APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AND PROCESSING TRACKING STREAMS THAT SHOW AN EXEC

摘要

An apparatus and method for generating and processing a trace stream indicating instruction execution by a processing circuit are provided. The apparatus includes an input interface for receiving instruction execution information indicating a sequence of instructions executed in the processing circuit from a processing circuit and a plurality of tracking elements indicating execution by the processing circuit of instruction flow modification instructions in the sequence And a trace generation circuit for generating a trace stream from the instruction execution information. Wherein the sequence includes a branching behavior setting instruction indicating a specified instruction in the sequence, and the execution of the branching behavior setting instruction causes the processing circuit to execute the branching behavior setting instruction when the specified instruction is encountered in the sequence To branch to the target address specified by the branch instruction. Wherein the trace generation circuit generates, from the instruction execution information, a trace element indicating an execution behavior of the branching behavior setting instruction and a trace element indicating that the branching behavior is activated when the specified instruction in the sequence meets . Thus, a highly efficient form of the trace stream can be used even in situations where the instruction sequence executed by the processing circuit includes the branching behavior setup instructions.