09.12.2012 Views

Cortex-A8 Technical Reference Manual - ARM Information Center

Cortex-A8 Technical Reference Manual - ARM Information Center

Cortex-A8 Technical Reference Manual - ARM Information Center

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

12.9.3 Cache usage profiling<br />

Debug<br />

Note<br />

• The processor can execute CP15 I-cache Invalidate All or CP15 I-cache Invalidate Line<br />

by MVA operation only in privileged mode. However, in debug state the processor can<br />

execute these instructions even when invasive debug is not permitted in privileged mode.<br />

This exception to the CP15 permission rules described in Coprocessor instructions on<br />

page 12-59 enables the debugger to maintain coherency in a secure user debug scenario.<br />

• The CP15 Flush Branch Target Buffer instruction is also valid in debug state regardless of<br />

the processor mode. Although the processor implements this instruction as a NOP, making<br />

it available in debug state ensures software compatibility with other <strong>ARM</strong>v7 compliant<br />

processors.<br />

• Execution of the CP15 I-cache Invalidate All operation while in nonsecure state flushes<br />

the secure and nonsecure lines from the I-cache.<br />

• If bit [2] of the DSCCR is set to 0 while the processor is in debug state, then memory<br />

writes go through all levels of cache up to the point of coherency, that is, to external<br />

memory.<br />

There are two ways to obtain cache usage profiling information:<br />

• Statistic profiling using the Performance Monitoring Unit (PMU). The processor can<br />

count cache accesses and misses over a period of time.<br />

• CP15 operations for accessing L1 and L2 cache tag and data arrays. These instructions<br />

provide greater visibility into the cache state at the cost of interrupting the program flow<br />

to execute them.<br />

<strong>ARM</strong> DDI 0344K Copyright © 2006-2010 <strong>ARM</strong> Limited. All rights reserved. 12-64<br />

ID060510 Non-Confidential

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!