Microcontroller device with multiple independent microcontrollers

Abstract

A microcontroller device has a housing with a plurality of external pins. a first microcontroller with a first central processing unit (CPU), a first system bus coupled with the first CPU, first memory coupled with the first system bus, and a first plurality of peripheral devices coupled with the first system bus, and a second microcontroller with a second central processing unit (CPU), a second system bus coupled with the second CPU, second memory coupled with the second system bus, and a second plurality of peripheral devices coupled with the second system bus, wherein first and second microcontroller communicate only via a dedicated interface.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims priority to commonly-owned US Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 133,186, filed March 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to microcontrollers and, in particular, to microcontroller devices having multiple independent processor cores. Background technique [0004] Known microcontroller devices comprise a single central processing unit (microcontroller core) and a plurality of associated peripheral devices (such as timers, analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, pulse-width modulation units), memory, Input / Output (I / O) ports, etc. Usually an internal system bus and control logic connects all components so that the microcontroller core can individually access peripheral devices. Externally, microcontrollers include a number of external pins, most of which are typically associate...

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