SLEEK SERIAL INTERFACE FOR A WRAPPER BOUNDARY REGISTER (DEVICE AND METHOD)

Abstract

Invention achieves reduced amount of terminals to control a test mode, test function and test results of a given standard for at least one wrapped core (40,100) (a core 100 surrounded by a wrapper boundary register (40) as wrapper chain). Test flexibility and speed of testing the core (100) are also improved. Suggested serial test interface comprises a state machine (210) and an instruction register (213) for wrapper-instructions, supplied through a single physical data input terminal (1a). The state machine (210) reads wrapper-instructions held by the instruction register (213) and generates on-chip wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for the wrapper boundary register (40) of the core (100). At least one wrapper-instruction read from the Instruction Register (213) provides at least one wrapper control signal (30). The single input terminal (1a) also supplies an input test signal SDI for coupling to the wrapper boundary register (40) as on chip logical input test signal WSI. A single output terminal (1b) returns an output test signal SDO from an output WSO of the wrapper boundary register (40). Invention may apply to IEEE 1500 control signals.

Claims

1. Serially operable interface device on a chip (1), the interface device (201) for generating control signals for a Wrapper Boundary Register (40,WBR) on chip (1) level, said wrapper control signals (30) complying with a given standard for testing a core device (100), said core device provided on the chip (1) as well and having the WBR, the serial interface device (201) comprising one physical Data Input (2a) and one physical Data Output (2b) and no more than the input (SDI) for and the output (SDO) of the serial interface device (201) are coupled to a respective terminal (la, lb) on said chip (1) containing the interface device (201) and the core device (100) with the Wrapper Boundary Register (40); and a physical Clock Input (2c) that is coupled to a third terminal (1c) on said chip (1) on chip level for supplying a clock signal (SCLK) to the serial interface device (201); the serial interface device (201) further comprising an Address Register (214) for holding a received address for comparison to a device-address (214a); an Instruction Register (213) to receive and hold wrapper-instructions supplied through the terminal (1a) supplying the Data Input (SDI) on said chip (1) a control logic (209) including a state machine (210) for handling transactions from an external master (10) that supplies logical data input (SDI) to physical data input terminal (1a) and the serial interface device (201) returns logical data output (SDO) to said physical data output terminal (2b) and for said external master (10) from the WBR (40) of the core device (100); wherein the state machine (210) is configured to provide the wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for the core device (100) having the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR); read an address held by the Address Register (214) and compare it to the device-address (214a); read a currently active wrapper-instruction, held by the Instruction Register (213), send (logic) output test (SDO) data, as taken from the Wrapper Boundary Register (40,WBR).

2. Device of one of previous claims, further having a counter (211) to control a data transmission size in certain states (READ_DEV_ADR, READ_INSTRUCTION, SEND_IDCODE, READ_DATA and READ_UPDATE) of the state machine (210), the counter receiving the clock signal (SCLK) supplied to the serial interface device.

3. Device of one of previous claims, the state machine (210) handling transactions between the external master (10) and itself, wherein the state machine (210) is capable to generate an additional Wrapper Boundary Register control signal (WT), e.g. WCH_RESET, to and for the Wrapper Boundary register (WBR,40) of the core device (100).

4. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the State Machine (210) is configured and capable to generate all Wrapper Boundary Register control signals (30; CW, SW, UW, WN) of the given standard, preferably CaptureWR, ShiftWR, UpdateWR and WRSTN of the IEEE 1500 standard, the SelectWIR signal of the IEEE 1500 standard not being a WBR control signal.

5. Device of one of previous claims 1 to 3, the state machine (210) generates at least some Wrapper Boundary Register control signals (30) comprising one or more of the control signals for the IEEE 1500 Wrapper Boundary Register (WBR).

6. Device of one of previous claims, wherein an output signal (WSO) of the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) is supplied to the serial interface device (201) or directly to the terminal (2b) of the physical Data Output (SDO).

7. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the logical data input signal (SDI) at physical Data Input Terminal (1a) is supplied, preferably directly, to the WBR (40) as Input Signal (WSI).

8. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the clock signal (SCLK) from the third terminal (1c) is also supplied, preferably directly, to the WBR (40) as clock signal (WRCK).

9. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the clock signal (SCLK) from the third terminal (1c) is supplied to the serial interface device (201), preferably therewith to the control logic (209) containing the state machine (210), the Address Register (214) and the Instruction Register (213).

10. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the logical data input signal (SDI) at physical Data Input Terminal (1a) is supplied to the Address Register (214), the Instruction Register (213) and to the control logic (209) containing the state machine (210), but not to the state machine (210).

11. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the coupling is an electrical conductive connection.

12. Device of one of previous claims, further having an Identification Register (215) containing an identification-code (215a) of the core device (100).

