| abstract |
Errors in code words fetched from memory or utilized in some other device are detected by apparatus distributed throughout the memory and then corrected. Illustratively, a 72-bit parallel code word, comprising a 64-bit information portion and an 8-bit check portion is fetched from the memory. The check bit generator consists of 8 identical modular units which, in the case of use in a memory, can be located at different locations within the memory. The identical modular units are connected in accordance with connections determined by an H matrix. The H matrix is partitioned into eight equal sections associated with eight information bits forming a byte and a single check bit. The rows of each partition or section are cyclically permutated from section to section. For example, the first row of the first section becomes the second row of the second section, etc. Each partition of the H matrix contains the same number of 1''s and each row within a partition is part of a different code group. Each of the identical modular arrangements contains a logic circuit grouping. The input information byte bits are connected to the circuits of the logic grouping so as to produce as circuit outputs the parities of the part of the code groups in the partition or section associated with the module. The identical modular units also contain circuitry to receive the partial code groups parities from the other modular units concerned with the same code group. These partial code group parities and the partial code group parity of the respective module are combined to provide the check bit for the particular module. The partial code group parity outputs from the module are transmitted to the successive other modules to form the partial code group parity inputs for the respective modules. After the information has been utilized such as writing in storage, the information bits and check bits are read into an error detector which compares the check bits generated from the received information bits with the received check bits. An error locator analyzes any mismatch to determine the location of an error. An error corrector then corrects any information or check bit which is identified as incorrect by the error locator. The error detector can consist of the same identical modular units as the check bit generator. |