Direct memory access descriptor-based synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256558-B2
Application number	US-201313928487-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2013
Priority date	Jun 27, 2013
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A method includes processing descriptors to control a direct memory access (DMA) channel. The method includes synchronizing at least part of the processing, which includes processing a first descriptor of the descriptors to cause the execution to selectively pause based on a trigger value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
processing descriptors to control a direct memory access (DMA) channel;
synchronizing at least part of the processing, the synchronizing comprising processing a first descriptor of the descriptors to cause the processing to selectively pause based on a trigger value; and
controlling the trigger value, the controlling comprising processing at least one other descriptor associated with another DMA channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the descriptors comprises using a DMA controller to execute the descriptors, and the trigger value comprises a value stored in a register of the DMA controller.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing at least one additional descriptor to control another DMA channel; and
using the processing of the at least one additional descriptor to change the trigger value.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein using the processing of the at least one additional descriptor comprises selectively setting and clearing bits of a register storing the trigger value.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selectively setting and clearing the bits based at least in part on a mask value indicating candidate bits subject to change.

6. The method of claim 1 , communicating with a port of a DMA controller to change the trigger value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein synchronizing further comprises comparing the trigger value to a value indicated by the first descriptor.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the comparing comprises comparing the trigger value to the value indicated by the first descriptor for bit positions indicated by a mask value indicated by the first descriptor.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a direct memory access (DMA) engine to process descriptors to control first operations of at least one DMA channel;
a register to indicate an event timing; and
a device other than the DMA engine to store content in the register to control the indication of the event timing,
wherein the DMA engine is adapted to synchronize a timing of at least one of the first operations to the event timing indicated by the register.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the register is disposed in the DMA engine.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the descriptors comprise a linked set of descriptors associated with the at least one DMA channel.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the linked set of descriptors comprise a first descriptor whose execution cause the DMA engine to pause further execution of the linked set of descriptors until a match value indicated by the first descriptor is determined to be a match with a value indicated by the register.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the register comprises a content adapted to be changed in response to descriptor execution.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the register comprises a content adapted to be changed in response to communication with at least one port of a DMA controller.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the device comprises a bus interface.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
an integrated circuit, wherein the DMA engine, the register and the device other than the DMA engine are part of the integrated circuit.

Assignees

• Silicon Lab Inc

Inventors

• Litch Timothy E
• Zavalney Paul I
• Zucker Paul

Classifications

• G06F13/28 Primary

  using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access {DMA}, cycle steal (G06F13/32 takes precedence) · CPC title