KR100272562B1 - Microprocessor including function of in-circuit emulation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A microprocessor including an in-circuit emulation function is provided to efficiently develop a microprocessor by measuring a current of each element of a microprocessor for minimizing a current consumption of the product. CONSTITUTION: A first current supply terminal(110) supplies a current commonly consumed for all operation of a microprocessor. A second current supply terminal(120) supplies a current to an inner resource needed for an operation of the microprocessor. A timing controller(200) generates a timing control signal. A current supply source selector(130) selects a current needed for an operation of an inner resource in accordance with a timing control signal and supplies the same. Current controllers(131, 132, 133 and 134) control the current supplied to the current supply source selector. A peripheral circuit controller(170) receives a current from the current controller and controls the peripheral circuit of the microprocessor. An output controller(180) controls the input and output circuit of the microprocessor. A memory controller(190) controls the operation of the memory of the microprocessor. An emulation controller(160) outputs a current value consumed in the inner resource of the microprocessor and the number of the inner system clocks of the control signal.

Description

Microprocessor with In-Circuit Emulation

The present invention relates to a microprocessor, and more particularly, to a microprocessor including an in-circuit emulation control function of the microprocessor.

As the power consumption of portable devices is lowered, products using microprocessors are being developed while measuring current consumption from the development stage in advance. In this case, the developer first measures the total current consumption of the product in order to minimize the current consumption of the product, and then repeats the process of measuring the current consumption of the product that is changed according to the modification of the program of the product. The condition of was searched.

As described above, in order to perform a process of measuring current consumption while modifying a program, an in-circuit emulation function must be provided to a microprocessor. The in-circuit emulation function means that the user can measure the internal state of the microprocessor by an external host computer or other display means.

The conventional in-circuit emulation function for knowing the state of the microprocessor requires a host computer (not shown) and a host interface 1 for displaying the state of the microprocessor to the user as shown in FIG. In addition, the microprocessor has an internal bus 3 configured to connect the internal emulation control unit 4 to a host interface, an internal memory 8 connected to the emulation control unit for storing instructions or data, and a micro Instruction execution that controls the execution of the instruction signal interpreted by the instruction interpreter 5, the timing controller 10 required for executing the instruction, and the command interpreter, which receives the instruction to be executed by the processor from the memory through the instruction bus. The control part 11 is comprised.

The conventional microprocessor includes an emulation control unit 4, a current supply unit (not shown), a timing control unit 10, a timing control signal 9, an internal bus 6, and a host computer (not shown) to include an in-circuit emulation function. Omit). At this time, all parts of the microprocessor operate by receiving current from the power supply of the host computer. When the host computer is connected to the host interface and performs emulation, the host computer displays the internal state of the microprocessor to the user, thereby helping the user to measure the inside of the microprocessor.

The principle of the in-circuit emulation function to indicate the internal state of the microprocessor is as follows. First, the instruction stored in the memory 8 by the timing controller 10 is fetched into the instruction interpreter 5. The command interpreter interprets the fetched command and generates a control signal for executing the command. Then, this control signal is sent to the peripheral circuit via the internal bus 6 or the external data bus of the microprocessor, whereby the command interpreted by the instruction interpreter is executed.

In this case, when the user wants to measure the internal state of the microprocessor, data on the internal state of the microprocessor may be transferred to the host computer (not shown) through the emulation control unit 4, the emulation control terminal 2, and the host interface 1. Omitted). In addition, when the user wants to change the internal state of the microprocessor, data input to the host computer is applied to each part of the microprocessor through the host interface, the emulation control terminal, and the emulation control unit.

Using this principle, when a user develops a product using a microprocessor, in order to measure the current consumed by the microprocessor, the user attaches a separate current measuring device to the current source of the microprocessor to execute or stop an instruction. In this state, the current consumption of the microprocessor could be measured.

However, the conventional consumption current measurement method has the following problems. First, the current consumption of the microprocessor measured by the current measuring device attached to the current supply source of the microprocessor in the above-described process is actually a value added up to the current consumed by the in-circuit emulation unit and the host computer connected thereto. That is, it is not a current value consumed only in a microprocessor.

In addition, it was impossible for the user to measure the value of the current consumed at the time when each part configured inside the microprocessor is actually used. Therefore, in order to minimize the current consumed by the microprocessor, the user must arbitrarily determine the current consumption according to the execution of the instruction by combining the execution program, the constituent resources inside the microprocessor, and whether the resources are used.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when developing the application of the microprocessor, in order to minimize the current consumption of the product to measure the current consumed in each part of the microprocessor to efficiently develop the microprocessor product Its purpose is to.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the structure of a conventional microprocessor.

Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the structure of the microprocessor of the present invention.

3 is a graph showing a system clock and a control signal of the microprocessor of the present invention shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

100: current measuring instrument 110: first current supply terminal

120: second current supply terminal 130: current supply source selection unit

131, 132, 133, 134: current control unit 140: emulation control terminal

150: internal bus 160: emulation control unit

170: peripheral circuit control unit 180: input and output control unit

190: memory controller 200: timing controller

210: command interpreter 220: timing control signal

230: operation control unit 300: fetch step

310: instruction interpretation step 320: instruction execution step

330: common current consumption 340: cycles required in memory

350: Cycles required by the analysis unit 360: Cycles required by the memory

370, 370 ': Cycles taken from the internal bus

380 cycles on the data bus

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an emulation controller can control a timing controller, a current controller can select a source of current according to a timing control signal, and a host controller connected to the emulation controller consumes current and operating time consumed from internal resources of a microprocessor. It is a feature that can be displayed together.

As shown in FIG. 2, the microprocessor of the present invention supplies the current only to the first current supply terminal 110 for supplying current that is commonly consumed in all operations of the microprocessor, and the internal resources required for the operation of the microprocessor. A second current supply terminal 120, a timing controller 200 for generating a timing control signal, a current supply source selector 130 for selecting and supplying a current required for operation of an internal resource according to the timing control signal, and a current; A current controller 131, 132, 133, 134 for controlling a current supplied from a source selector, a peripheral circuit controller 170 for controlling a peripheral circuit of the microprocessor by receiving a current from the current controller, and an input / output of the microprocessor An input / output controller 180 for controlling a circuit, a memory controller 190 for controlling an operation of a memory of a microprocessor, and a microprocessor Is the number of the internal system clock of the control signal used for a current value to the operation of the resources consumed in the interior as a containing the emulation controller 160 to output structure. In order to use the in-circuit emulation function using the microprocessor of the present invention, a host computer (not shown) is connected to the emulation control unit to receive the current value consumed from the internal resource and the internal system clock to consume the internal resource. It must be configured to indicate current and operating time.

The basic configuration of the present invention has been further modified so that the timing control unit 200 can be controlled by the emulation control unit 160 in the conventional microprocessor, and the current supply source selection unit 130 changes the current supply source according to the timing control signal and consumes it. The current source to be selected can be selected.

The first current supply terminal 110 supplies the microprocessor with current that is commonly consumed in all operations of the microprocessor. The second current supply terminal 120 supplies current only to internal resources directly involved in the operation of the microprocessor.

The timing controller 200 generates a predetermined timing control signal. The timing controller may generate a separate memory address control signal. The timing controller controls each internal resource of the microprocessor using a control signal applied by the emulation controller 160 to the current controller of each internal resource.

The current controllers 131, 132 133, and 134 control the current supplied from the current source selector 130 according to the timing control signal. The current supply source selector 130 connected to an internal resource of the microprocessor supplies current by the control signal of the timing controller 200.

The peripheral circuit controller 170 generates a control signal capable of controlling the peripheral circuit of the microprocessor, and receives a current required for the control signal by the current controller 132. The input / output controller 180 generates a control signal for controlling internal resources required for input and output of the microprocessor, and receives the current required for the control signal by the current controller 133. In addition, the memory controller 190 generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the memory of the microprocessor, and receives the current required for the control signal by the current controller 134.

The emulation controller 160 outputs the current value consumed by the peripheral circuit controller 170, the input / output controller 180, and the memory controller 190, and the internal system clock number of the control signal. At this time, the emulation control unit sums the amount of current consumption of the current source used in each internal resource, and sends the value and the number of internal system clocks required for the control signal of each internal resource to the emulation terminal 140 together with the external host computer ( (Not shown). In addition, the emulation controller receives a current required for its operation from the current controller 131.

The host computer 131 places the current meter 100 in the current supply sources 110 and 120 used in the internal resources, and analyzes and displays the value of the current consumption and the number of system clocks transmitted from the emulation control unit of the microprocessor. .

In this case, the microprocessor of the present invention may separately control the current supplied to each of the peripheral circuit controller 170, the input / output controller 180, the memory controller 190, and the emulation controller 160. 131, 132, 133, and 134 are provided. Thus, the microprocessor of the present invention can detect, by an in-circuit emulator connected to a host computer, an increase or decrease in current consumed from an internal resource currently being used among the internal resources of the microprocessor.

Hereinafter, the operation of the microprocessor of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

Each internal resource of the microprocessor is determined by its current system clock. As shown in FIG. 3, the current state of each internal resource of the microprocessor includes three stages: a fetch state 300, an instruction interpretation step 310, and an instruction execution step 320.