13. Device of one of previous claims, the serial interface device (201) further having an additional device-address source, supplying a device-address (214a) of a corresponding core device (100a) associated with the interface device, when multiple cores (100a, 100b) are on the chip (1) and each core has an own dedicated serial interface device (201a, 201b).

14. Device of one of previous claims, further having a counter (211), supplied with the clock signal (SCLK) through the third terminal (1c) to control the changes of states (510, 520, 525, 530, 550) of the state machine (210).

15. Serially operable interface device on a chip (1), the interface device (201) for generating control signals for a Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) on chip (1,1*) level, said wrapper control signals (30) complying with a given standard for testing a core device (100), said core device provided on the chip (1) as well and having the WBR (40), the chip (1;1*) comprising one physical Data Input (1a) for test purposes and one physical Data Output (1b) for test purposes and no more than an input and an output terminal of the serial interface device (201) are coupled to the terminals (1a, 1b) on said chip (1) containing the interface device (201) and the core device (100) with the WBR; and a physical Clock Input (1c) for test purposes that is coupled to a third terminal (1c) on said chip (1;1*) on chip level for supplying a clock signal (SCLK) to the serial interface device (201); the serial interface device (201) on chip further comprising an Instruction Register (213) to receive and hold wrapper-instructions supplied through the physical data input terminal (1a); wherein the state machine (210) is configured to read a currently active wrapper-instruction, as held by the Instruction Register (213); generate and provide on-chip wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for the core device (100) having the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) according to the wrapper-instruction read from the Instruction Register (213).

16. Device of one of previous claims, the serial interface device (201) further having an Address Register (214) to receive and hold an address supplied through the physical data input terminal (1a) for comparison with an individual device-address (214a) of this serial interface device (201a) and a corresponding core (100a), when multiple serial interface devices (201a,201b,201c) each attributed to a corresponding core (100a,100b,100c) are present on the chip (1*).

17. Device of one of previous claims, wherein the control logic (209) has access to an Address Register (214), being configured for holding a received address, the control logic (209) being configured for reading the address as held by the Address Register (214).

18. Device of one of previous claims, further having a counter (211), supplied with the clock signal (SCLK) through the third terminal (1c) to control at least some changes of states (510, 520, 525, 530, 550) of the state machine (210).

19. Device of previous claim, wherein at least some changes of states of the state machine (210) depend at least from a counter value of the counter (211) and a wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213), the Instruction Register (213) having received the wrapper-instruction through the physical data input terminal (1a).

20. Device of one of previous claims, further having an Identification Register (215) for holding an ID-Code (215a) identifying the core device (100).

21. Device of previous claim, the ID-Code of the Identification Register (215) identifying the core device (100) is sent by control of the state machine (210) and a control logic (209) in the serial test interface (201) to the single output terminal (1b) to the external master (10), upon an corresponding wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213).

22. Device of previous claim, the control logic (209) in the serial test interface (201) acts as gateway to the single output terminal (1b) for supplying eitherbut not both at the same timethe ID-Code (215a) of the Identification Register (215) or the logical output test signal (WSO) returning from the WBR (40) of the core device (100) to the external master (10) by control of the control logic (209) upon an corresponding wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213).

23. Device of one of previous claims, further having a power-on detector (20) for supplying a power on reset signal to the serial test interface (201) and the Wrapper Boundary Register (40) of the core (100) for common initialisation.

24. Device of one of previous claims, the clock signal (SCLK) supplied through the third terminal (1c) is supplied to the WBR (40) and the serial test interface (201).

25. Test method of testing wrapped cores (100a, 100b, 100c) within a System-on-Chip (SoC;1*), wherein each core of the wrapped cores (100a, 100b, 100c) having an associated serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c); each interface device having a unique device address (214a, 214b, 214c), not being the same, although a structure of all serial interface devices (201a, 201b, 201c) is the same.

26. Method of claim 25, each serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) further having an Address Register (214), receiving and holding an address supplied through a test input terminal (1a), each serial interface device comparing the supplied address with an individual device-address as the unique device address (214a) of each serial interface device (201a) the associated wrapped core (100a) present on the chip (1,1*), and that serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) is elected whose device-address matches the supplied address held by the Address Register (214).

27. Method of claim 25, each serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) having the structure according to one of claims 1 to 24.

28. Method to skip a state of a state machine (210) in a selected serial interface device (201), the state machine (210) having a state (510) of reading a device-address (READ DEV ADR), the method comprising . . . the serial interface device (201) receives a device-address having a first bit (FIN) as a FIN-bit; a value of the received FIN-bit as held in a corresponding FIN-register determines, whether multiple transactions are implemented for the selected interface device (201), if the FIN-register holds ONE (=logical 1), further instructions follow for the selected interface device (201), and in a next transaction reading the or a new device-address is skipped.

