Semiconductor device and its memory access control method

• US 10,241,706 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
• Original Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
• Inventors: Mochizuki, Seiji, Matsubara, Katsushige, Imaoka, Ren, Ueda, Hiroshi, Hashimoto, Ryoji, Kaya, Toshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chappell, Daniel C.
• Application Number:
  US15/582,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20170337008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1433 for a module or a part of a module
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1441 for a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/79 in semiconductor storage media, e.g. directly-addressable memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/468 Specific access rights for resources, e.g. using capability register

Abstract

There is a problem that memory protection against access to a shared memory by a sub-arithmetic unit used by a program executed in a main-arithmetic unit cannot be performed in a related-art semiconductor device. According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a sub-arithmetic unit configured to execute a process of a part of a program executed by a main-arithmetic unit, and a shared memory shared by the main-arithmetic unit and the sub-arithmetic unit, in which the sub-arithmetic unit includes a memory protection unit configured to permit or prohibit access to the shared memory based on an access permission range address value provided from the main-arithmetic unit, the access to the shared memory being access that arises from a process executed by the sub-arithmetic unit.

Claims

1. A semiconductor device comprising:

a main-arithmetic unit configured to execute a program;

a sub-arithmetic unit configured to execute a process of a part of the program executed by the main-arithmetic unit; and

a shared memory configured to be accessed by the main-arithmetic unit and the sub-arithmetic unit,

wherein the sub-arithmetic unit comprises;

a register configured to store an access permission range address value provided from the main-arithmetic unit;

an information processing unit configured to execute a predetermined process according to an operation instruction provided from the main-arithmetic unit; and

a memory protection unit configured to provide, among access requests issued from the information processing unit to the shared memory, an access request for an address within an access permission range specified by the access permission range address value to the shared memory, and block an access request for an address outside the access permission range specified by the access permission range address value;

wherein the main-arithmetic unit executes, as the program, a reliability-verified program having a high reliability and a reliability-unverified program having a reliability lower than that of the reliability-verified program, and a process for storing the access permission range address value into the register of the sub-arithmetic unit is performed by the reliability-verified program.

2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the main-arithmetic unit performs a process for storing the access permission range address value into the register of the sub-arithmetic unit before starting up the sub-arithmetic unit.

3. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein when the memory protection unit detects an access request for an address outside the access permission range specified by the access permission range address value, the memory protection unit sends an error notification to the main-arithmetic unit, and in response to the error notification, the main-arithmetic unit performs at least one of a process for stopping an operation of the sub-arithmetic unit and a process for stopping a program using the sub-arithmetic unit as an interrupt process.

4. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the sub-arithmetic unit comprises:

an internal memory whose memory space is not defined in a memory space used by the main-arithmetic unit, so that only the sub-arithmetic unit can use the internal memory; and

a reset control circuit configured to perform an initialization process for initializing the register, the information processing unit, the memory protection unit, the internal memory, and the shared memory, and the reset control circuit performs the initialization process when the sub-arithmetic unit is started up and when an operation of the sub-arithmetic unit is finished.

5. The semiconductor device according to claim 4, wherein the reset control circuit does not perform the initialization process for a specific access permission range in the access permission range specified by the main-arithmetic unit.

6. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the program for which the CPU is configured to execute comprises one program of a plurality of programs that can be executed by the CPU, the semiconductor device further comprising a memory management unit configured to control an access range for each program executed by the main-arithmetic unit.

7. The semiconductor device according to claim 6, wherein the access permission range address value stored in the register of the sub-arithmetic unit has an address value within a memory management area permitted for a program using the sub-arithmetic unit in the memory management unit.

8. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the sub-arithmetic unit comprises:

a parameter read unit configured to read an operation parameter stored in a parameter setting area set within the access permission range of the shared memory; and

an access address generation unit configured to generate an access address for the shared memory based on the operation parameter provided from the parameter read unit.

9. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the shared memory is disposed on a semiconductor chip different from a chip in which the main-arithmetic unit and the sub-arithmetic unit are disposed.

16. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein:

the reliability-verified program comprises a program having a high reliability that have been verified at a high level and are sufficiently protected in regard to functional safety or security in a mixed manner, and

the reliability-unverified program comprises a program that have been verified only at a low level and are not sufficiently protected in regard to functional safety or security in a mixed manner.

17. The semiconductor device according to claim 16, wherein information on whether a program is a reliability-verified program or a reliability-unverified program is included in the program in advance, using a predetermined determination criterion.

18. The semiconductor device according to claim 16, wherein the reliability-verified program comprises a self-driving application in an automobile.

10. A memory access control method performed in semiconductor device, wherein the semiconductor device comprises:

a main-arithmetic unit configured to execute a program;

a sub-arithmetic unit configured to execute a process of a part of the program executed by the main-arithmetic unit, the sub-arithmetic unit including a register configured to store an access permission range address value provided from the main-arithmetic unit; and

a shared memory configured to be accessed by the main-arithmetic unit and the sub-arithmetic unit,

the memory access control method comprising;

the sub-arithmetic unit executing a predetermined process according to an operation instruction provided from the main-arithmetic unit; and

the sub-arithmetic unit providing, among access requests issued to the shared memory according to the predetermined process, an access request for an address within an access permission range specified by the access permission range address value to the shared memory and blocking an access request for an address outside the access permission range specified by the access permission range address value;

wherein the main-arithmetic unit executes, as the program, a reliability-verified program having a high reliability and a reliability-unverified program having a reliability lower than that of the reliability-verified program, and a process for storing the access permission range address value into the register of the sub-arithmetic unit is performed by the reliability-verified program.

11. The memory access control method for a semiconductor device according to claim 10, wherein the main-arithmetic unit performs a process for storing the access permission range address value into the register of the sub-arithmetic unit before starting up the sub-arithmetic unit.

12. The memory access control method for a semiconductor device according to claim 10, wherein when the sub-arithmetic unit detects an access request for an address outside the access permission range specified by the access permission range address value, the memory protection unit sends an error notification to the main-arithmetic unit, and in response to the error notification, the main-arithmetic unit performs at least one of a process for stopping an operation of the sub-arithmetic unit and a process for stopping a program using the sub-arithmetic unit as an interrupt process.

13. The memory access control method for a semiconductor device according to claim 10, wherein the sub-arithmetic unit comprises an internal memory whose memory space is not defined in a memory space used by the main-arithmetic unit, so that only the sub-arithmetic unit can use the internal memory, and the sub-arithmetic unit performs an initialization process for the internal memory when the sub-arithmetic unit is started up and when an operation of the sub-arithmetic unit is finished.

14. The memory access control method for a semiconductor device according to claim 13, wherein the sub-arithmetic unit does not perform the initialization process for a specific access permission range in the access permission range in the shared memory specified by the main-arithmetic unit.

15. The memory access control method for a semiconductor device according to claim 10, wherein the sub-arithmetic unit:

reads an operation parameter stored in a parameter setting area set within the access permission range of the shared memory; and

generates an access address for the shared memory based on the read operation parameter.