Method for setting breakpoints, and an integrated circuit and debug tool therefor

• US 9,575,758 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2010
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Robertson, Alistair, Maiolani, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Sun, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/879,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20130227256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,283 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3648 using additional hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30054 Unconditional branch instructions

Abstract

A method for setting one or more breakpoints within executable program code of an embedded device is described. The method comprises copying at least one area of non-volatile memory (NVM) of the embedded device, comprising at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, into at least one area of overlay memory replacing within the overlay memory the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set with a breakpoint operation code, and enabling a mapping of the at least one area of NVM, comprising the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device.

Claims

1. A method for setting one or more breakpoints within executable program code of an embedded device, the method comprising:

copying at least one area of non-volatile memory (NVM) of the embedded device, comprising at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, into at least one area of overlay memory to be memory-mapped by mapping hardware of the embedded device to cover the at least one area of NVM;

replacing within the at least one area of overlay memory the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set with a breakpoint operation code to be executed by at least one processor core of the embedded device; and

enabling the mapping hardware of the embedded device to map the at least one area of NVM, comprising the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device by the at least one processor core.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises identifying at least one instruction within the program code to be executed by the embedded device at which a breakpoint is to be set, and determining at least one area of NVM of the embedded device, comprising the at least one identified instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, to be mapped to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device based at least partly on at least one from a group consisting of:

a distribution of identified instruction(s) within the executable program code;

a granularity with which the overlay memory may be split into individual areas; and

the size of the overlay memory.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein copying the at least one area of NVM of the embedded device comprises, within a debug tool operably coupled to the embedded device, reading executable program code from the at least one area of NVM of the embedded device and writing the read content into the overlay memory.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein replacing within the overlay memory the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set with a breakpoint operation code comprises, within the debug tool operably coupled to the embedded device, over-writing within the overlay memory the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set with a breakpoint operation code.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein enabling the mapping of the at least one area of NVM comprises initializing a memory mapping mechanism to map the at least one area of NVM to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising clearing a breakpoint by disabling the mapping of the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising an instruction at which the breakpoint has been set to the at least one area of overlay memory.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises clearing a breakpoint by replacing the breakpoint operation code within the overlay memory with an original instruction previously replaced by the breakpoint operation code.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein copying the at least one area of NVM of the embedded device comprises, within a debug tool operably coupled to the embedded device, reading executable program code from the at least one area of NVM of the embedded device and writing the read content into the overlay memory.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein enabling the mapping of the at least one area of NVM comprises initializing a memory mapping mechanism to map the at least one area of NVM to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device.

10. The method of claim 3 wherein enabling the mapping of the at least one area of NVM comprises initializing a memory mapping mechanism to map the at least one area of NVM to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein enabling the mapping of the at least one area of NVM comprises initializing a memory mapping mechanism to map the at least one area of NVM to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of the program code within the embedded device.

12. The method of claim 2 further comprising clearing a breakpoint by disabling the mapping of the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising an instruction at which the breakpoint has been set to the at least one area of overlay memory.

13. The method of claim 3 further comprising clearing a breakpoint by disabling the mapping of the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising an instruction at which the breakpoint has been set to the at least one area of overlay memory.

14. The method of claim 4 further comprising clearing a breakpoint by disabling the mapping of the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising an instruction at which the breakpoint has been set to the at least one area of overlay memory.

15. The method of claim 5 further comprising clearing a breakpoint by disabling the mapping of the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising an instruction at which the breakpoint has been set to the at least one area of overlay memory.

16. The method of claim 2 wherein the method further comprises clearing a breakpoint by replacing the breakpoint operation code within the overlay memory with an original instruction previously replaced by the breakpoint operation code.

17. The method of claim 3 wherein the method further comprises clearing a breakpoint by replacing the breakpoint operation code within the overlay memory with an original instruction previously replaced by the breakpoint operation code.

18. The method of claim 4 wherein the method further comprises clearing a breakpoint by replacing the breakpoint operation code within the overlay memory with an original instruction previously replaced by the breakpoint operation code.

19. A debug tool for setting one or more breakpoints within executable program code of an embedded device, the debug tool being configured to:

copy at least one area of non-volatile memory (NVM) of the embedded device, comprising at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set, into at least one area of overlay memory to be memory-mapped by mapping hardware of the embedded device to cover the at least one area of NVM;

replace the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set within the at least one area of the overlay memory with a breakpoint operation code; and

enable the mapping hardware of the embedded device to map the at least one area of non-volatile memory comprising the at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of program code within the embedded device.

20. An integrated circuit comprising an embedded device having executable program code and an interface for operably coupling to a debug tool;

wherein the embedded device comprises;

at least one processor core;

a mapping hardware, at least one area of non-volatile memory (NVM) comprising at least one instruction at which a breakpoint is to be set;

at least one area of overlay memory; and

a mapping module;

wherein, in response to control via the interface the at least one area of NVM is copied into the at least one area of the overlay memory to be memory-mapped by the mapping hardware to cover the at least one area of NVM and the at least one instruction is replaced with a breakpoint operation code and the mapping module, using the mapping hardware, maps the at least one area of NVM to the at least one area of overlay memory during execution of program code within the embedded device by the at least one processor core.