US Patent 7853850 Testing hardware components to detect hardware failures

A system for testing hardware components includes a test pattern injector and a test pattern detector coupled to verification paths that pass through hardware components. The test pattern injector generates unique test patterns. A test pattern tests hardware features of the hardware components of a corresponding verification path. The test pattern injector injects the test patterns into the corresponding verification paths. The test pattern detector establishes expected test patterns. An expected test pattern matches an injected test pattern of a corresponding verification path. The test pattern detector determines whether received test patterns match the expected test patterns.