29. Method of claim 28, each serial interface device (201) having a structure according to one of claims 1 to 24.

30. Method of generating IEEE 1500 Wrapper Boundary Register (WBR) control signals (30) by a state machine (210) having several states, the state machine being part of a functional slave (201) in a System on Chip (SoC) configuration, the method comprising the steps generation of WBR control signal CaptureWR by the state machine (210) in a state READ_DATA originating from a currently active wrapper instruction in an Instruction Register (213) and a counting content of a counter (211) of the slave (201); generation of WBR control signal ShiftWR by the state machine (210) in a state READ SHIFT based on the currently active wrapper instruction in the Instruction Register (213) and the value of a STOP_SHIFT FLAG; generation of WBR control signal UpdateWR by the state machine (210) in a state READ_UPDATE based on the currently active wrapper instruction in the Instruction Register (213) and a counting contents of the counter register (211); generation of active-low wrapper reset signal WRSTN by the state machine (210) upon completion of a READ_INSTRUCTION state in an IDLE state, whenever the Instruction Register (213) contains a WS_RESET instruction.

31. Method to generate additional Wrapper Boundary Register (WBR) control signals (30) by a state machine (210) on a chip (1,1*), the method comprising the steps of generation of at least one additional WBR control signal by the state machine (210) upon completion of a READ_INSTRUCTION state, in an IDLE state, whenever the Instruction Register (213) contains an additionally defined wrapper instruction with a non-data-transfer function; defining one additional signal (WCH RESET), and thereby the additional signal sets back or resets one or more access signals in the Wrapper Boundary Register (40).

32. Layout for a serial test interface comprising a layout for an Instruction Register (213) to receive and hold wrapper-instructions supplied through a representation of a physical data input terminal (2a) and a layout of a state machine (210) for handling transactions supplied thereto, wherein the state machine is layouted to read a wrapper-instruction from the Instruction Register (213) and generate and provide wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for a core device (100) having the Wrapper Boundary Register (40) according to the wrapper-instruction read from the Instruction Register; and the representation of the single input terminal (2a) is provided to supply an input test signal (SDI) coupled to the Wrapper Boundary Register (40) as logical input test signal (WSI); a representation of a single output terminal (2b) is provided to return an output test signal (SDO) coupled (209) to the representation of the output terminal (2b) from an output (WSO) of the Wrapper Boundary Register (40) of the core device (100).

1. A serially-operable interface device on a chip (1), the interface device (201) for generating control signals for a Wrapper Boundary Register (40, WBR) on chip (1) level, said wrapper control signals (30) complying with a given standard for testing a core device (100), said core device provided on the chip (1) as well and having the WBR, the serial interface device (201) comprising: one physical Data Input (2a) and one physical Data Output (2b) and no more than the input (SDI) for and the output (SDO) of the serial interface device (201) are coupled to a respective terminal (1a, 1b) on said chip (1) containing the interface device (201) and the core device (100) with the Wrapper Boundary Register (40); and a physical Clock Input (2c) that is coupled to a third terminal (1c) on said chip (1) on chip level for supplying a clock signal (SCLK) to the serial interface device (201); the serial interface device (201) further comprising: an Address Register (214) for holding a received address for comparison to a device-address (214a); an Instruction Register (213) to receive and hold wrapper-instructions supplied through the terminal (1a) supplying the Data Input (SDI) on said chip (1); a control logic (209) including a state machine (210) for handling transactions from an external master (10) that supplies logical data input (SDI) to physical data input terminal (1a) and the serial interface device (201) returns logical data output (SDO) to said physical data output terminal (2b) and for said external master (10) from the WBR (40) of the core device (100); wherein the state machine (210) is configured to: provide the wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for the core device (100) having the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR); read an address held by the Address Register (214) and compare it to the device-address (214a); read a currently active wrapper-instruction, held by the Instruction Register (213); and send (logic) output test (SDO) data, as taken from the Wrapper Boundary Register (40,WBR).

2. The device of claim 1, further having a counter (211) to control a data transmission size in certain states (READ_DEV_ADR, READ_INSTRUCTION, SEND_IDCODE, READ_DATA and READ_UPDATE) of the state machine (210), the counter receiving the clock signal (SCLK) supplied to the serial interface device.

3. The device of claim 1, the state machine (210) handling transactions between the external master (10) and itself, wherein the state machine (210) is capable to generate an additional Wrapper Boundary Register control signal (WT), e.g. WCH_RESET, to and for the Wrapper Boundary register (WBR,40) of the core device (100).

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the State Machine (210) is configured and capable to generate all Wrapper Boundary Register control signals (30; CW, SW, UW, WN) of the given standard selected from the group consisting of CaptureWR, ShiftWR, UpdateWR and WRSTN of the IEEE 1500 standard, the SelectWIR signal of the IEEE 1500 standard not being a WBR control signal.

