SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACING THE ACTIVITY OF A DATA PROCESSING UNIT SUPPORTING SPECULATIVE INSTRUCTION EXECUTION AND OUT-OF-ORDER DATA TRANSFERS

摘要

A trace unit is provided which is configured to generate items of trace data indicative of processing activities, of a data processing unit. The trace unit comprises a trace indexing unit configured to associate an index value with at least a subset of the items of trace data generated by the trace unit. The trace indexing unit is configured to generate each index value as one of a predetermined sequence of index values, wherein an n+1th index value in the predetermined sequence can be determined from only an nth index value in the predetermined sequence.