Adaptec, Inc.

Stmicroelectronics N.v.

David L Dyer

Nicolas C Assouad

John P Hill

Wen Lin

Thomas G Adams

Nicolas C Assoud

A method of testing a processor controlled chip having embedded circuitry devoid of a direct connection external to said chip. Tracing circuitry embedded on the chip is programmed to detect the presence of specified information on a bus system embedded on the chip and devoid of a direct connection external to the chip. An address comparator detects the presence of the specified information on the bus system and opens gating circuitry in response to the detection. The specified information is extended through the gating circuitry and written in a buffer memory. The specified information can be read out of the buffer memory and extended to a user terminal external to the chip.

Hardware tracing/logging for highly integrated embedded controller device

A single integrated circuit includes an on-board processor, a peripheral port, and a general purpose input/output (I/O) circuit that support both master mode and slave mode operations. In a master mode of operation, the integrated circuit functions as a disk drive microcontroller and seamlessly interfaces with a hard disk controller. The integrated circuit includes programmable circuitry for generating individual chip select signals for external random access memory (RAM) and external read-only memory (ROM); a fully programmable general purpose input/output interface; and a programmable bi-directional peripheral port. Each of these features are utilized in the master mode to control operation of the disk drive. In a slave mode of operation, the integrated circuit provides full motion control of the spin and tracking systems of a disk drive. In slave mode, the peripheral port is an interface to a host microcontroller or a host RISC processor, that is typically contained within the disk drive. The host microcontroller communicates with the integrated circuit through a set of mailbox registers within the peripheral port to configure the integrated circuit for full motion control and to receive information from the integrated circuit.

Dual function disk drive integrated circuit for master mode and slave

An integrated circuit includes a programmable servo burst sequencer that includes an instruction memory, an instruction register, and an address control circuit. The instruction register drives a plurality of output lines of the programmable servo burst sequencer. The programmable servo burst sequencer can process a plurality of fields in any one of a plurality of servo sectors. The programmable servo burst sequencer eliminates the need for a specific servo burst sequencer for each possible configuration of the plurality of fields in a servo sector. The user simply uses a plurality of instructions to configure the programmable servo burst sequencer so that the programmed servo burst sequencer can process the plurality of fields in the servo sector information on the user's disk drive.

Programmable servo burst sequencer for a disk drive

A disk drive controller integrated circuit includes a programmable servo burst decoder that can process any one of a plurality of servo sectors. A disk drive head reads each embedded servo sector on the disk and provides an analog signal, a servo burst, representing the servo sector to a preamp. The preamp provides an amplified analog signal to a read channel integrated circuit. The read channel integrated circuit provides input signals that are processed by the programmable servo burst decoder. The programmable servo burst decoder includes a programmable timing mark sequencer having an instruction register of a first size and a servo timing mark output line, and a programmable burst sequencer connected to the servo timing mark output line and having an instruction register of a second size. In this embodiment, the first size is different from the second size. Specifically, the first size is 20 bits, and the second size is 38 bits.

Programmable servo burst decoder

A programmable timing mark sequencer automatically analyzes a sequence of data bits on a data input line. If the appropriate timing pattern is detected in the sequence of data bits, the timing mark sequencer drives a signal active on a servo timing mark output line. The timing mark sequencer is a fully programmable sequencer that is optimized for the detection of servo sector timing mark patterns. The timing mark sequencer includes a branch and fetch unit, a timing mark sequencer random access memory(RAM), an instruction register, a space counter, a window counter, and a synchronization flip-flop. The timing mark sequencer has a plurality of input lines including a search input line, a high resolution data bit line, and a decode clock line.

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Boulder, CO, United States of America

David L Dyer