5. The device of claim 1, the state machine (210) generates at least some Wrapper Boundary Register control signals (30) comprising one or more of the control signals for the IEEE 1500 Wrapper Boundary Register (WBR).

6. The device of claim 1, wherein an output signal (WSO) of the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) is supplied to the serial interface device (201) or directly to the terminal (2b) of the physical Data Output (SDO).

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the logical data input signal (SDI) at physical Data Input Terminal (1a) is supplied to the WBR (40) as Input Signal (WSI).

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the clock signal (SCLK) from the third terminal (1c) is also supplied to the WBR (40) as clock signal (WRCK).

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the clock signal (SCLK) from the third terminal (1c) is supplied to the serial interface device (201) to the control logic (209) containing the state machine (210), the Address Register (214) and the Instruction Register (213).

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the logical data input signal (SDI) at physical Data Input Terminal (1a) is supplied to the Address Register (214), the Instruction Register (213) and to the control logic (209) containing the state machine (210), but not to the state machine (210).

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the coupling is an electrical conductive connection.

12. The device of claim 1, further having an Identification Register (215) containing an identification-code (215a) of the core device (100).

13. The device of claim 1, the serial interface device (201) further having an additional device-address source, supplying a device-address (214a) of a corresponding core device (100a) associated with the interface device, when multiple cores (100a, 100b) are on the chip (1) and each core has an own dedicated serial interface device (201a, 201b).

14. The device of claim 1, further having a counter (211), supplied with the clock signal (SCLK) through the third terminal (1c) to control the changes of states (510, 520, 525, 530, 550) of the state machine (210).

15. A serially-operable interface device on a chip (1), the interface device (201) for generating control signals for a Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) on chip (1,1*) level, said wrapper control signals (30) complying with a given standard for testing a core device (100), said core device provided on the chip (1) as well and having the WBR (40), the chip (1;1*) comprising: one physical Data Input (1a) for test purposes and one physical Data Output (1b) for test purposes and no more than an input and an output terminal of the serial interface device (201) are coupled to the terminals (1a, 1b) on said chip (1) containing the interface device (201) and the core device (100) with the WBR; and a physical Clock Input (1c) for test purposes that is coupled to a third terminal (1c) on said chip (1;1*) on chip level for supplying a clock signal (SCLK) to the serial interface device (201); the serial interface device (201) on chip further comprising an Instruction Register (213) to receive and hold wrapper-instructions supplied through the physical data input terminal (1a); wherein the state machine (210) is configured to: read a currently active wrapper-instruction, as held by the Instruction Register (213); and generate and provide on-chip wrapper control signals (30) of the given standard for the core device (100) having the Wrapper Boundary Register (40;WBR) according to the wrapper-instruction read from the Instruction Register (213).

16. The device of claim 15, the serial interface device (201) further having an Address Register (214) to receive and hold an address supplied through the physical data input terminal (1a) for comparison with an individual device-address (214a) of this serial interface device (201a) and a corresponding core (100a), when multiple serial interface devices (201a,201b,201c) each attributed to a corresponding core (100a,100b,100c) are present on the chip (1*).

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the control logic (209) has access to an Address Register (214), being configured for holding a received address, the control logic (209) being configured for reading the address as held by the Address Register (214).

18. The device of claim 15, further having a counter (211), supplied with the clock signal (SCLK) through the third terminal (1c) to control at least some changes of states (510, 520, 525, 530, 550) of the state machine (210).

19. The device of claim 18, wherein at least some changes of states of the state machine (210) depend at least from a counter value of the counter (211) and a wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213), the Instruction Register (213) having received the wrapper-instruction through the physical data input terminal (1a).

20. The device of claim 15, further having an Identification Register (215) for holding an ID-Code (215a) identifying the core device (100).

21. The device of claim 20, the ID-Code of the Identification Register (215) identifying the core device (100) is sent by control of the state machine (210) and a control logic (209) in the serial interface device (201) to the single output terminal (1b) to the external master (10), upon an corresponding wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213).

22. The device of claim 21, the control logic (209) in the serial interface device (201) acts as gateway to the single output terminal (1b) for supplying eitherbut not both at the same timethe ID-Code (215a) of the Identification Register (215) or the logical output test signal (WSO) returning from the WBR (40) of the core device (100) to the external master (10) by control of the control logic (209) upon an corresponding wrapper-instruction as read from the Instruction Register (213).

23. The device of claim 15, further having a power-on detector (20) for supplying a power on reset signal to the serial test interface device (201) and the Wrapper Boundary Register (40) of the core (100) for common initialization.

24. The device of claim 15, the clock signal (SCLK) supplied through the third terminal (1c) is supplied to the WBR (40) and the serial interface device (201).

