Patent attributes
Methods and systems are provided for debugging a program executing on a processor. In a first implementation, a processing system includes a processor configured for switching to a debug mode from a non-debug mode upon executing a software breakpoint. The system may include a program memory configured to hold instructions for a program, where the software breakpoint replaces at least one of the instructions. The system may also include an instruction replacement register separate from the program memory that is configured to receive the replaced instruction from any of the processor and an external debugger. The system may further include a control component that controls whether the processor fetches a next instruction for execution from the program memory or from the instruction replacement register.