Method and apparatus for processing memory repair information

1. A method comprising:

performing a repair analysis of the embedded memories to produce repair information;

storing the repair information in multiple register chains, each register chain including a plurality of registers, wherein the register chains are organized into groups comprising chains of identical length;

for each of the groups of the register chains, performing collision detection between the repair information stored in the register chains;

merging the repair information stored in the register chains when the collision detection indicates no collision between the repair information stored in the different register chains in each of the groups; and

repairing the embedded memories using the merged repair information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein repairing the embedded memories includes storing and later broadcasting the merged repair information.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the merged repair information is stored in an embedded non-volatile memory.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein repairing the embedded memories includes storing and later broadcasting the merged repair information, and wherein the merged repair information is compressed before being stored and decompressed before being broadcast.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the groups are processed serially or the groups are processed in parallel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repair information is merged during the collision checking.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repair process is aborted when a collision is detected.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collision detection includes determining whether there are identical repair words in more than one of the chains within a window defined by a repair word size.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a subset of chains within a group is selected for repair while others are not disturbed.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying the repair information in a least one chain to produce the identical length.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a controller; and

a plurality of embedded memories connected to be accessed by the controller and coupled to register chains, each including a plurality of registers capable of storing repair information, the apparatus configured to:

perform a repair analysis of the embedded memories to produce repair information;

store the repair information in the register chains, wherein the register chains are organized into groups comprising chains of identical length;

for each of the groups of the register chains, perform collision detection between the repair information stored in the register chains;

merge the repair information stored in the register chains when the collision detection indicates no collision between the repair information stored in the different register chains in each of the groups; and

repair the embedded memories using the merged repair information.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein repairing the embedded memories includes storing and later broadcasting the merged repair information.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the merged repair information is stored in an embedded non-volatile memory.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein repairing the embedded memories includes storing and later broadcasting the merged repair information, and wherein the merged repair information is compressed before being stored and decompressed before being broadcast.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the groups are processed serially or the groups are processed in parallel.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the repair information is merged during the collision checking.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the repair process is aborted when a collision is detected.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the collision detection includes determining whether there are identical repair words in more than one of the chains within a window defined by a repair word size.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein a subset of chains within a group is selected for repair while others are not disturbed.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further configured to modify the repair information in a least one chain to produce the identical length.