25. A device for testing wrapped cores (100a, 100b, 100c) within a System-on-Chip (SoC;1*), wherein: each core of the wrapped cores comprises an associated serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) that is directly and individually controlled by a single off-chip test master; each interface device having a unique device address (214a, 214b, 214c) and the same; and wherein the off-chip test master operates in parallel with or with the interface devices as multiple slaves, and elects from said multiple slaves one thereof by sending a device address of a targeted slave.

26. The device of claim 25, each serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) further having an Address Register (214), receiving and holding an address supplied through a test input terminal (1a), each serial interface device comparing the supplied address with an individual device-address as the unique device address (214a) of each serial interface device (201a) the associated wrapped core (100a) present on the chip (1,1*), and that serial interface device (201a, 201b, 201c) is elected whose device-address matches the supplied address held by the Address Register (214).

27.-44. (canceled)

Description

[0059] Examples are shown to enable the inventions as claimed. They are not to limit the claimed inventions, but to enable them to the Fachmann (the man skilled in the art of testing chips and wrapped cores).

[0060] FIG. 1 functionally illustrates registers of one example of a serial test interface 201 with less terminals SDI and SDO for test functions. A clock terminal has to be added.

[0061] FIG. 1a is a map coordination where the mentioned signals are connected to control logic 209 and state machine 210 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0062] FIG. 2 illustrates the FIG. 1 architecture with an IEEE 1500 wrapped CORE 100 and with more structural definitions than the functional outline of FIG. 1 supplies to the reader.

[0063] FIG. 3 illustrates an example state machine 210 and the states 500 to 550 in a state transition diagram 301.

[0064] FIG. 4 illustrates the connection of several serial test interfaces 201a, 201b, 201c at IC-level, each one attributed to one core 100a, 100b, 100c.

[0065] FIG. 5a is prior art and illustrates the architecture with an IEEE 1500 wrapped CORE and WSP and WSC signals.

[0066] FIG. 5b is prior art and illustrates the IEEE 1149.1 finite state machine (TAP Controller) operating multiple IEEE 1500 wrapped COREs with an on chip additional logic.

[0067] FIG. 6 is prior art and illustrates the state sequence as depending on the TMS signal of the TAP port, as published in ISSC 2008, Galway, June 18, 19, IEEE 1500 Wrapper Control using an IEEE 1149.1 Test Access Port by Michael Higgins, Ciaran MacNamee, Brendan Mullane, there FIG. 2. All state changes depend upon the TMS signal (1) of the TAP state machine.

[0068] FIG. 7 illustrates a comparison of FIG. 5b (prior art) and the new configuration of several serial test interfaces 201a, 201b, 201c at IC-level, each one attributed to one core 100a, 100b, 100c and having own device address as shown in FIG. 4. The achieved reduced wiring and logic reduction advantage is evident.

[0069] FIG. 8 illustrates timing diagram for bit transfer.

[0070] FIG. 9 illustrates the RESET/RUN (R/R) condition for the Slave 201.

[0071] FIG. 10 illustrates the generation of the internal WRSTN-signal.

[0072] FIG. 11 illustrates the STOP_SHIFT sequence, if the last shift bit (SDI) is HIGH.

[0073] FIG. 12 illustrates the STOP_SHIFT sequence, if the last shift bit (SDI) is LOW.

[0074] FIG. 13 illustrates a common transaction with sending data according the WS-Instruction.

[0075] FIG. 14 illustrates a special transaction for a non-data-transfer function.

[0076] FIG. 15 illustrates a send ID-Code 215a transaction.

[0077] FIG. 16 illustrates an example with two subsequent transactions and FIN=0.

[0078] FIG. 17 illustrates an example with multiple subsequent transactions and FIN=1.

[0079] FIG. 6 illustrates the known IEEE 1149.1 TAP finite state machine. The Wrapper Serial Control (WSC) signal generation through the TAP controller is based on this TAP state machine. In this state machine it is not possible to skip for example Capture-DR and Capture-IR.

[0080] FIG. 1 illustrates the new architecture with an IEEE 1500 wrapped CORE 100 and with the serial test interface 201, both on a chip 1 and linked to the test master eTM 10 through a reduced set of terminal 1a, 1b and 1c.

[0081] Only two signals (SDO and SDI) and one clock signal (SCLK) have to be connected to corresponding test terminals at IC level 1. The Wrapper Boundary Register 40 control signals 30 are: CaptureWR, ShiftWR, UpdateWR and WRSTN and are generated by the state machine 210 of the serial test interface 201. These wrapper control signals 30 operate the IEEE 1500 wrapper 40 in test mode.

[0082] Additional Wrapper Boundary Register control signals, e.g. WCH_RESET may also be generated by the state machine 210.

[0083] FIG. 2 more detailed illustrates the registers and the structural connections of the serial test interface 201.

[0084] The core 100 is equipped with one or multiple wrapper chains across all IOs to achieve full testability. The Wrapper Boundary Register (WBR) 40 is the register through which test data stimuli are applied via SDI as WSI.

