Apparatus and method for analysis and troubleshooting of electronic devices
OwnerReuven Lavie, Avi Costoinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for trouble shooting devices contained within a digital electronic system using external test equipment and scan module contained within the devices. Upon receipt of an external event trigger by the scan module, the operations of the device are halted. The contents of the flip-flops contained within the device are held constant. Thereafter, the contents of the flip-flops may be transmitted serially from the device to the external test equipment. Communication lines between the external test equipment and the device may be embedded within a baseboard in which the devices are attached.
Claims21
A method of trouble shooting a device in a digital electronic system, comprising:
- transmitting an external event trigger signal to a scan module to began a scan operation in the device;
- transmitting a synchronous scan command signal to a device core in the device;
- holding values contained in the plurality of flip-flops in the device core unchanged when the synchronous scan command signal is received by the device core;
- and
- transmitting the values contained in the plurality of flip-flops to external test equipment when the synchronous scan command signal is received.
A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium and executable by a computer for trouble shooting a device in a computer system, comprising:
- transmitting an external event trigger signal to a scan module to began a scan operation in the device;
- transmitting a synchronous scan command signal to a device core in the device;
- holding values contained in the plurality of flip-flops in the device core unchanged when the synchronous scan command signal is received by the device core;
- and
- transmitting the values contained in the plurality of flip-flops to external test equipment when the synchronous scan command signal is received.
An apparatus to retrieve contents of a plurality of flip-flops contained within a device in a digital electronic system, comprising:
- an external test equipment to transmit an external event trigger signal and receive the contents of the plurality of flip-flops;
- a scan module embedded in the device and connected to the external test equipment to receive the external event trigger signal and transmit the contents of the plurality of flip-flops when the external event trigger signal is set on, wherein the external event trigger signal is embedded in a baseboard in which the device is attached to.
The apparatus recited in claim a 20, wherein the wherein the device comprises a processor, memory controller, USB interface, SCSI interface, or communications interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.