Patent ID: 8312253

Claim:
A method comprising: storing a count having a value of greater than one at a reprogrammable storage location; (a) determining that an event has occurred in response to determining that a number of instruction cycles equal to the count have been executed by the data processor or in response to determining that a number of instructions equal to the count have been processed by the data processor; (b) in response to determining the event has occurred, storing information at a trace buffer of the integrated circuit, the information related to instruction processing of an active instruction by the data processor; (c) determining if the trace buffer has obtained a defined level of fullness; (d) repeating (a) and (b) until the trace buffer obtains a defined level of fullness; (e) in response to the trace buffer obtaining the defined level of fullness, halting operation of the data processor to prevent a next instruction from being executed; and (f) in response to receiving an indicator to resume instruction execution, resuming instruction execution at the next instruction and repeating (a)-(f).