Patent ID: 7457739

Claim:
A method of scheduling trace packets in an integrated circuit generating trace packets of plural types having a predetermined hierarchy of trace data types from a highest priority to a lowest priority, the method comprising the steps of: storing trace data of each of the plural types in a corresponding first-in-first-out buffer; and for each trace data type in a repeating circular sequence from a highest priority trace data type to a lowest priority trace data type: determining if a first-in-first-out buffer for trace data corresponding to a current trace data type is empty, if the first-in-first-out buffer for trace data having the current trace data type is not empty, then transmitting a trace data packet of trace data of the current trace data type from the corresponding first-in-first-out buffer, and if the first-in-first-out buffer for trace data having the current trace data type is empty, then setting the current trace data type to the trace data type having a next lower priority if the current trace data type does not have the lowest priority, and setting the current trace data type to the trace data type having the highest priority if the current trace data type has the lowest priority; wherein at least one of said plural trace data types includes a plurality of trace data subtypes having a predetermined hierarchy of trace data subtypes from a highest priority to a lowest priority; and said step of transmitting a trace data packet of said at least one trace data type if the corresponding first-in-first-out buffer is not empty includes transmitting trace data packets in priority order from the highest priority trace data subtype to the lowest priority trace data subtype.