[0085] Address Register 214 is loaded with an address and Instruction Register 213 is loaded with a wrapper instruction, via the SDI terminal 1a and 2a (the terminal of the SDI signal). An ID-Code 215a can be shifted out through SDO, wherefore a Control Logic 209 is provided that enables either the output WSO of the Wrapper Boundary Register 40 to the SDO output terminal 1b or the ID-code 215a as read from the register 215 to the SDO output terminalthis upon control of the wrapper instruction driven state machine 210.

[0086] The slave 201 (with the core 100) may have an m-bit, e.g. 16 bit chip ID (ID-Code 215a) that may contain information of the type and structure of the core 100. The length of this identification is longer than each of the following register lengths of counter 211, address register 214 and Instruction Register 213.

[0087] The bit transfer is not limited to 8 bit words. All samples are illustrative only. Other lengths of bits of registers and words may apply.

[0088] The device-address 214a may be n-bit long, e.g. 4 bit to 7 bit long and is sent after the 1 bit FIN (Following Instruction), see FIGS. 13 and 14.

[0089] The Slave 201 has a 4 bit Instruction Register 213 used to load and store wrapper instructions, e.g. IEEE 1500 Standard instructions, communicated through terminal 1a.

[0090] The Serial Test Interface 201 and its terminals 1a, 1b, 1c of the IC is to access to one or multiple IEEE 1500 wrapper cell chains surrounding a core 100 within an SoC 1.

[0091] The Serial Test Interface 201 reduces the pin count while retaining a high clock frequency. Each core 100 is equipped with an own slave according to FIG. 4.

[0092] The sleek serial interface SSI has only three logic signals:

[0093] SCLK serial clock

[0094] SDI serial data in

[0095] SDO serial data out.

[0096] The associated terminals operate with a single master 10 outside the chip 1 and with one or more slave devices 201a, 201b, 201c on the chip. The master 10 selects the desired slave by sending a device-address that corresponds to the e.g. hard-coded STI device address 214a.

[0097] The slave(s) 201 have no external reset signal. Therefore, a power on reset 20 (POR) is provided to allow an initialization of the slave(s) and to avoid damage to core 100 (or to COREs 100a, 100b and 100c).

[0098] The SSI protocol used is as follows, cf. FIG. 3.

[0099] The master 10 (outside the Layout or chip) issues a RESET/RUN sequence.

[0100] The master sends 8 bit: FIN and the 7 bit slave address, see FIG. 13, through SDI terminal into Address Register 214.

[0101] All slaves 201a, 201b, . . . receive and compare the sent address as held by the Address Register 214 with their own device address 214a (supplied to the serial test interface 201 from a source, such as a register or hard coded in a layout).

[0102] This slave 201a is selected if the sent address matches his device-address 201a in step 510. For example the device 201a (having state machine 210a) has device address 214a. When the address supplied through the SDI input terminal 1a to the Address Register 214 matches the address 214a, this serial test interface 201a is selected and receives the wrapper commands into its Instruction Register 213 and connects output test signals from the attributed core 100a and its Wrapper Boundary Register 40a (40 as named for core 100a with serial test interface 201a). The other serial test interface 201b would have 214b as device-address and attributed core 100b having a wrapper chain 40b. Same for serial test interface 201c.

[0103] The leading FIN bit determines whether multiple transactions are implemented for the selected slave. If e.g. FIN=1, further instructions follow for the selected slave, see FIGS. 16, 17.

[0104] If the address doesn't match in step 510 and FIN=0, each non-selected slave waits for the Reset/Run-sequence and after that for a new slave address in step 510 (RUN=1, FIN=0).

[0105] If the address doesn't match and FIN=1, each non-selected slave waits until the master 10 sends the WS_RESET instruction (WRSTN) through SDI input terminal 1a from master output terminal 10a.

[0106] The selected slave proceeds to READ 520, upon RUN=1, FIN=1.

[0107] WS Instruction (e.g. 4 bit) follows e.g. a standard instruction as WS_EXTEST, WS_ID or WS_PRELOAD.

[0108] Data bits DATA for the instruction INSTR [3:0] follow, e.g. shifting data of Wrapper IO [length IO)) and shift-stop sequence, if necessary for an instruction, see FIG. 13.

[0109] To terminate the transaction the master 10 sends the RESET sequence. After the RESET/RUN sequence a new transaction begins with

[0110] if FIN=0 . . . a new slave address

[0111] if FIN=1 . . . the 4-bit instruction

[0112] To terminate a transaction with FIN=1 and to deselect the slave, the master sends the WS_RESET instruction to generate WRSTN (see FIG. 14) and after that the RESET sequence. After WS_RESET and the RESET/RUN condition the master eTM sends a new address to select another slave.

