TW452683B - Circuit emulator adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a circuit emulator adapter used to connect an in-chip emulator (ICE) and a notebook computer. It includes a multibay in connection with notebook computer, preferably via the connection of notebook's multibay; a conversion circuit converting the debug signal sent from notebook computer CPU via multibay to the required signal of ICE debug port; and a debug port adapter in connection with an ICE debug port used to transmit the debug signal after conversion. During development process or maintenance, notebook computer is capable of monitoring the debug operation through the direct connection to the ICE debug port by means of the external multibay of notebook computer to achieve objective of rapid development and maintenance processes.

Description

^ 52683 __ 盍 No. 88118868? Year c < Month and Month Amendment V. Invention Compendium '-[Scope of Invention] The present invention relates to a circuit emulat〇r adapter device (adapter) And, in particular, it is an adapter that directly connects a chip online simulator (ICE) to a notebook computer through a universal connector (muUibay) of the notebook computer. [Background of the Invention] A conventional circuit simulator, such as the chip online simulator Un-Clrcuit Emulator 'iCE), has the ability to control the CPU's single-step execution, monitor or change the value of each register, and set the interruption point. , Tracking or controlling the execution of BIOS code and other powerful functions, in the computer development process, especially for the development of the BIOS, ICE is a very practical and important debugging tool. However, ICE is quite inconvenient to use. Taking its application in notebook electronics as an example, if you want to use 丨 c E. to debug, you must remove the device, remove the board, and replace it with 171 > port Un_Circuit Pr 〇be " p〇rt '), connect the ICE cable, and then connect the devices such as hard disk ^, floppy disk (FDD), mouse, keyboard, screen, etc., and finally connect the power supply; In use, not only must the fan be used to blow the cpu to prevent the cpu from overheating, but it must also be used with care, do not bump or move to these devices to avoid short circuit or instability. Such tedious steps not only waste the% of debugging required during development or maintenance, increase the system instability during debugging, but also greatly reduce the efficiency and willingness of R & D personnel. OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of this, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a circuit simulator mm surface Μ I! Page 4 ^ 52683

The adapter device enables the note to be transmitted through the hair according to the upper device, which is used for the brain, which is at least one input of the computer); a signal for converting the computer type; The debugging computer connected to the notebook computer with the debug port can directly connect the device in the process of detecting and debugging with ICE, which makes it possible to connect to the computer. It is more convenient to know the work, and at the same time reduce the purpose of the present invention. The provided adapter of the circuit simulator connects a chip online simulator (iCE) with a notebook-type electrical connector (mu 11 i bay), Connection to a notebook-type port such as a universal connector (muitibay circuit of a notebook computer). Through this universal connector (multibay), the debugging signal transmitted from the cpu of the pen is converted into the debugging port required by the ICE and the debugging port connection. It is connected to the debug port of the ICE to transmit the error signal to the ICE. On the other hand, there is a built-in adapter to connect to the laptop. ^ The invention also provides a chip online simulator that enables the ICE It can also directly detect and debug through the port of the adapter, which can also achieve the above objectives. The chip and online simulator provided by ^ include the following: an output port connected to a notebook computer; A conversion circuit unit, through the No. 1 1 computer, the debugging signal transmitted from the CPU is converted into the required module = 2: the unit is based on the converted debugging signal, which will be used to make the above-mentioned and other objectives: , Features' and advantages can be more obvious ; As; Laid lift - the preferred embodiments and accompanying figures, detailed description of the invention of [said]

^ 52683 -8811W Six months and six months, invention description (3) " 'There are two kinds of techniques used by existing programmers to debug computer software code (c〇de). (Pr0gram monitor) and microprocessor simulation (microprouter emulator). The former debugging method is to insert software code into the memory of the system under test, so that the monitored program is linked with the main computer program and can monitor and control the function of the microprocessor in the system under test at any time. The monitored code is a plug-in (Utrushe) link to the main code, neither of which is loaded into the memory of the circuit under test 'or stored in read-only memory (ROM) by the programmer. use. Therefore, the use of the monitoring program must be provided by an asynchronous receiver-transmitter (lHliVerSal asynchr OOnusus-transmitter) or other communication hardware to provide the circuit under test, so that the monitoring can be separated from the main program by the programmer Used. The advantage of using program monitoring is that it will not be too expensive and can be found in the main program; ^ Some of the errors (bugs), the disadvantage is that it must use the resources of the circuit under test and is usually in the detection link code Harder problems will be less effective. Another debugging method of the simulator is a non-plug-in software program. The f error tool 'uses external hardware to provide a transparent operation of the microprocessor embedded in the circuit under test. During the test and execution of the circuit under test, the microprocessor stealth simulator operates instead of the microprocessor under test and the simulator can track all the activities that occur at the input and output terminals of the microprocessor under test. The simulator provides a complex A breakpoint system monitors the operation of the microprocessor under test and can interrupt its operation at any time at a predetermined point to analyze the signal of a specific circuit under test. 526 8 3

