Methods and apparatuses for trace multicast across a bus structure, and related systems

Abstract

Systems and methods for trace multicast across a bus structure are provided. Preferably, the bus structure is that of a System-on-a-Chip (SoC), where the SoC includes a number of master components and a number of slave components connected via the bus structure. The bus structure supports a trace multicast feature. In one embodiment, the bus structure receives a bus transaction from a master component and, in response, outputs the bus transaction to a corresponding slave port. In addition, the bus structure determines whether a trace multicast is desired for the bus transaction. If a trace multicast is desired, the bus structure generates an additional bus transaction having one or more transaction attributes that include a translated version of the bus transaction and outputs the additional bus transaction to a trace slave port of the bus structure. The trace multicast feature provides a non-invasive mechanism for driver-level trace.