# US 9,519,742 B2 · Support device, semiconductor device, and non-transitory computer readable medium

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- Number: US 9,519,742 B2
- Document ID: US9519742B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/518,941
- Filed: 2014-10-20
- Published: 2015-05-14
- Granted: 2016-12-13
- Earliest claimed: 2013-11-13
- Assignees: Renesas Electronics Corporation
- Applicants: Renesas Electronics Corporation
- Inventors: Yutaka Yoshizawa
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9519742B2

## CPC

- G06F 30/34: for reconfigurable circuits, e.g. field programmable gate arrays [FPGA] or programmable logic devices [PLD]
- G01R 31/318536: {Scan chain arrangements, e.g. connections, test bus, analog signals}
- G01R 31/318555: {Control logic}
- G06F 2117/08: HW-SW co-design, e.g. HW-SW partitioning
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12)

## Abstract

According to an embodiment, a semiconductor device switches circuit forms and circuit configurations of a plurality of analog functional circuits by rearranging a command execution order according to the command execution order set in advance irrespectively of a command execution order specified by a user and executing the commands.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A semiconductor device comprising:
an analog front end unit that includes a plurality of analog functional circuits, and a switch circuit group that switches circuit forms and circuit configurations of the plurality of analog functional circuits; and
a control circuit that receives a plurality of commands for specifying the circuit forms and the circuit configurations, and controls the switch circuit group based on the plurality of commands,
wherein the control circuit controls the switch circuit group in an order, set in advance without executing a received circuit change, different from an order of the received commands in response to reception of a command execution instruction defined as one of the plurality of commands.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit executes the commands in an order of circuit form setting commands for specifying the circuit forms, circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations and power control commands for controlling power sources of the plurality of analog functional circuits irrespective of an order of the received commands.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein
the control circuit includes a plurality of registers whose addresses are defined according to an execution order of the commands,
the plurality of commands each include data for specifying a state of the switch circuit group and address values for specifying the registers in which the data is stored, and
the control circuit temporarily stores the commands in a reception order, and stores in the registers the data of the commands in an order of the address values included in the commands in response to reception of the command execution instruction.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The semiconductor device according to claim 3, wherein the control circuit includes write flags that are associated with the address values of the plurality of commands and that are placed in an enable state according to an input of the corresponding commands, and stores the temporarily stored commands in the plurality of registers in such a way that the address values associated with the write flags placed in the enable state are arranged in at least one of an ascending order or descending order.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit stores in advance address values of circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations, and executes the received commands when the commands are determined as the circuit configuration setting commands based on the address values of the inputted commands.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The semiconductor device according to claim 5, wherein, when it receives an input of a command for specifying an immediate execution mode defined in advance and when it receives an input of the circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations, the control circuit immediately executes the inputted commands.

### Claim 7

A design support device that outputs a code file for controlling a semiconductor device that comprises:
an analog front end unit that includes a plurality of analog functional circuits, and a switch circuit group that switches circuit forms and circuit configurations of the plurality of analog functional circuits; and
a control circuit that receives a plurality of commands for specifying the circuit forms and the circuit configurations, and controls the switch circuit group based on the plurality of commands,
wherein the design support device
displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that displays changeable circuit parameters in the plurality of analog functional circuits,
reserves the commands corresponding to the changed circuit parameters as correction target command codes, and
generates the code file in which command codes including the correction target command codes are described in a certain order according to a generation command of the code file irrespectively of a reservation order of the correction target command code.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The design support device according to claim 7, wherein the design support device describes the correction target command codes in an order of circuit form setting commands for specifying the circuit forms, circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations and power control commands for controlling power sources of the plurality of analog functional circuits.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The design support device according to claim 7, wherein the design support device inserts command codes of power control commands for controlling power sources of the analog functional circuits prior to and subsequent to command codes corresponding to the circuit parameters described in the code file.

### Claim 10 (depends on 7)

The design support device according to claim 7, wherein the design support device restricts the changeable circuit parameters to parameters corresponding to circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations in response to pushing of an immediate change button displayed on the GUI, and supplies command codes corresponding to the changed circuit parameters to the semiconductor device.

### Claim 11

A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a compiling program that outputs an object file to a semiconductor device that comprises:
an analog front end unit that includes a plurality of analog functional circuits, and a switch circuit group that switches circuit forms and circuit configurations of the plurality of analog functional circuits;
a control circuit that receives a plurality of commands for specifying the circuit forms and the circuit configurations, and controls the switch circuit group based on the plurality of commands,
a computation circuit that executes the object file including the plurality of commands and outputs the plurality of commands to the control circuit,
wherein the program includes
reading a code file in which a program is described,
detecting a plurality of command codes corresponding to the plurality of commands included in the code file,
rearranging the plurality of detected command codes in a predetermined order, set in advance without executing a received circuit change, and
generating the object file by performing compile processing on the code file including the plurality of command codes whose order is rearranged.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the compiling program includes rearranging the command codes in an order of circuit form setting commands for specifying the circuit forms, circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations and power control commands for controlling power sources of the plurality of analog functional circuits.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the compiling program includes inserting command codes of power control commands for controlling power sources of the analog functional circuits prior to and subsequent to the plurality of command codes detected in the code file, and executes the compile processing with respect to the code file including a command code of the power control command.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the compiling program includes executing the compile processing without rearranging the plurality of command codes when the plurality of command codes detected in the code file are only command codes belonging to an immediate change group defined in advance.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit includes write flags that are associated with address values of the plurality of commands and that are placed in an enable state according to an input of the corresponding commands, and stores the temporarily stored commands in the plurality of registers in such a way that the address values associated with the write flags placed in the enable state are arranged in at least one of an ascending order or descending order.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein, when an input of a command is received for specifying an immediate execution mode defined in advance and when it receives an input of circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations, the control circuit immediately executes the inputted commands.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor device restricts changeable circuit parameters to parameters corresponding to circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations in response to pushing of an immediate change button displayed on the GUI (Graphical User Interface).

### Claim 18 (depends on 7)

The design support device according to claim 7, wherein the design support device restricts the changeable circuit parameters to parameters corresponding to circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations in response to pushing of an immediate change button displayed on the GUI (Graphical User Interface).

### Claim 19 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11, wherein the control circuit includes write flags that are associated with address values of the plurality of commands and that are placed in an enable state according to an input of the corresponding commands, and stores the temporarily stored commands in the plurality of registers in such a way that the address values associated with the write flags placed in the enable state are arranged in at least one of an ascending order or descending order.

### Claim 20 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11, wherein, when an input of a command is received for specifying an immediate execution mode defined in advance and when it receives an input of circuit configuration setting commands for specifying the circuit configurations, the control circuit immediately executes the inputted commands.