Patent ID: 7447874

Claim:
A method for performing hardware tasks in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with a hardware state machine and a processor, comprising: setting a breakpoint condition for a state machine state by programming a control register in the ASIC, wherein the breakpoint condition is set for the state after a problem is discovered with a particular task for the state; running the processor in a parallel mode with the state machine; using a status register to pass control to the processor after the breakpoint condition is encountered, wherein the state machine passes control to the processor after the state machine detects that the breakpoint condition has occurred for the state; performing a task associated with the state, wherein the processor performs the task which was meant to be performed by the state machine; and transferring control back to the state machine after the processor performs the task associated with the state; wherein the ASIC comprises the hardware state machine and the processor in a single component.