Abstract: A communication system couples a plurality of processing cores together, each having an associated register storing a virtual machine ID, which is inserted into requests sent by the respective processing core. A master circuit has associated a master interface circuit, wherein the master interface circuit has associated register for storing a second virtual machine ID, which is inserted into requests sent by the master circuit. A slave circuit has associated a slave interface circuit configured to selectively forward read or write requests addressed to an address sub-range. The slave interface circuit has associated a third register storing a third virtual machine ID associated with the address sub-range and is configured to receive a request addressed to the address sub-range, extract from the request a virtual machine ID, determine whether the extracted virtual machine ID corresponds to the third virtual machine ID, and then either forwards or rejects the request.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is hardware for easing the process of changing the execution mode of a virtual machine and its associated resources. By adopting the hardware, it is possible to trigger a change in the execution mode in an automatic way, without software intervention, and without interfering with the execution of other virtual machines. In addition, in case an error has occurred for a virtual machine and it is detected, the hardware can be used to disable the resources associated with that virtual machine and generate notification of the completion this operation to other hardware, which will complete the reset of the virtual machine. By adopting the hardware, the execution mode change is simplified and offers configurability and flexibility for a system running multiple virtual machines.

Abstract: A program-controlled unit includes a plurality of semiconductor chips distributed between a plurality of chip carriers that are disposed one above the other and are connected to one another through a bus. Such program-controlled units can be developed, produced, and tested simply, rapidly, and cost-effectively even when they have to be adapted to special requirements.