[0113] The connection of the multiple serial test interfaces (STI) at IC-level of this IC 1* as illustrated in FIG. 4.

[0114] Each core 100a, 100b and 100c has its own STI 201a, 201b and 201c. Each STI (serial test interface) is directly controlled by the master 10. The master is located outside the chip or layout, e.g. as testing intelligence eTM.

[0115] The SDO data lines are tied together and fed back to the master 10. The SDO outputs 2b of the unselected slaves on the chip of FIG. 4 are hi-Z and therefore inactive (tri-state output).

[0116] FIGS. 1 and 2 show the serial test interface (STI) with those three logic signals and with a power on reset 20 on chip 1. POR 20 is delivered to the serial test interface 201 and the WBR 40.

[0117] If multiple Wrapper Boundary Register chains for the core are implemented, the WSO data lines 31 are switched through logic 209 to the output 2b and 1b carrying the signal SDO.

[0118] The output values change on the negative (falling or trailing) edge of SCLK.

[0119] The serial interface device 201 has a 4 bit instruction register 213. The following WS-Instructions are used to access the core 100 across the serial test interface STI . . .

TABLE-US-00001 Instruction Name Explanation WS_EXTEST used to apply data to all IP pins WS_ID used to scan out the ID code WS_PRELOAD used to preload the chain WS_SHIFTUPDATE only SHIFT and Update WS_RESET used to generate WRSTN (as internal signal) WS_BYPASS put the wrapper into a bypass configuration

[0120] Some further instructions are explained in the following table.

TABLE-US-00002 Instruction Name Explanation WS_CAPTURE only Capture WS_WCHRE SET only wrapper chain reset for selected wrapper cells, used to generate WCH_RESET (as internal signal) WS_TACC use to measure access time (delay time testing)

[0121] FIG. 3 illustrates the example states of the state machine 210. The slave 201a has this state machine 210a . . . [0122] to handle the various transactions between the external master 10 and the slave 201 from the slave side: [0123] read the address with the 1 bit FIN (e.g. 8 bit) to select a slave, [0124] read the wrapper-instruction (e.g. 4 bit), [0125] enable the ID code sending in the state Send IDCode [0126] to enter or skip the states READ-DATA, READ-SHIFT and READ-UPDATE, necessary for the generation of the WBR control signals. [0127] to generate the WBR control signals 30 as CaptureWR, ShiftWR, UpdateWR and WRSTN; [0128] to generate additional WBR control signals 30, e.g. WCH RESET.

[0129] The state machine 210 contains seven states. State transitions are controlled by a clock edge of clock SCLK (e.g. by the negative edge of the clock). The power-on reset POR and the internal RESET signal return the state machine 210 to state IDLE. All transactions start with the RUN condition. The power-on reset POR resets all Flip-Flops (not shown).

[0130] The state changes (or changes of states] are based on . . . [0131] a counter value [0132] the currently active wrapper instruction (INSTR==/INSTR!=) [0133] FIN=1 following instructions for the selected device (state: IDLE) [0134] device-address=valid (or invalid) [0135] In state 510: READ_DEV_ADR [0136] WBYPASS_SEL=1 bypass path between SDI and SDO (state 520: [0137] READ_INSTRUCTION), e.g. for wrapper instruction (=WI) [0138] WS_RESET or WS_WCHRESET [0139] STOP_SHIFT=1 shift operation was completed (state 540: READ_SHIFT)

[0140] FIG. 8 illustrates a timing diagram for a bit transfer.

[0141] The data on the SDI terminal must be stable during the HIGH period of the clock SCLK. The LOW or HIGH state of the data signal can only change when the clock signal is low. The bits are placed on the SDI terminal 2a starting with the MSB (Most Significant Bit). According to FIGS. 13 to 15 serial data SDI is transferred in sequences of 8 bit (slave or device-address including FIN), 4 bit (WS-Instruction) and with a variable word size (according to wrapper instruction). The counter 211 counts each bit of the SDI input and decreases or increases his counter value. The state machine 210 reads the counter value and changes the states as shown in FIG. 3, after all bits have been received, such as 8 bit, 4 bit or 2 bit according to FIG. 3. The corresponding state changes are shown there, such as a change from state 510 to state 520 upon the 8bit were received, according to 8 bits (of the SDI signal). This may be enabled by using the counter to determine when the required bits have passed the SDI port for bit transfer. Either the counter has increased its count by e.g. 8 or decreased by e.g. 8, both facts indicating that 8 bits are present (get 8 bit).

[0142] FIG. 9 illustrates the RESET/RUN condition for the slave. Clock idle state is low. The RESET/RUN sequence and the STOP_SHIFT sequence are the only places where SDI is allowed to change while SCLK is high. With the LOW to HIGH transition on the SDI signal while SCLK is HIGH the RESET-Signal is generated for the slave. With the internal RESET signal initialization of a part of the slave takes place.

