HARDWARE SUPPORT FOR SOFTWARE CONTROLLED FAST MULTIPLEXING OF PERFORMANCE COUNTERS

摘要

A software controlled fast multiplexing of performance counters is disclosed which includes performance counters operable to collect one or more counts of one or more selected activities, and a plurality of registers operable to store a set of performance counter configurations A state machine may be operable to automatically select a register from the plurality of registers for reconfiguring the one or more performance counters in response to receiving a first signal The state machine may reconfigure the performance counters based on a configuration specified in the selected register The state machine may also copy data in selected performance counters to a memory location, or to copy data from the memory location to the counters, in response to receiving a second signal.