Non-intrusive, thread-selective, debugging method and system for a multi-thread digital signal processor

• US 8,370,806 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Issued: 02/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Codrescu, Lucian, Anderson, William C., Venkumahanti, Suresh, Giannini, Louis Achille, Pyla, Manojkumar, Chen, Xufeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phillip H
• Application Number:
  US11/560,217
• Publication Number:
  US 20080115113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,274 Days
• Field of Search: 717/129, 717/124, 717/125, 714/35, 714/E11.208, 714/E11.209, 716/50, 716/137, 716/138, 712/224, 712/606
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/362 Software debugging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3005 to perform operations for flow control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3009 Thread control instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3851 from multiple instruction streams, e.g. multistreaming

Abstract

A method and system provide processing instructions in a multi-threaded process including the use of breakpoint instructions for generating debugging event(s). A debugging event is generated in response to the execution of breakpoint instructions and executes debugging instructions in response to the debugging event. The debugging instructions debug processing instructions in the multi-threaded processor by transitioning at least one or more threads into a debugging mode. A debugging return is generated for reporting the executing debugging instructions in the subset of the threads of the multi-threaded processor.

Claims

1. A non-intrusive method for debugging a multi-threaded digital signal processor, comprising:

executing a plurality of processing instructions by a plurality of threads in the multi-threaded digital signal processor;

identifying one or more breakpoint instructions for generating at least one debugging event for one or more indicated threads of the plurality of threads;

receiving the one or more breakpoint instructions at an in-silicon debugging system (ISDB) of the multi-threaded digital signal processor;

reading a register of the ISDB to determine the one or more indicated threads corresponding to the one or more breakpoint instructions;

generating the at least one debugging event for the one or more indicated threads in response to executing at least one of the one or more breakpoint instructions;

executing a plurality of debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the debugging instructions for non-intrusively debugging the executing of the plurality of the processing instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor by transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor into a debugging mode; and

generating at least one debugging return from the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions for reporting the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one debugging event occurs in response to an internally generated instance within the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one debugging event occurs in response to an externally generated instance within the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one debugging event occurs in response to a program counter reaching a predetermined count within the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor transition out of the debugging mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one or more instruction stuffing instructions perform a predetermined debugging algorithm relating to operation of the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the debugging instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor uses a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface between the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions and the executing of the plurality of processing instructions.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more indicated threads are indicated by a mask.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein other threads of the plurality of threads are not affected by executing the at least one of the one or more breakpoint instructions.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the mask includes a mask bit stored at the register.

8. A system for non-intrusively debugging a multi-threaded digital signal processor, comprising:

a plurality of threads for executing a plurality of processing instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor;

a set of breakpoint instructions for generating at least one debugging event for one or more indicated threads of the plurality of threads;

an in-silicon debugging system (ISDB) of the multi-threaded digital signal processor for receiving the set of breakpoint instructions;

a register of the ISDB for determining the one or more indicated threads corresponding to the set of breakpoint instructions;

debugging event generating instructions for generating the at least one debugging event for the one or more indicated threads in response to executing at least one of the breakpoint instructions;

one or more of the threads for executing the plurality of debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the plurality of debugging instructions for non-intrusively debugging the executing of the plurality of processing instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor by transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor into a debugging mode; and

debugging return instructions for generating at least one debugging return from the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions for reporting the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions in the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising circuitry and instructions for the at least one debugging event to occur in response to a program counter reaching a predetermined count within the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising circuitry and instructions for transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor out of the debugging mode.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprises a set of instruction stuffing instructions for performing a predetermined debugging algorithm relating to operation of the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising circuitry and instructions for non-intrusively debugging the multi-threaded digital signal processor using a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface.

18. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more indicated threads are indicated by a mask.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein other threads of the plurality of threads are not affected by executing the set of breakpoint instructions.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or more indicated threads are each identified in the register by a mask bit.

13. A non-transient computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for processing instructions on a multi-threaded digital signal processor for non-intrusively debugging the multi-threaded digital signal processor, the computer usable medium comprising:

computer readable program code for executing a plurality of processing instructions using a plurality of threads in the multi-threaded digital signal processor;

computer readable program code for identifying one or more breakpoint instructions for generating at least one debugging event for one or more indicated threads of the plurality of threads;

computer readable program code for reading a register of an in-silicon debugging system (ISDB) to determine the one or more indicated threads, wherein the one or more indicated threads are each identified in the register by a mask bit;

computer readable program code for generating the at least one debugging event for the one or more indicated threads in response to executing at least one of the one or more breakpoint instructions;

computer readable program code for executing the plurality of debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the debugging instructions for non-intrusively debugging the executing of the plurality of processing instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor by transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor into a debugging mode; and

computer readable program code for generating at least one debugging return from the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions for reporting the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions in the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

14. The non-transient computer usable medium of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code for executing the plurality of debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the at least one debugging event occurring in response to an internally generated instance within the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

21. The non-transient computer usable medium of claim 13, wherein other threads of the plurality of threads are not affected by executing the at least one of the one or more breakpoint instructions.

22. A system to non-intrusively debug a multi-threaded digital signal processor, comprising:

a plurality of threads to execute a plurality of processing instructions at the multi-threaded digital signal processor;

a set of breakpoint instructions to generate at least one debugging event associated with one or more indicated threads of the plurality of threads, wherein the one or more indicated threads are indicated by a mask;

debugging instructions to generate the at least one debugging event for the one or more indicated threads in response to executing at least one of the breakpoint instructions;

one or more of the plurality of threads to execute the debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the debugging instructions to non-intrusively debug execution of the plurality of processing instructions at the multi-threaded digital signal processor by transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor into a debugging mode;

debugging return instructions to generate at least one debugging return from the execution of the plurality of debugging instructions and to report the execution of the plurality of debugging instructions in the one or more indicated threads at the multi-threaded digital signal processor; and

an in-silicon debugging system (ISDB) to receive the at least one of the breakpoint instructions, wherein the at least one of the breakpoint instructions is treated as a no-operation (NOP) in response to determining that the ISDB is not trusted, that the ISDB is not enabled, or a combination thereof.

23. An apparatus comprising:

means for executing a plurality of processing instructions using a plurality of threads of a multi-threaded digital signal processor;

means for identifying one or more breakpoint instructions for generating at least one debugging event for one or more indicated threads of the plurality of threads;

means for reading a register of an in-silicon debugging system (ISDB) to determine the one or more indicated threads, wherein the one or more indicated threads are each identified in the register by a mask bit;

means for generating the at least one debugging event for the one or more indicated threads in response to executing at least one of the one or more breakpoint instructions;

means for executing a plurality of debugging instructions in response to the at least one debugging event, the debugging instructions for non-intrusively debugging the executing of the plurality of processing instructions in the multi-threaded digital signal processor by transitioning the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor into a debugging mode; and

means for generating at least one debugging return from the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions for reporting the executing of the plurality of debugging instructions in the one or more indicated threads of the multi-threaded digital signal processor.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, incorporated into a wireless handset.