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. 30, 2002
Filed:
May. 04, 1999
David Alan Richardson, Chandler, AZ (US);
Rodney Jay Drake, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Microchip Technology Incorporated, Chandler, AZ (US);
Abstract
An embeddable microcontroller is provided. The microcontroller has program memory for storing instructions. An instruction decoder feteches instructions, decodes them, and forwards them to an enabler. The enabler checks a status bit or consults a pre-defined lookup table to determine whether the instruction at hand should be executed. If the status bit is set to ENABLE, or the instruction appears on a list of enabled instructions, the decoded instruction is forwarded to the central processing unit for execution. Otherwise, if the status bit is set to DISABLE, or the decoded instruction does not appear on the pre-defined list of enabled instructions, then the instruction is not forwarded to the central processing unit, effectively disabling the instruction.