The fetch state is a state in which microprocessor instructions are loaded from internal or external memory. The operation of the microprocessor in this fetch state is as follows. First, in the fetch state, the control signal is applied to the internal bus and the memory controller connecting the memory and the command interpreter, so the current consumed in this fetch state is the current value consumed by the internal bus, the memory controller, and the timing controller (330 + 340 + 370). ) Is the value obtained by subtracting the current value consumed by the emulation control unit. That is, it is as follows.

Current consumption in fetch state = Current consumption of (internal bus + memory controller + timing controller)-emulation controller

In addition, the command interpretation state is a state in which a control signal is generated to execute a command taken from a memory. The instruction interpretation state performs the operation necessary for the operation of the instruction interpreter and the generation of the timing control signal. Therefore, the current consumed by the microprocessor in the instruction interpretation state is a value obtained by subtracting the current consumed by the emulation control unit from the current (330 + 350) consumed by the instruction analysis unit and the timing controller. That is, it is as follows.

Current Consumption in Instruction Analysis State = Current Consumption of (Instruction Analysis Unit + Timing Control Unit)-Current Consumption of Emulation Control Unit

Finally, the instruction execution state is a state in which each internal resource of the microprocessor operates by the control signal generated by the instruction interpreter. In this instruction execution state, the current consumption of the microprocessor is consumed by the emulation controller to the current value (330 + 340 + 370 '+ 380) consumed by the internal bus, memory controller, I / O controller, peripheral circuit controller, timing controller, and bus controller. The value is obtained by subtracting the current value. That is, the following equation is established.

Current consumption at command execution = (internal bus + memory / I / O / peripheral circuit control)

Since the microprocessor operates by repeating the above three states, it is possible to check the current consumption and the number of system clocks for each state. The inspection result enables analysis of the internal resources of each microprocessor.

Sometimes, in the process of manufacturing a low-power device for a mobile phone or a portable computer using a microprocessor, it is often necessary to calculate the power consumed by the microprocessor according to the internal system clock. In this case, the emulation control unit counts the current value consumed in generating the system clock and the control signal in each state. Therefore, if the current measurement equipment is installed in the host computer, the system clock and power consumption value used for each operation and part of the microprocessor can be easily obtained by using the in-circuit emulation function.

The emulation control unit included in the microprocessor of the present invention transmits the current value and the number of system clocks consumed from the internal resources of the microprocessor to the host computer, but does not transmit the current value consumed from the current supply source supplied to the emulation control unit itself. Therefore, the in-circuit emulation method employing the microprocessor of the present invention can measure the current consumption value of the internal resources more accurately than the conventional method.

The microprocessor of the present invention has the following improved effects compared to the conventional microprocessor.

First, when the user develops a device using the microprocessor of the present invention, the current consumption of each part of the program can be measured during the design, so that the execution result by debugging can be immediately confirmed. Thus, by optimizing the operation program for each internal resource of the microprocessor and comparing it with each other, the program can be optimized.

Second, even if the in-circuit emulator is mounted, the microprocessor of the present invention does not affect the current consumption measured by the host computer like the conventional microprocessor, and thus, even if an error occurs during the field test, it can be corrected immediately. .

Therefore, when the product is developed using the microprocessor of the present invention, the development process for reducing the current consumption is shortened, and the systematic and accurate measurement of the current is possible than using the conventional microprocessor.

Claims (2)

A microprocessor with in-circuit emulation control, A first current supply terminal supplying a current commonly consumed in all operations of the microprocessor; A second current supply terminal supplying current to internal resources required for operation of the microprocessor; A timing controller generating a timing control signal; A current supply source selector configured to select and supply a current required for operation of an internal resource according to the timing control signal; A current controller for controlling a current supplied from the current source selector; A peripheral circuit controller configured to control a peripheral circuit of the microprocessor by receiving a current from the current controller according to the timing control signal; An input / output controller configured to control an external input / output circuit of the microprocessor by receiving a current from the current controller according to the timing control signal; A memory controller configured to control an operation of a memory device of the microprocessor by receiving a current from the current controller according to the timing control signal; An emulation control unit for outputting an internal system clock number of a control signal required to operate with the current value consumed by the peripheral circuit control unit, the input / output control unit, and the memory control unit; And, A microcontroller connected to the first current supply source and the second current supply source and including a host controller configured to display a current consumption time and an operating time of an internal resource operated by the microprocessor by receiving a current value and an internal system clock number from the emulation controller; Processor. The microprocessor of claim 1, wherein the current controller connected to the host controller is separately configured in each of the peripheral circuit controller, the input / output controller, the memory controller, and the emulation controller.