Trigger circuits and event counters for an IC

• US 9,494,967 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2014
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Hutchings, Brad, Redgrave, Jason, Huang, Dai, Teig, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Tuan T
• Application Number:
  US14/279,159
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 915 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/04 Generating or distributing clock signals or signals derived directly therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: G06M 3/00 Counters with additional facilities generating electric pulses at random intervals H03K3/84
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/017581 programmable
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17728 Reconfigurable logic blocks, e.g. lookup tables
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17736 Structural details of routing resources
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17748 Structural details of configuration resources
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/1776 for memories
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17764 for reliability

Abstract

Some embodiments provide an integrated circuit (“IC”). The IC includes multiple configurable circuits that configurably perform operations of a user design based on configuration data. The IC also includes a configurable trigger circuit that receives a set of configuration data that specifies an operational event. The configurable trigger circuit also determines whether the operational event has occurred during implementation of the user design of the IC. Additionally, the operational trigger event outputs a trigger signal upon determining that the operational trigger event has occurred.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a clock of an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising a plurality of groups of configurable circuits for configurably performing operations of a user design based on configuration data, said method comprising;

commencing operation of said IC based on said clock; and

at a particular clock cycle of said clock;

adjusting a clock control value stored in a storage element located on a same IC die as said groups of configurable circuits;

determining whether the clock control value is equal to a predetermined value; and

upon determining that the clock control value is equal to a predetermined value, halting said clock in order to allow one or more of said groups of configurable circuits to be accessed, wherein said adjusting, determining, and halting are performed by clock control circuitry on the same IC substrate as the configurable circuits, and wherein the clock control circuitry comprises a clock control circuit, a counter, and a logic gate.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising iteratively performing said adjusting and determining on each of a plurality of clock cycles.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said halting causes one or more of the groups of configurable circuits to halt operation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said halting causes one or more other clocks of the IC to halt operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said accessing comprises at least one of reading and writing.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the IC comprises (i) a data routing network for routing data between the groups of configurable circuits and (ii) a secondary network through which the groups of configurable circuits can be accessed.

7. A method of controlling a plurality of clocks of an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising a clock control circuit, said method comprising;

operating said IC based on said plurality of clocks;

adjusting a clock counter; and

outputting, from the clock control circuit, a signal that halts a first clock of said plurality of clocks when the clock counter reaches a predetermined value, wherein said halting of the first clock causes one or more other clocks of the plurality of clocks to halt.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said IC comprises a plurality of configurable circuits for configurably performing operations of a user design, wherein the clock control circuit is on the same IC substrate as the configurable circuits.

8. The method of 7, wherein the IC further comprises a plurality of configurable circuits that each operate based on one of said clocks, wherein halting a particular clock halts the configurable circuits that operate based on the halted particular clock.

10. A method of debugging an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) comprising (i) a user clock, wherein each cycle of said user clock comprises a plurality of sub-cycles, and (ii) a debug clock, wherein said debug clock is asynchronous with said user clock, said method comprising;

receiving a plurality of sets of user design state (“

UDS”

) values, wherein each of said sets of UDS values is received at a different sub-cycle of the user clock;

storing each of said plurality of sets of UDS values for more than one sub-cycle of said user clock;

adjusting a clock counter;

using clock control circuitry to determine when the clock counter has reached a predetermined value to determine edges of the debug clock; and

in response to determining edges of the debug clock, reading each stored set of UDS values.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

concurrently storing two different sets of UDS values for more than one sub-cycle of the user clock; and

reading said two different sets of UDS data at a particular sub-cycle of the user clock.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the user clock and the debug clock do not have a phase relationship.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the user clock cannot be obtained by multiplying a constant value to the debug clock.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said IC further comprises a plurality of user design state (“

UDS”

) elements for storing a plurality of UDS values, wherein a particular set of UDS values is stored at a particular set of UDS elements that operate at the user clock.