Hardware resource management within a data processing system

摘要

A processor 6 is provided with a plurality of hardware resources, such as performance monitors 12 and context pointers 18. Boundary indicating circuitry 14, 20 stores a boundary value which is programmable and which indicates a boundary position dividing the hardware resources into a first portion and a second portion. Resource control circuitry 16, 22 controls access to the hardware resources such that when program execution circuitry 8 is executing a first program it is responsive to a query as to how many off said plurality of hardware resources are present to return a first value whereas when the program execution circuitry is executing a second program it responds to such a query by returning a value corresponding to those hardware resources within the second portion.

主权项

1. Apparatus for processing data under control of a plurality of programs, said apparatus comprising:
a plurality of hardware resources with a predetermined sequence such that each of said plurality of hardware resources has a predetermined position within said sequence; boundary indicating circuitry configured to store a boundary value indicating a boundary position within said sequence, said boundary position dividing said sequence into a first portion on a first side of said boundary position within said sequence and a second portion on a second side of said boundary position within said sequence; program instruction execution circuitry configured to execute program instructions; resource control circuitry coupled to said boundary indicating circuitry and configured: when said program execution circuitry is executing a first program, to respond to one or more program instructions querying how many of said plurality of hardware resources are present within said apparatus to return a first value; and when said program execution circuitry is executing a second program, to respond to one or more program instructions querying how many of said plurality of hardware resources are present within said apparatus to return a value corresponding to those hardware resources within said second portion.