Error Correction by Alternate-Data Retry

A new technique for low-cost error correction is the alternate-data retry (ADR). Like a conventional retry, an ADR is a re-execution of an operation that initially fails to produce an error-free result. Unlike a conventional retry, an ADR uses an alternate representation of the initial data. The choice of the alternate data representation and the design of the processing circuits combine to insure that even an error due to a permanent fault is not repeated during retry. Error correction is provided at a hardware cost comparable to that of a conventional retry capability.