The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 13, 1999
Filed:
May. 27, 1997
Santanu Roy, San Jose, CA (US);
Farrell L Ostler, Albuquergue, NM (US);
Philips Electronics North America Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A microcontroller, which is configured in a certain mode, may generate signals that can cause malfunctions of the microcontroller or of other devices. For example, a prefetch cycle at an internal memory boundary may attempt to access external memory via a port when the port is connected to an I/O device. The system of the invention gates such signals and thus prevents possible damage to the microcontroller or peripheral device. In a preferred embodiment, a software programmable register is provided with one location dedicated to storing a bit. When that register bit is set, it prevents certain signals and address/data from appearing at the port and thus possibly causing harm to the microcontroller or a peripheral device connected to the port.