Microchip Technology Inc.

Joseph Kanellopoulos

Michael I Catherwood

David Mickey

Bryan Kris

Igor Wojewoda

Brant Ivey

A central processing unit with dual boot capabilities is disclosed comprising an instruction memory further comprising a first and second memory area which are configured to be individually programmable, wherein first and second memory area can be assigned to an active memory from which instructions are executed and an inactive memory, respectively. The instruction set for the central processing unit comprises a dedicated instruction that allows to perform a swap from the an active memory area to an inactive memory area, wherein the swap is performed by executing the dedicated instruction in the active memory followed by a program flow change instruction in the active memory, whereupon the inactive memory becomes the new active memory and the active memory becomes the new inactive memory and execution of instructions continues in the new active memory.

Dual boot panel SWAP mechanism

A central processing unit (CPU) having an interrupt unit for interrupting execution of instructions, a plurality context defining register sets, wherein each set of registers having the same number of CPU registers, a switching unit for coupling a selected register set within the CPU, wherein the switching unit switches to a predetermined register set of the plurality of context defining register sets upon occurrence of an exception, and a control register configured to control selection of a register set of the plurality of context defining register initiated by an instruction and further operable to indicate a currently used context.

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

Joseph Kanellopoulos