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US 7,607,044 B2Granted
Monitoring of a program execution by the processor of an electronic circuit
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsGerard Humeau, Roland Marbot
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for monitoring the execution of a program by a processor of an electronic circuit comprises operations of collecting monitoring data within the circuit and of transmitting the monitoring data to a device for debugging the program. The monitoring data are transmitted via a connection external to the circuit, comprising at least one serial connection. The monitoring data are serialized within the circuit before being transmitted, then restored within the device for tuning the program.
Claims24
A method, comprising:
- monitoring an execution of a program by a processor of an electronic circuit, the electronic circuit being connected to a device for debugging the program using a connection external to the electronic circuit, the monitoring including:
- executing a part of the program, the executing producing first data;
- collecting, within the electronic circuit, second data monitoring the execution of said part of the program;
- transmitting the second data to the device for debugging the program via the connection, wherein the connection includes a serial connection, and wherein the transmitting the second data includes:
- serializing, using a first serialization unit, the second data within the electronic circuit;
- transmitting the serialized second data to the device for debugging the program;
- and
- restoring the second data within the device for debugging the program;
- serializing, using a second serialization unit, the first data produced by the executing step;
- and
- clocking the first serialization unit with a clock unit that is also used to clock the second serialization unit.
8 more elements
An electronic circuit, comprising:
- a programmable processor;
- a collection unit for collecting first data monitoring execution of a program by the processor;
- a serial connector arranged to transmit collected first data monitoring execution of a program;
- a first serialization unit for serializing the first data collected by the collection unit, the first serialization unit connected at input to the collection unit and at output to the serial connector;
- a second serialization unit for serializing second data produced by execution of at least a part of the program;
- and
- a single clock unit configured to clock the first serialization unit and the second serialization unit.
4 more elements
An electronic circuit, comprising:
- a programmable processor;
- a collection unit for collecting data monitoring the execution of a program by the programmable processor;
- a plurality of serial connectors arranged to transmit collected monitoring data;
- and
- a plurality of serialization units in parallel with one another, the plurality of serialization units being configured to serialize respective parts of the monitoring data collected by the collection unit, the plurality of serialization units being connected at input to the collection unit and at output to respective serial connectors of the plurality of serial connectors;
- and
- a common clock unit configured to clock the plurality of serialization units.
4 more elements
A device for debugging a program executed in an electronic circuit external to the device, the device comprising:
- a plurality of serial connection terminals arranged to receive serialized data monitoring an execution of a program part in the electronic circuit;
- a unit for processing the received monitoring data;
- a logic unit connected at output to a port of the unit for processing the monitoring data;
- a plurality of serialized data restoration units connected in parallel with one another, connected at input to respective serial connection terminals of the plurality of serial connection terminals, and connected at output to the logic unit, the plurality of serialized data restoration units being configured to transmit data restored as a recombined data stream.
1 more element
An electronic hard disk controller, comprising:
- means for executing a program;
- means for collecting first data monitoring the execution of the program coupled with the means for executing the program;
- means for serial transmission of the first data monitoring the execution of the program;
- a first means for serializing the first data monitoring the execution of the program, the first means for serializing having an input and an output, the input being coupled with the means for collecting the first data monitoring the execution of the program and the output being connected to the means for serial transmission;
- a second means for serializing second data produced by execution of a part of the program;
- and
- a common clock unit for clocking the first means for serializing the first data and the second means for serializing the second data.
4 more elements
A method, comprising:
- monitoring an execution of a program by a processor of an electronic circuit, the electronic circuit being connected to a device for debugging the program via a connection external to the electronic circuit, wherein the connection includes a serial connection, the monitoring including:
- executing a part of the program;
- collecting, within the electronic circuit, data monitoring the execution of said part of the program;
- and
- transmitting the data monitoring the execution of said part of the program to the device via the connection, wherein the transmitting the data includes:
- serializing the data within the electronic circuit;
- transmitting the serialized data to the device;
- and
- restoring the serialized data within the device,
- wherein a plurality of serialization units being used in parallel with one another to serialize respective parts of the data monitoring the execution of said part of the program, a common clock unit being used to clock the plurality of serialization units, the transmitting the serialized data is performed simultaneously via a plurality of serial connections included in the connection external to the electronic circuit and connected respectively to the serialization units of the plurality of serialization units, and the restoring the serialized data within the device being performed by a plurality of restoration units being connected in parallel with one another to restore said respective parts of the monitoring data.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.