Specifications

CHAPTER 12: DEBUGGING
USING THE IN-SYSTEM MEMORY CONTENT EDITOR
208 ■ INTRODUCTION TO QUARTUS II ALTERA CORPORATION
Using the In-System Memory
Content Editor
The In-System Memory Content Editor allows you to view and modify, at
run-time, RAM, ROM, or register content independently of the system clock
of a design. A debug node communicates to the In-System Memory Content
Editor through a JTAG interface using standard programming hardware.
You can use the In-System Memory Content Editor by using the
MegaWizard
®
Plug-In Manager (Tools menu) to set up and instantiate
lpm_rom, lpm_ram_dq, altsyncram, and lpm_constant
megafunctions or by instantiating these megafunctions directly in the
design, using the lpm_hint megafunction parameter.
The In-System Memory Content Editor (Tools menu) is used to capture and
update the data in the device. You can export or import data in Memory
Initialization File (.mif), Hexadecimal (Intel-Format) File (.hex), and RAM
Initialization File (.rif) formats. The In-System Memory Content Editor has
the following features:
■ Instance Manager: contains a list of memory instances, including
index, instance name, status, data width, data depth, type, and mode.
The Instance Manager controls which memory blocks have data being
viewed, offloaded, or updated. Commands from the Instance Manager
affect the entire selected memory block.
■ JTAG Chain Configuration: used to select the programming hardware
and device to acquire data from or read data to, and to select the SRAM
Object File (.sof) for programming.
f
For Information About Refer To
Using the SignalProbe feature “Quick Design Debugging Using
SignalProbe,” in the Quartus II Handbook,
vol. 3, on the Altera web site
“SignalProbe Introduction” in Quartus II
Help
Using TCL commands with the
SignalProbe feature
“Tcl Scripting” in the Quartus II Handbook,
vol. 2, on the Altera web site