12.11.4 Debug Communication Channels

The Debug Communication Channels (DCCO and DCC1) consist of a pair of registers with associated handshake logic, accessible by both CPU and debugger even if the device is protected by the NVMCTRL security bit. The registers can be used to exchange data between the CPU and the debugger, during run time as well as in debug mode. This enables the user to build a custom debug protocol using only these registers.

The DCC0 and DCC1 registers are accessible when the protected state is active. When the device is protected, however, it is not possible to connect a debugger while the CPU is running (STATUSA.CRSTEXT is not writable and the CPU is held under Reset).

Two Debug Communication Channel status bits in the Status B registers (STATUS.DCCDx) indicate whether a new value has been written in DCC0 or DCC1. These bits, DCC0D and DCC1D, are located in the STATUSB registers. They are automatically set on write and cleared on read.

Note: The DCC0 and DCC1 registers are shared with the on-board memory testing logic (MBIST). Accordingly, DCC0 and DCC1 must not be used while performing MBIST operations.