGA according to the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram showing an illustrative method according to one aspect of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram showing an illustrative method according to another aspect of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    Persons of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description of the present invention is illustrative only and not in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons. 
         [0012]    Referring first to  FIG. 1 , a simplified block diagram shows an illustrative non-volatile memory based FPGA integrated circuit  10  according to the present invention. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that FPGA  10  may also include additional circuit blocks, such as user memory and other circuit blocks that are not shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0013]    As is known in the art, FPGA  10  includes and FPGA core  12  that includes a plurality of programmable circuit elements and programmable interconnect elements that are used to configure the user circuit. FPGA core  12  is coupled to input/output (I/O) block  14 . I/O block  14  includes a plurality of I/O circuits that can be programmably connected to the circuit elements in the FPGA core  12 . As is known in the art, the I/O circuits may themselves be configurable by a user. The I/O circuits are coupled to I/O pads that are used to move signals on and off of the FPGA  10 . 
         [0014]    FPGA  10  also includes a configuration memory  16 . Configuration memory  16  is a non-volatile memory that may be formed using any one of a number of available non-volatile memory technologies. While the present invention is disclosed using flash memory as an example, persons of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present invention is not limited to FPGA integrated circuits that employ flash memory as the non-volatile configuration memory  16 . The non-volatile configuration memory  16  includes a plurality of sense transistors that are coupled to transistor switches. As is known to persons of ordinary skill in the art, the state of a sense transistor determines whether its associated switch transistor is in an on state or in an off state. The individual transistor switches are coupled to the programmable circuit elements and programmable interconnect elements in the FPGA core  12  as is known in the art. 
         [0015]    Configuration memory  16  is coupled to a port  18 , such as a JTAG port, that is used to load configuration data into the FPGA  10 . As is known to persons of ordinary skill in the art, the JTAG port  18  may be used for other purposes in addition to loading configuration data into the FPGA  10  and is therefore shown coupled to the FPGA core  12  and the I/O block  14  as well as to the non-volatile configuration memory  16 . 
         [0016]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a diagram shows a portion of an illustrative non-volatile configuration memory block  16  in an FPGA according to the present invention. The portion of non-volatile configuration memory  16  will be referred to herein as a “block” and includes a plurality of rows and columns of memory cells. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a high-level implementation of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2 , which illustrates only one block of memory cells and that an actual FPGA may be formed from a sea of these modules. 
         [0017]    In the simplified illustrative arrangement of non-volatile configuration memory block  16  shown in  FIG. 2 , four columns of memory cells illustrated at reference numerals  20 ,  22 ,  24 , and  26  are shown. In addition, N rows of memory cells are shown, four of which are illustrated at reference numerals  28 ,  30 ,  32 , and  34 . A typical number for N in a configuration memory block an actual FPGA integrated circuit might be  128 . The total number of memory blocks in the FPGA integrated circuit will depend on the number of programmable circuits that need to be serviced by the configuration memory in the FPGA or other programmable logic device. 
         [0018]    As also shown in  FIG. 2 , each memory cell in memory block  16  includes a sense transistor and a switch transistor. Representative pairs of sense transistors are shown in  FIG. 2 . In the first row  28  of the portion of the non-volatile memory  16 , the memory cell in the first column  20  includes sense transistor  36  and switch transistor  38 . The memory cell in the second column  22  of first row  28  includes sense transistor  40  and switch transistor  42 . The memory cell in the third column  24  of first row  28  includes sense transistor  44  and switch transistor  46 . The memory cell in the fourth column  26  of first row  28  includes sense transistor  48  and switch transistor  50 . The control gates of all of the memory-cell transistors in the first row  28  are coupled to a row line  52  as is known in the art. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the configuration of the other rows of the portion of non-volatile configuration memory  16  is as described for the illustrative first row  28 . 
         [0019]    The common sources of the memory cells in the first and second columns  20  and  22  are coupled to a common source line  52 . The common sources of the memory cells in columns  24  and  26  are coupled to a common source line  54 . The drains of the sense transistors in the first column  20  of memory cells is coupled to a column line  56 . The drains of the sense transistors in the second column  22  of memory cells is coupled to a column line  58 . The common sources of the memory cells in the third and fourth columns  24  and  26  are coupled to a common source line  60 . The common sources of the memory cells in columns  24  and  26  are coupled to a common source line  62 . The drains of the sense transistors in the third column  24  of memory cells is coupled to a column line  64 . The drains of the sense transistors in the fourth column  26  of memory cells is coupled to a column line  66 . The common source lines are coupled to select transistors  64  and the column lines are coupled to column-select transistors  66 . The column-select transistors  66  are coupled to sense amplifiers  68 . A column-decoder circuit  70  is shown coupled to the sense amplifiers  68 . Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the column output circuitry. 
         [0020]    Row line  52  and the other row lines are coupled to a row decoder circuit  74 . Row decoder  74  addresses the rows of memory cells as is known in the art. Programming controller  76  is coupled to column decoder circuit  70  and to row decoder circuit  74  as is known in the art. The row and column decoder circuits  70  and  74  may be distributed across the FPGA on a block basis or may be common to the entire configuration memory. 
         [0021]    The non-volatile configuration memory block  16  shown in  FIG. 2  also includes M additional rows. Four such additional rows are indicated at reference numerals  78 ,  80 ,  82 , and  84 . These additional rows are used to store error-correction-code (ECC) data generated from the configuration data that is stored in the memory cells in the M rows including rows  28 ,  30 ,  32 , and  34 . Four such ECC rows are shown in  FIG. 2 , but, as indicated, the number of additional ECC rows is determined by the amount of error correction data desired. With M=9, two errors can be detected and one error can be corrected. 