The design of the device is used for the initial integration test of the entire system, and is used for problems that occur in t: ^ rrtirae). The programmer uses a delayed random access memory (quote) that simulates == with: Ϊϋ auxiliary read-only memory UnciUary _). The extension personnel can debug the code, even if the test king takes shape, and thus shortens the development time. Β Some models require the resources of the system under test, so they can be regarded as relative The monitoring program is a non-plug-in debugging technique. The device uses ㈣, a complex + breakpoint system, and delayed memory to enable "addressing" to the integration mode and time-dependent questions. A because of the characteristics used, it costs a lot to implement, but ^ The integration test of the system is quite good, so the debugging method of the analog microprocessor will be more expensive. Leaving aside the factors that caused the circuit simulator to detect the debugging cost too high. ICE (ICE), which is a tool that is familiar with the development of microelectronics, can be added to a computer system or microcomputer that cannot be developed by itself during development. As a software debugging system, in other words, according to jCE or via a transmission line Incoming commands, various powerful functions such as CPU single-step execution, monitoring or changing the values of various registers and memories, setting breakpoints, tracking or controlling the execution of BIOS code, etc. can be performed, so developed in the J brain In the process, especially for the research and development of BIOS, ICE is a very practical and important debugging tool. However, it is not very convenient to use, especially for notebook computers. Desktop assembly / disassembly AllEasy 'often detected during debugging of the code B 〇s Shu, to make

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----- Case No. 881188 V. Description of the invention (5) The motherboard of the notebook computer must be connected through a special connector. Since the CPU of the notebook computer to be tested is a detachable chip, it can be Attach the iCE's probe at the original CPU position. For example, a CPU module with an ITP port is connected to the motherboard to simulate the operation of the processor. At the same time, a notebook computer is used to simulate the situation and normality. The environment is the same, and various external devices are connected. However, with such a procedure for detecting and debugging, the steps are quite tedious, and it will waste debugging time during development or maintenance. Furthermore, 'the use of notebook computers should be stable, on the one hand, it should be protected from heat.' The other party should try to reduce collisions as much as possible, so also use & fan blown CPU to prevent overheating during simulation, and you must also be careful not to bump or move to these devices' to avoid short circuit or instability. — In order to solve the problem by improving the transmission method, so that the computer can solve it, peripheral devices, screens, etc. In the test, refer to the connector (mu 11 (multibay device) that is not shown in the circuit simulation) 10 As a discontinuity factor (the inconvenience of using the connector and the instability in debugging), the connection between the ICE and the notebook computer used in the test of the present invention ^ does not need to be disassembled when debugging. Open the notebook computer, but directly connect to it through a port, so it is inconvenient to use and the original notebook computer has been completely connected and fixed, such as hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, optical drive, modem, keys, etc. 'At the same time, there is a design to prevent the CPU from overheating and shock, and there will be no instability during the process. Figure 1' 'It shows a schematic diagram of the design of the present invention, the adapter device 10 is connected to the notebook computer 20 And ICE. As shown in the figure, the notebook computer 20 has a universal ibay) 22 'In this embodiment, this universal connection is used) 22 to enable the ICE to be directly connected to the notebook computer 20. The connection bridge ,not You Shu Shi stick hot and ,,,

