Integrated circuit with embedded reprogrammable EEPROM and emulation method to facilitate debugging

摘要

An E2PROM controller is provided for an emulation chip. An E2PROM is connected to a CPU via a memory interconnect bus. The E2PROM and the CPU are also connected to each other via a peripheral circuit interconnect bus independent of the memory interconnect bus. During emulation, the emulation chip is connected to an in-circuit emulator via an emulator interconnect bus, and the memory interconnect bus is disconnected. However, the E2PROM controller allows electrical communication through the peripheral circuit interconnect bus and thereby accesses the E2PROM as one of peripheral circuits. Accordingly, it is possible to check out whether or not a reprogramming program stored in the E2PROM is running normally.