         [0022]    The ECC code generating and error detection is performed by ECC generator/checker  86 , coupled to the column decoder  70  and the programming controller  76  for the entire non-volatile memory. ECC generator/checker  86  uses the incoming configuration data being programmed into the configuration memory to generate ECC data that are then stored in memory cells in rows  78 ,  80 ,  82 , and  84  under the control of programming controller  76 . 
         [0023]    As will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art, there are numerous ECC algorithms that may be implemented by ECC generator/checker  86  and the present invention is intended to encompass use of any such ECC algorithm. The configuration of ECC generator/checker  86  will depend on the particular one of the ECC algorithms that it is to implement. Design of such an ECC generator/checker  86  will be a routine exercise for persons of ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0024]    At boot up or at regular intervals the FPGA  10  can be put into integrity check mode. In this mode ECC generator/checker  86  reads the non-volatile configuration memory block by block and compares the data with the ECC data to check whether there are any errors. If there is a single bit error, the ECC data are used to find the location of the error and fix the error by reprogramming the bit having the error. 
         [0025]    If the error is a programmed bit that has become erased, then data for the entire block can be stored in non-volatile memory on the integrated circuit, and the data in the block may be erased and then re-written using the data stored in the non-volatile memory altered by the corrected bit data, thus fixing the error bit that was detected using the ECC scheme. This is because non-volatile memories are usually “bulk” erased, meaning that the erase procedure is carried out simultaneously on blocks of memory cells. In most cases the error consists of a programmed bit that has become erased, and the present invention is able to repair the error without having to save the error block data in a non-volatile memory block. 
         [0026]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a flow diagram shows an illustrative method according to one aspect of the present invention wherein the contents of the configuration memory are checked at bootup of the FPGA. Thus, at block  90 , the bootup sequence of the FPGA is started. Next, at block  92 , it is determined whether the integrity bit has been set. The integrity-check bit or bits is a location that is checked by the boot up sequence. If the bit is cleared, the normal boot up sequence is performed and ended at block  94 . This portion of the process is optional. 
         [0027]    If the integrity-check bit has been set, the ECC data are fetched from the non-volatile configuration memory and compared with ECC data generated from the data contents actually stored the block of configuration data stored in the non-volatile configuration memory at block  96 . Next, at block  98 , the stored ECC data is compared with the generated ECC data to determine if there are any errors in the configuration data stored in the non-volatile configuration memory. If the stored ECC data matches the generated ECC data, it is determined that there are no errors, the normal boot up sequence is performed and ended at block  94 . 
         [0028]    If the stored ECC data does not match the generated ECC data, it is determined at block  100  whether there are more errors than can be identified by bit location. In the example shown in  FIG. 3 , nine ECC rows allow a single error to be precisely located. If there are more errors than can be precisely located, the process proceeds to block  102 , where an error flag is set. This error flag may be read through the JTAG port and can be used to initiate a reprogramming sequence for the FPGA using external known data. 
         [0029]    If the particular bit(s) causing the errors can be identified, the process proceeds to block  104 , where it is determined whether the error is a programmed bit that should have remained erased. If so, the process proceeds to block  106 , where the erroneous erased bit is reprogrammed. The process then proceeds to block  94  for completion of the boot up sequence. 
         [0030]    If it is determined that the error is an erased bit that should have been programmed, the process proceeds to block  108 , where the data from all of the memory location in the block of data containing the erroneously-programmed location is stored in on-chip non-volatile memory or other memory such as SRAM. Next, at block  110 , all memory locations in the block of data containing the erroneously-programmed location are erased and reprogrammed using the data that was read out and stored in non-volatile memory or other temporary storage modified by the correct data for the erroneously erased bit. The process then proceeds to block  94  for completion of the boot up sequence. 
         [0031]    As previously mentioned, the process of  FIG. 3  assumes a single identifiable error. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that if a larger number of ECC bits are employed such that the location of more than one error can be exactly determined, the processes shown in blocks  104 ,  106 ,  108 , and  110  are repeated for each identifiable error. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that performing this check during boot-up is merely exemplary and that this integrity check may be selectively performed at any other user-specified time. In such other embodiments, block  90  starts the process by which the contents of the configuration memory are checked, and block  94  is the end of the process by which the contents of the configuration memory are checked, without reference to system boot-up. 
         [0032]    Using the disclosed example where nine additional rows are used to store ECC data, two bit errors can be detected and one bit error can be corrected without having access to the programming data for the entire configuration memory. The additional nine ECC rows added to the module column represent an additional area of about 8% for the core and an additional area of about 4% for the entire chip, assuming that the core is about 50% of the total die area. 
         [0033]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , an exemplary method for programming the non-volatile configuration memory of the present invention is shown. The method illustrated in  FIG. 4  assumes that the ECC data is generated on chip from the configuration data that is downloaded to the FPGA. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the initial ECC data could also be generated in the FPGA programmer that downloads the data to the FPGA. 
         [0034]    First, at block  120 , the memory block data is downloaded into the FPGA. Next, at block  122 , the downloaded data is programmed into the configuration memory block. Next, at block  124 , ECC data for the configuration data is calculated by the ECC generator/checker. Next, at block  126 , the ECC data is programmed into the ECC memory cells in the extra rows in the configuration memory block. 
         [0035]    While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.

Technology Category: 5