^ 526P ^

The raultibay ICE debug board is mainly composed of three parts: (1) Universal connector (multibay) 12. Provides a universal connector (muitibay) 22 for connection to a notebook computer 20. (2) Conversion circuit 14: Through a universal connector (mul tibay) 22, the CPU debug signal 15 of the notebook computer is converted into a signal required by the ICE debug port. (3) Debug port connector 16: Provides a debug port connected to ice, so that the converted signal 17 is passed to ICE. The appearance of this specific example of the debug board adapter device 10. The diagram can be the structure shown in "Figure 2", which is a circuit board connecting a notebook computer ^ to the ICE. A circuit board 18 including a circuit layout including circuit elements, a universal connector 12 (multibay) 12 and a debug port 16 are included. The length l of the circuit board is longer than that of a notebook computer 20 (multi bay). 22) The depth is long, so that the debug port η can be exposed outside the laptop 20. The bracket 19 is used for stabilizing and fixing the circuit board 18 body. Return to the diagram in Figure 1 again. Connect a universal connector (multibay) 22 on the motherboard of the notebook computer 20. A multiplexor 26 can be added to the line to select the transmission signal as normal. The signal of IDE / FDD is 23 or the signal of ICE debug port is 25. However, if cost is taken into consideration, the above-mentioned multiplexer 26 ^ road can be added only during the trial production and development test stage, and it can be cancelled when it is mass-produced. °° According to the above-mentioned adapter device 10 of the present invention, the conversion circuit diagram can be designed as shown in "Figure 3 j. Among them, the connector 16 d52e8 for connecting to the IC".

88118868 5. The schematic diagram of the description of the invention (7) is shown in the "Figure 4". = Besides this, the present invention also adopts another-design to achieve the same purpose as the above-mentioned transfer dress 1: the same as that shown in "$ 5", providing " that is. 'It has a dedicated connector for direct connection to a notebook computer, and can be connected to a universal connector (muitibay) of a notebook computer, for example. The provided KE 30 includes components such as a connector 32, A conversion circuit unit 34 and-an analog circuit unit = a universal connector of a pen: type computer (muHi heart connection: = ^ 34) can convert the notebook computer from its ㈣ signal to the required through the connector 32 Signal, and the analog circuit unit's difficult and later debugging signal to simulate the operation of the notebook computer CPU. Limitation The invention has been disclosed above in a preferred embodiment, but it is not intended to be familiar with This artist does some changes and decorations without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the protective cylinder enclosure of the present invention is subject to the definition of the scope of the attached patent.

^ 5268 _Case No. 88118868_ ^ A brief description of the revised diagram in June of the first year. The first figure shows the schematic diagram of the switching device of a circuit simulator of the present invention. The second figure shows the schematic diagram of the structure of the switching device of the present invention. The third figure shows Figure 4 shows the design of the conversion circuit in the switching device of the present invention. Figure 4 shows the schematic diagram of the debug port in the switching device of the present invention, and Figure 5 shows an embodiment of another chip online simulator of the present invention. * 10 Adapter device 12 Universal connector 14 Conversion circuit 15 Debug signal 16 Debug port 17 Converted signal 18 Circuit board 19 Stand 20 Notebook computer 22 Universal connector 23 IDE / FDD signal 25 Debug port signal 26 and more 30 ICE 32 connector 34 conversion circuit unit 36 analog circuit unit

Claims (1)

^ 5268; _ί Beizheng_Case No. 8811, Ra. 6. Scope of patent application, a circuit simulator adapter device for connecting r T rr X xa (Online Analog UtE) and a notebook computer, at least Including: an output connector connected to an output of the notebook computer, a conversion circuit for a debug port of the notebook computer, and through the output connector, the brain's debug signal from the CPU is converted into the The signals required by iCE; and a 2 4 debug port connector, the debug signal connected to the ICE's debug conversion is passed to the ICE. The switching device described in item 1 of the scope of Shen 5 Qing patent is a universal connector (multibay). The switching device described in item 1 of the patent scope is a CPU single-step signal. Port, the switching device sfl described in item 1 of the output where the debug 6 > in the patent scope is a set break point signal. The signal of the switching device according to item 1 of the scope of patent application is a signal for displaying and changing the register value. A chip online simulator for directly connecting a line of detection and debugging work, which at least includes: 'where the debug' where the debug notebook computer into the connector 'is connected to an output port of the notebook computer; "~ The conversion circuit unit converts the notebook computer's debug signal from its CPU into the required signal through the connector; and:-an analog circuit unit, which simulates the notebook based on the converted debug signal Computer CPU operation. Page 12 ^ 526 ^ ^ 526 ^ Amendment No. 88118868 6. Scope of patent application 7. The chip online simulator as described in item 6 of the patent scope, wherein the output port is a multibay. 8. The chip online simulator as described in item 6 of the patent application scope, wherein the debug signal is a single-step CPU execution signal. 9. The chip online simulator as described in item 6 of the scope of patent application, wherein the debug signal is a set break point signal. 10. The on-chip simulator for an on-line chip as described in item 6 of the scope of patent application, wherein the debugging signal is a signal for displaying and changing the register value. Page 13