A Test and debug processor that can execute JTAG scans without the involvement of an external CPU or dedicated hardware. The processor includes a JTAG-
bus controller logic, a JTAG port coupled to the JTAG-
bus controller logic, memory capable of storing JTAG instructions, and an instruction decoding unit capable of fetching or requesting JTAG instructions from the memory. During use, the JTAG scan functions are encoded in instructions that are natively
executable by the processor hardware without
software interpretation. The instructions are then stored in a memory structure, fetched and executed directly by the processor. The instruction could optionally include the end-state of the
bus after the operation, information about the bit count of the data to be scanned, information about the location of the data to be sent out of the JTAG port and also the location to store the received information from the
test subject. Optionally, the test processor can directly access any memory location to fetch or store
test data objects. This is achieved by adding a memory-
bus interface to the processor allowing it to be the
memory bus master. Also the test-processor can have the ability to decode and execute arithmetic and logic operation by adding an ALU the processor. The processor can also have the ability to execute
register transfer operations to execute functions such as JUMP to control the run path.