Patent · US Expired

On-chip debug port

US5544311A · kind A · utility

137Cited by
10References
50Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 11, 1995
Grant dateAug 6, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 11, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/261
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A debug port in accordance with the invention provides circuitry for enabling system (hardware and software) development within an inaccessible computer processor. In one embodiment, a debug port is incorporated within the internal logic of a single-chip, reduced instruction set signal processor referred to as the signal processor. A fully implemented debug port is comprised of five interacting functional elements: debug bus unit (DBU), debug command unit (DCU), debug instruction Unit (DIU), debug inject/extract unit (DJU), and a debug flow unit (DFU). The DBU provides circuitry for buffering data received from the signal processor and other functional elements within the debug port as well as accepting data from an external source. The DBU provides for off-chip connections. The DCU provides circuitry for decoding and executing debug commands received by the debug port. The DIU provides circuitry to insert one or more instructions with, or without, data into the instruction stream of the signal processor. The DJU provides circuitry for injecting external sources of information (e.g., an analog input signal, external control signals, or repetitious data signals) into the signal proc…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.