Patent ID: 7099817

Claim:
A method of preventing trace data first-in-first-out buffer overflow in a pipelined data processor comprising the steps of: determining when a trace data first-in-first-out buffer is in danger of overflowing; upon determination that the trace data first-in-first-out buffer is in danger of overflowing stalling a predetermined number of pipeline stages in the pipeline following a first pipeline stage, inhibiting a central processing unit of the data processor from beginning a new instruction, transmitting data from the trace data first-in-first-out buffer while the pipeline is stalled; during any interval between stalling the predetermined number of pipeline stages and when the central processing unit is inhibited from beginning a new instruction, buffering in a first-in-first-out buffer any received asynchronous trigger events; and before restarting the predetermined number of pipeline stages, transmitting data from the trace data first-in-first-out buffer corresponding to the received asynchronous events.