A system and method for determining data integrity as such data passes
through a FIFO. A generator is provided for appending a bit in a
predetermined bit location in each packet pushed into the FIFO in
response clock signals. The appended bit is a function of the information
pushed into the FIFO. A checker is provided for providing an indication
of the information integrity in response to bits produced at an output of
the FIFO in the predetermined bit location. In one embodiment, the
generator is a parity generator and the checker is a parity checker. In
one embodiment, during an initial test mode, one parity type is
introduced into the FIFO by the parity generator and the opposite parity
type is checked at the output of the FIFO by the parity checker to
determine whether the parity checker is able to produce parity error
signals. In another embodiment, the generator is a packet delimiter
generator and the checker is a packet delimiter checker. In another
embodiment, the generator is a frame delimiter generator and the checker
is a frame delimiter checker.