Combined in-circuit emulator and programmer
First Claim
1. A combined in-circuit emulation system and programmer, comprising:
- a pod carrying an emulation microcontroller and a socket for programming another microcontroller;
a base station having virtual microcontroller that operates in lock-step synchronization with the emulation microcontroller during emulation operations;
an interface connecting the pod to the base station, the interface having a dock signal line, a pair of data signal lines, a reset line and a power line, wherein the reset line is connected to transmit a reset signal to the emulation microcontroller without transmitting the reset signal to the socket; and
wherein the emulation microcontroller can be placed in a sleep mode so that a microcontroller residing in the socket can be programmed by receiving programming instructions from the base station without the programming being disturbed by actions of the emulation microcontroller, and wherein the programming instructions are sent to the microcontroller residing in the socket using one of the data lines for clock and another of the data lines for the programming instructions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A combined in-circuit emulation system and device programmer. A pod assembly used in an in-circuit emulation system has both a real microcontroller used in the In-Circuit Emulation and debugging process as well as a socket that accommodates a microcontroller to be programmed (a program microcontroller). Programming can be carried out over a single interface that is shared between the microcontroller and the program microcontroller and which is also used to provide communication between the real microcontroller and the In-Circuit Emulation system to carry out emulation functions. In order to assure that the emulation microcontroller does not interfere with the programming process for a microcontroller placed in a programming socket, a special sleep mode is implemented in the emulation microcontroller. This sleep mode is activated by a process that takes place at power on in which the a reset line is released with a specified data line held in a logic high state.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A combined in-circuit emulation system and programmer, comprising:
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a pod carrying an emulation microcontroller and a socket for programming another microcontroller; a base station having virtual microcontroller that operates in lock-step synchronization with the emulation microcontroller during emulation operations; an interface connecting the pod to the base station, the interface having a dock signal line, a pair of data signal lines, a reset line and a power line, wherein the reset line is connected to transmit a reset signal to the emulation microcontroller without transmitting the reset signal to the socket; and wherein the emulation microcontroller can be placed in a sleep mode so that a microcontroller residing in the socket can be programmed by receiving programming instructions from the base station without the programming being disturbed by actions of the emulation microcontroller, and wherein the programming instructions are sent to the microcontroller residing in the socket using one of the data lines for clock and another of the data lines for the programming instructions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A pod assembly for use with a combined In-Circuit Emulation system and device programmer, comprising:
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a device under test; a programming socket for carrying a device to be programmed; an interface configured to couple programming code to the device to be programmed and comprising connecting data lines to programming inputs of the device to be programmed and to the device under test; and wherein one of the data lines carries programming instructions and another data line carries a clock signal to the device to be programmed during a programming operation, and wherein the data lines are used for communication with the device under test during emulation operations. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of programming a programmable device, the device residing in a socket of a pod that carries an emulation device used in emulation operations, comprising:
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applying power to the pod; sending a control signal to the pod to place the emulation device into a sleeping state by using an interface configured to couple programming code to the pod and to the programmable device; and programming the programmable device residing in the socket while the emulation device is in the sleeping state. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification