Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Direct memory accessing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-01
2001-10-02
Lee, Thomas (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Direct memory accessing
C710S023000, C710S034000, C714S040000, C714S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298396
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to microcontrollers, and more specifically to a microcontroller having an improved buffer descriptor ring DMA unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Specialized microcontrollers with integrated communication features are becoming particularly attractive for communications applications. A microcontroller, or an embedded controller, is uniquely suited to combining functionality onto one monolithic semiconductor substrate (i.e. chip). By embedding various communication features within a single chip, a communications microcontroller may support a wide range of communication applications.
Microcontrollers have been used for many years in many applications. A number of these applications involve communications over electronic networks, such as telephone lines, computer networks, and local and wide area networks, in both digital and analog formats. In communications applications, a microcontroller generally has a number of integrated communications peripherals in addition to the execution unit. These can be low and high speed serial ports, as well as more sophisticated communications peripherals, such as a universal serial bus (USB) interface, and high level data link control (HDLC) channels.
Further, microcontrollers that are employed in communications applications typically include secondary peripherals that remove some of the burden of transferring data from the execution unit. For example, a direct memory access (DMA) controller can directly transfer data from memory to a communications port, and vice versa, with minimal processor intervention.
One such type of direct memory access controller is a buffer descriptor ring DMA controller. A circular buffer DMA controller is a DMA controller that allows for the transfer of data from a circular buffer in memory. A buffer descriptor ring DMA controller takes this concept a step further, providing a ring in memory of buffer descriptors, as opposed to simply a circular buffer itself. That is, a ring is maintained in memory of pointers to and control variables for buffers, also located in memory, which actually contain the data to be transferred. Buffer descriptor ring DMA is especially useful in communications applications that employ “packetized” data, such as network communications and ISDN and T1 data communications applications. Buffer descriptor ring DMA has been previously implemented. One example of such an implementation is the Am79C90C-LANCE (Local Area Network Controller for Ethernet) device by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. Using buffer descriptor ring DMA, software executed by the microcontroller can compose packets of data for transmission over a packet style communications network, and then commission the buffer descriptor ring DMA unit to send streams of packets with little or no processor intervention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In prior buffer descriptor ring DMA units, a logical packet of data could be split among multiple physical buffers for transmission one after another. If an error occurred during the transmission of a packet of data, however, the buffer descriptor ring DMA unit typically advanced to the next logical packet. According to the invention, however, the transmission of an incompletely transmitted packet can be restarted at the beginning of the packet. According to one embodiment, this is achieved by halting the buffer descriptor ring DMA channel, reloading a current transmit buffer descriptor variable with the first buffer descriptor of the packet, and restarting transmission of the data.
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Loyer Bruce A.
Pham Thai H.
Spilo David A.
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld L.L.P.
Elamin Abdelmoniem
Lee Thomas
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