Error management within a data processing system

摘要

A data processing system 2 is used to perform processing operations to generate a result value. The processing circuitry which generates the result value has an error resistant portion 32 and an error prone portion 30. The probability of an error in operation of the error prone portion for a given set of operating parameters (clk, V) is greater than the probability of an error for that same set of operating parameters within the error resistant portion. Error detection circuitry 38 detects any errors arising in the error prone portion. Parameter control circuitry 40 responds to detected errors to adjust the set of operating parameters to maintain a non-zero error rate in the errors detected by the error detection circuitry. Errors within the one or more bits generated by the error prone portion are not corrected as the apparatus is tolerant to errors occurring within such bit values of the result value.