Transparently gathering a chips multiple internal states via scan path and a trigger
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsGary M. Godfrey, Floyd Goodrich, III
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsGary M. Godfrey, Floyd Goodrich, III
Estimating the term…
A microcontroller has many miscellaneous logics. The miscellaneous logic can include input/outputs of combinational logic or peripheral devices of the microcontroller, storage devices such as latches, or registers. The miscellaneous logic is coupled to multiple stages of scan cells. The multiple stages can be used as a buffer while the last stage of scan cells are scanned out. A predetermined stage of scan cells are coupled together to form a scan path where data from the miscellaneous logic can be outputted to an external memory. In one embodiment, the predetermined stage is the last stage of scan cells. A trigger signal is used to shift the data from the miscellaneous logic to the next stage of scan cells. Once the last stage of scan cells are loaded, a clocking signal can be provided so that the data in the predetermined stage of scan cells is scanned out. The present invention provides among other things, a graceful way to capture data from miscellaneous logic of the microcontroller using scan hardware.
A microcontroller having scan hardware for saving device states, comprising:
A microcontroller having scan hardware for saving device states, comprising:
A method of saving data of a microcontroller, the microcontroller including a plurality of miscellaneous logic, scan cells of N stages, wherein N equals 2 to n, where the scan cells of the first stage are coupled to corresponding miscellaneous logic, where the scan cells of each stage are coupled to corresponding scan cells of a next stage;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.