IP Library Granted Patent US 11,933,843
Granted Patent B2
US 11,933,843 · App. 17/377,264 · Granted Mar 19, 2024

Techniques to enable integrated circuit debug across low power states

Inventors: Keith A. Jones (Forest Grove, OR); Wai Mun Ng (Bukit Mertajam, MY); Thomas A. Lyda (Folsom, CA); Subinlal Pk (Kozhikode, IN); Sankaran Menon (Austin, TX); Vui Yong Liew (Bukit Mertajam, MY); Kristan K. Wiseley (Folsom, CA)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
G01R31/31721G01R31/31705G01R31/318314G01R31/318533
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,933,843
App. No.
17/377,264
Granted
Mar 19, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

An Automated Dynamic low voltage monitoring (LVM) based Low-Power (ADLLP) debug capability for a system-on-chip (SoC) as well as the open/closed-chassis platform for faster TTM (Time to Market) of the final platform or system. ADLLP Debug is achieved by detection of the probe connection between a target system (e.g., SoC) and debug host system. A user can dynamically override the power, clocks and LVM for intellectual property (IP) blocks not part of the debug trace by instructing a Power Management Controller (PMC) via the Inter Processor Communication (IPC) mailbox (or any other suitable mailbox driver) to set the registers in a Target Firmware (TFW) based on the probe and debug use-case.

Claims (38)

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks; and

a control circuit coupled to the plurality of circuit blocks, the control circuit to:

identify a probe type of a probe that connects the integrated circuit to a debug test system;

identify a debug use case to be used by the debug test system; and

turn off or disable at least one of a clock or a power to one or more circuit blocks of the plurality of circuit blocks which are not associated with the probe type and the debug use case.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is in a low voltage mode when the debug test system is connected.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the probe type and the debug use case are determined based on a message received from the debug test system.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 3 , wherein the message is received via a mailbox communication protocol.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 4 , wherein the mailbox communication protocol is an inter process communication (IPC) protocol.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is included in a power management controller.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is to provide debug data to the debug test system in accordance with the probe type and the debug use case.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the debug use case is identified at least partially based on the identified probe type.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the probe type is Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), inter-integrated circuit (I2C), I3C, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Thunderbolt, Display Port, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), or PCI express (PCIe).

10. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the debug use case includes a JTAG Test Action Port (TAP), Run-Control, CrashLog, Streaming Trace, Real-Time Operating System (OS), Triage, or CrashDump.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed cause a device to:

send a message to a target system in a low power state to indicate a probe type of a probe that is connected between a debug host system and the target system to trigger the target system to disable or override at least one of a clock or a power rail to one or more circuit blocks that are unrelated to a debug trace in the target system; and

receive debug data from the target system according to the probe type.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the target system is in the low power state when the probe is connected to the target system.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the probe type is Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), inter-integrated circuit (I2C), I3C, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Thunderbolt, Display Port, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), or PCI express (PCIe).

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the device to indicate a debug use case to the target system.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14 , wherein the debug use case includes a JTAG Test Action Port (TAP), Run-Control, CrashLog, Streaming Trace, Real-Time Operating System (OS), Triage, or CrashDump.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the message is sent to the target system via a mailbox communication protocol.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the mailbox communication protocol is an inter-process communication 2 (IPC2) protocol.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the device to:

determine whether an additional feature of the target system is to be debugged; and

instruct the target system to dynamically debug a trace of the additional feature.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the device to:

determine whether the target system is in an active state; and

send instructions to the target system to remove the override of the at least one of the clock or power rail in response to the determination that the target system is in the active state.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed cause an integrated circuit to:

receive, from a debug test system that is connected to the integrated circuit via a probe for debug of one or more low power states of the integrated circuit, an indication of a probe type of the probe and a debug use case;

identify one or more circuit blocks of the integrated circuit which are not to be debugged with the probe type and the debug use case; and

control at least one of a clock setting, a power setting, or a low voltage mode setting of the one or more circuit blocks of the integrated circuit which are not to be debugged with the probe type and the debug use case.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20 , wherein the indication is received via a mailbox communication protocol.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are further to cause the integrated circuit to provide debug data to the debug test system in accordance with the probe type and the debug use case.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 20 , wherein the probe type is Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), inter-integrated circuit (I2C), I3C, Joint Test Action Group (JTAG), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Thunderbolt, Display Port, High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), or PCI express (PCIe).

24. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 23 , wherein the debug use case includes a JTAG Test Action Port (TAP), Run-Control, CrashLog, Streaming Trace, Real-Time Operating System (OS), Triage, or CrashDump.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 17, 2022
From: JONES, KEITH A.; NG, WAI MUN; LYDA, THOMAS A.; PK, SUBINLAL; MENON, SANKARAN; LIEW, VUI YONG; WISELEY, KRISTAN K.
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 059298/0491 →
Priority Claims (2)
IN 202041030496 · Jul 17, 2020 · national
MY PI2020003707 · Jul 17, 2020 · national
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63053421 · Jul 17, 2020
Related Publication 20220018901A1 · Jan 20, 2022