Loading patent…
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorDaniel Peter Mann
Estimating the term…
A processor-based device incorporating an on-chip trace cache and supporting circuitry for providing software performance profiling information. A trigger control register is configured to initialize and trigger (start) a first on-chip counter upon entry into a selected procedure. A second trigger control register is used to stop the first counter when the procedure prologue of the selected procedure is entered. Counter values reflecting the lapsed execution time of the selected procedure are then stored in the on-chip trace cache. Similar techniques can be used to measure other parameters such as interrupt handler execution times. In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, a second counter is also provided. The second counter runs continually, but is reset to zero following a stop trigger event caused by the second trigger control register. The stop trigger event also causes the value of the second counter to be placed in the on-chip trace cache. This second counter value is useful for obtaining the frequency of occurrence of a procedure of interest, whereas the first counter provides information about the procedure's execution time. Either post-processing software executing on a target system, a host system utilizing a debug port, or off-chip trace capture hardware can be used to analyze the profile data. Both serial and parallel communication channels are provided for communicating the trace information to external devices. The processor-based device thereby provides a flexible, high-performance solution for furnishing software performance profiling information.
An electronic processor-based device adapted to execute a series of software instructions, the processor-based device being provided with pins to permit connection to external conductors, the processor-based device comprising:
A method for providing software performance profiling information with a processor-based device having a processor core that is executing a series of software instructions, comprising the steps of:
A software development environment for generating and analyzing software performance profiling information, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.