Patents by Inventor William C. Patton

William C. Patton has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Debug system allowing programmable selection of alternate debug mechanisms such as debug handler, SMI, or JTAG
    Patent number: 6205560
    Abstract: A circuit for diagnosing and debugging a processor for executing a stream of instructions that includes a set of debug registers for identifying an instruction or data address breakpoint; a processor for generating a debug exception in response to an instruction or data address in the stream of instructions matching the instruction or data breakpoint stored in the set of debug registers and a debug configuration register for enabling transfer of program control to one of a plurality of destinations in response to the debug exception. The debug configuration registers may designate system management mode, JTAG routine or a software debug interrupt handler as the destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: VIA-Cyrix, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark W. Hervin, Mark W. Bluhm, Stanley D. Harder, William C. Patton