DEVICE EMULATION SUPPORT WITHIN A HOST DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS

摘要

A DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS (12) IS PROVIDED WITH A MEMORY MANAGEMENT UNIT (24) WHICH TRIGGERS MEMORY ABORTS. WHEN A MEMORY ABORT OCCURS, DATA CHARACTERISING THE MEMORY ABORT IS WRITTEN TO A FAULT STATUS REGISTER (28) (MEMORY-ABORT REGISTER). THE DATA CHARACTERISING THE MEMORY ABORT INCLUDES DATA IDENTIFYING A REGISTER NUMBER ASSOCIATED WITH THE MEMORY ACCESS WHICH GAVE RISE TO THE MEMORY ABORT. THIS REGISTER IDENTIFYING DATA IS USED TO EMULATE THE ACTION OF THE MEMORY ACCESS INSTRUCTION WITHOUT HAVING TO READ THE PROGRAM INSTRUCTION LEAD TO THE MEMORY ABORT. THIS IS USEFUL IN PROVIDING VIRTUALISATION SUPPORT FOR A VIRTUAL DATA PROCESSING APPARATUS (2).