[0143] The internal RESET-Signal terminates the actual transaction. The first HIGH to LOW transition on the SDI signal while SCLK is high after RESET starts a new data transfer. The beginning of a new data transfer is only possible after the RESET/RUN sequence. The RESET/RUN sequence has no influence to the wrapper chains. After the RESET/RUN sequence the master 10 sends a new address for another serial test interface (slave) or a new wrapper-instruction for the Instruction Register 213.

[0144] FIG. 10 illustrates the generation of the internal WRSTN-signal. The instruction that is shown there is the WS_RESET contained in the instruction register 213 and upon reading by the state machine 210 it will provide the WRSTN signal. Further clock and data input are shown in FIG. 10.

[0145] All slaves 201 of FIG. 2 (a single slave 201 on the chip) or several slaves 201a, 201b and 201c of FIG. 4 have no external RESET-Signals, only a common power on reset 20 on chip. Therefore, an internal WRSTN signal is generated by the WS_RESET instruction which instruction is supplied through SDI pin la. This is actually one of the control signals of the IEEE 1500 standard. WRSTN is the active-low wrapper reset signal. It will only belong to its associated wrapper chain and will not leave the corresponding serial test interface that controls the control signals 30 of this wrapper chain.

[0146] WRSTN active low forces its corresponding slave into a disabled state. If FIN=1, only the WRSTN signal can terminate transactions for its selected slave. After WRSTN is active low and following the RESET/RUN-sequence the data transfer is started with a new device-address.

[0147] WRSTN resets the Instruction Register 213 and puts the WBR 40 into its normal system mode (reset the wrapper-chain cells). If FIN =1 the instruction WS_RESET will be evaluated by all slaves that are on the chip, thus for example slaves 201a, 201b and 201c of FIG. 4. This results in an evaluation of the instruction WS_RESET by all selected and unselected slaves on the chip 1*. Selected is a slave, when its device address matches the value of the address register 214. The other slaves on the chip are not selected (unselected).

[0148] A problem of shift operations is that the length of the wrapper chains is not fixed. The slave needs information to terminate the shift operation of the Wrapper chain cells. The amelioration is a stop-shift.

[0149] The master 10 sends a stop-shift sequence to the Slave to finish the shifting of data. A disadvantage might be that stop-shift is dependent from the value of the last SDI bit.

[0150] FIG. 11 illustrates the STOP_SHIFT sequence, if the last shift bit (SDI) is HIGH.

[0151] FIG. 12 illustrates the STOP_SHIFT sequence, if the last shift bit (SDI) is LOW.

[0152] FIG. 13 illustrates a common transaction that is with sending data according the WS-Instruction (INSTR).

[0153] A transaction begins with the RUN sequence. After the 1 bit FIN and 7 bit device-address follows the 4 bit WS-Instruction. DATA are sent according the WS-Instruction [0154] e.g. DATA for CaptureWR, ShiftWR and UpdateWR [0155] and DATA for a special operation, e.g. DATA for reading or writing an NVM (non-volatile memory) as core 100.

[0156] The size of the data to be transferred is not fixed. A transaction ends with a Reset (RES) condition.

[0157] FIG. 14 illustrates a special transaction for a non-data-transfer function. Special transactions are non-data-transfer functions. After the 4 bit INSTR is only 1 bit to enter the Wrapper Serial Control necessary. The Reset Sequence follows after the 1 bit ESC.

[0158] Only two special transactions are currently defined . . . [0159] The first one is used to generate WRSTN [0160] The second one is used to generate WCH_RESET

[0161] FIG. 15 illustrates a send ID-Code transaction. The transaction begins with the RUN sequence. After the 1 bit FIN and 7 bit device-address the 4 bit WS-instruction follows. The 4 bit WS_INSTRUCTION is set to WS_ID.

[0162] The slave sends the 16 bit ID-Code 215a using the control logic 209 and gates the ID-code to SDO terminal 1b (through terminal 2b of the slave 201). The terminal 1b for the SDO output changes state at the falling edge of SCLK. The transaction ends with a reset condition (RES). The state 525 changes to IDLE state 500 after 16 bits were sent, see FIG. 3 at Send_IDCode. As long as the send process has not ended, state 525 pertains. The counter 211 is used to count the amount of serially sent bits, e.g. 16 bit as identified.

[0163] FIG. 16 illustrates an example with two transactions and FIN=0. In the example FIN is set to zero. That is no following instructions for the selected slave. A device address is sent after the end of the first transaction.

[0164] FIG. 17 illustrates an example with multiple transactions and FIN=1. In the example FIN is set to one. Thus further instructions follow for the selected slave. To deselect the Slave there has to be sent the instruction WS_RESET.

[0165] All bit lengths given above are examples only.