Semiconductor device and command control method for the same
AssigneeRenesas Electronics Corporation
InventorYutaka YOSHIZAWA
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to an aspect of the present invention, in a semiconductor device, a plurality of commands for specifying a circuit configuration of an analog front-end unit are transmitted from a processing unit to the analog front-end unit, an analysis is performed on the plurality of commands received by the analog front-end unit, and when a circuit configuration of the analog front-end unit which is to be updated and is determined according to the plurality of commands includes a forbidden condition that has been previously set, updating processing of the circuit configuration according to the plurality of commands is stopped.
Claims20
A semiconductor device comprising:
- an analog front-end unit that comprises a plurality of analog functional circuits and a switching circuit group for switching a circuit format and a circuit configuration of the plurality of analog functional circuits;
- a processing unit that comprises an arithmetic unit for executing a program and a memory for storing the program and a plurality of commands, the plurality of commands specifying at least a circuit format setting value that specifies the circuit format of the plurality of analog functional circuits;
- and
- a communication interface that performs communication between the analog front-end unit and the processing unit, wherein
- the analog front-end unit comprises:
- a data stack that stores the plurality of commands transmitted from the processing unit;
- a control register that stores a circuit configuration control value that specifies current configurations of the plurality of analog functional circuits;
- a first circuit format analysis unit that refers to the plurality of commands stored to the data stack and identifies a circuit format of the analog functional circuit which is to be updated;
- a forbidden condition selection unit that selects, from a plurality of forbidden conditions describing a forbidden connection state for each circuit format, the forbidden condition corresponding to the circuit format identified by the first circuit format analysis unit;
- an error detection unit that refers to the plurality of commands stored to the data stack and, when a circuit configuration of the analog functional circuit which is to be updated includes the connection state satisfying the forbidden condition selected by the forbidden condition selection unit, generates an error code having an error value, the error value indicating that the circuit configuration which is to be updated satisfies the forbidden condition;
- and
- a register control unit that updates the circuit configuration control value of the control register by the plurality of commands stored to the data stack in response to a command execution instruction transmitted from the processing unit, and
- the register control unit stops updating the circuit configuration control value when the error code has the error value.
A command control method for a semiconductor device comprising an analog front-end unit that comprises a plurality of analog functional circuits and a switching circuit group for switching a circuit format and a circuit configuration of the plurality of analog functional circuits, a processing unit that comprises an arithmetic unit for executing a program and a memory for storing the program and a plurality of commands specifying at least a circuit format setting value that specifies the circuit format of the plurality of analog functional circuits, and a communication interface that performs communication between the analog front-end unit and the processing unit, the command control method comprising the steps of:
- receiving the plurality of commands from the processing unit and storing the plurality of commands to a data stack;
- identifying a circuit format of the analog functional circuit which is to be updated according to the circuit format setting value included in the plurality of commands received by the analog front-end unit;
- selecting, from a plurality of forbidden conditions describing a forbidden connection state for each circuit format, the forbidden condition corresponding to the circuit format;
- referring to the plurality of commands stored to the data stack and, when a circuit configuration of the analog functional circuit which is to be updated includes the connection state satisfying the forbidden condition, generating an error code having an error value, the error value indicating that the circuit configuration which is to be updated satisfies the forbidden condition;
- updating, when the error code has a normal value, the circuit configuration control value specifying a current circuit configuration of the analog functional circuit by the plurality of commands, the normal value indicating that the circuit configuration of the analog functional circuit which is to be updated does not satisfy the forbidden condition;
- and
- maintaining, when the error code has the error value, the circuit configuration control value irrespective of the plurality of commands.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.