Patent ID: 7552363

Claim:
A data processing apparatus comprising: data element producing logic configured to produce data elements; trace logic configured to produce a stream of trace elements representative of at least some of said data elements, the trace logic having trace generation logic configured to generate trace elements for inclusion in said stream and comprising control logic configured to determine which of said data elements are to be represented by said stream of trace elements; and at least one storage element, each of said at least one storage element configured to store a control value, the control logic configured to reference the control value in said at least one storage element when performing said determination, wherein, for a data element to be represented in said stream, the trace generation logic, if at least a part of that data element is derivable from the control value re-referenced from said at least one storage element, is configured to generate an associated trace element comprising a storage element indication indicating the storage element storing that control value and any data element indication required to indicate a part of the data element not derivable from that control value.