Patent ID: 7421384

Claim:
A semiconductor integrated circuit device used in connection to an external device during software development, comprising: a first microcomputer chip; and a second microcomputer chip having functional circuits substantially equivalent to the first microcomputer chip, the second microcomputer chip coupled to the external device for receiving and transmitting data; wherein the first microcomputer chip includes: a mask read only memory (ROM) including instructions; a central processing unit (CPU) coupled to the mask ROM for executing the instruction to thereby configure the CPU; a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) circuit coupled to the CPU, the JTAG circuit configured to generate and receive test related data and instructions; a motor control circuit configured to drive a motor in response to instructions from the JTAG circuit; a JTAG interface for performing serial communication between the CPU and the JTAG circuit; and a switching circuit selectively coupling a signal line from the JTAG circuit to one of a signal line from the second microcomputer chip and a signal line from the JTAG interface, the switching circuit controllable by the CPU; and wherein the second microcomputer chip includes: a rewritable nonvolatile memory to which instructions are written; a CPU coupled to the rewritable nonvolatile memory that executes the instructions during software development to thereby configure the CPU; and a JTAG interface for performing serial communication between the CPU and the JTAG circuit of the first microcomputer chip, wherein a signal line from the JTAG interface is the signal line from the second microcomputer chip selectively coupled to the switching circuit of the first microcomputer chip, wherein the CPU of the first microcomputer chip is configured to be in a halt state and to control the switching circuit to couple the signal line from the JTAG circuit of the first microcomputer chip to the JTAG interface of the second microcomputer chip to thereby permit actuation of the motor control circuit by the second microcomputer chip while the CPU of the second microcomputer chip executes the instructions during the software development.