PVDM (packet voice data module) generic bus

• US 7,200,692 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2004
• Issued: 04/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Singla, Ankur, Davies, Stephen, Fermor, David
• Primary Examiner(s): SHIN, CHRISTOPHER B
• Application Number:
  US10/798,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20050216609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: 710 5- 7, 710 15- 19, 710 22- 29, 710/308, 709/211, 370/419, 370/352, 370/494
• US Class Current: 710/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/28 using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access DMA, cycle steal G06F13/32 takes precedence

Abstract

A generic, parallel, n-bit wide data path communication bus allows a number of major slave devices (such as DSPs, Microprocessors, ASICs, FPGAs, etc) to be used with PVDMs and other devices. A higher level protocol allows a DMA engine to interface multiple Master devices directly with multiple slave modules through the DMA engine.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a Packet Voice Data Module (PVDM) having a set of bi-directional data inputs/outputs configured as an interface between a master device coupled to a DMA engine and a slave device having a set of addressable registers including egress mailbox registers, ingress mailbox registers, and indirect access address registers, with the interface comprising;

a set of master address inputs configured to couple to PVDM to the DMA engine, with the master address for-transmitting address data from the DMA engine to the slave;

a master data strobe input configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine, with the master data strobe for strobing data;

a master read/write signal input configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine, with master read/write signal for indicating whether data is to be read from or written to the slave;

a set of slave select signal inputs configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine, with slave select signals for selecting one of a plurality of slaves;

a slave wait signal output configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine, with the slave wait signal asserted by a slave to delay a data transfer;

a slave reset signal input configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine, with the slave reset signal resetting the slave when asserted;

a clock signal line output configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine and to receive a clock signal; and

a clock signal line input configured to couple the PVDM to the DMA engine and to receive a clock input signal.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a DMA engine configured to perform direct data transfers to the slave by asserting a slave select signal to the slave and to transfer data to the slave egress or ingress data registers and to perform indirect data transfers to slave memory by writing address data to the indirect address register of the slave and to negotiate with a slave to implement either an asynchronous, synchronous, or source synchronous data transfer.

3. The system of claim 2 with the DMA engine configured to negotiate with all slaves during reset to determine a maximum bus width available to transfer data.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a slave including a status register and a message signal interrupt (MSI) register; and

where the slave is configured to utilize its own memory map and the address data to transfer data between a location indicated by the address data and the DMA engine and to assert a bit in the status register to indicate it is ready for a transaction and where the DMA engine is configured to assert a bit in the MSI register to indicate when a transaction is complete.

5. A method comprising:

to implement a direct message transfer to a slave device;

accessing a slave status register to read a direct message ready status bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data;

transferring message data using a DMA engine and a slave mailbox register if the direct message ready status bit is set;

setting a message transfer complete status interrupt at the slave to indicate when the transfer of the message is complete; and

to implement an indirect data transfer to the memory space of a slave device;

accessing a slave status register to read an indirect message ready status bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data;

transferring address data using the DMA engine and slave indirect address mailbox register if the indirect message ready status bit is set;

setting an indirect transfer message interrupt bit at the slave to initiate the indirect transfer;

transferring message data between the DMA engine and slave mailbox registers if the indirect message ready status bit is set, where the slave utilizes its own memory map and the address data to transfer data between a location indicated by the address data and the DMA engine; and

setting a message transfer complete status interrupt at the slave to indicate when the transfer of the message is complete.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

negotiating with all the slaves to implement either an asynchronous, synchronous, or source synchronous data transfer.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

starting the bus upon reset at a fixed bus-width and then negotiating with all the slaves to implement acceptable bus bit-width.

8. A system comprising:

means for implementing a direct message transfer to a slave device including;

means for accessing a slave status register to read a direct message ready status bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data;

means for transferring message data using a DMA engine and a slave mailbox register if the direct message ready status bit is set;

means for setting a message transfer complete status interrupt at the slave to indicate when the transfer of the message is complete; and

means for implementing an indirect data transfer to the memory space of a slave device including;

means for accessing a slave status register to read an indirect message ready status bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data;

means for transferring address data using the DMA engine and slave indirect address mailbox register if the indirect message ready status bit is set;

means for setting an indirect transfer message interrupt bit at the slave to initiate the indirect transfer;

means for transferring message data between the DMA engine and slave mailbox registers if the indirect message ready status bit is set, where the slave utilizes its own memory map and the address data to transfer data between a location indicated by the address data and the DMA engine; and

means for setting a message transfer complete status interrupt at the slave to indicate when the transfer of the message is complete.

9. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for negotiating with all the slaves to implement either an asynchronous, synchronous, or source synchronous data transfer.

10. The system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for starting the bus upon reset at a fixed bus-width and then negotiating with all the slaves to implement acceptable bus bit-width.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a slave status register accessible to read a direct message ready status bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data directly and accessible to read an indirect message ready bit which is set when the slave is ready to transfer data indirectly;

a slave mailbox register configured to transfer direct message data using a DMA engine if the direct message ready status bit is set and with the slave mailbox registers used for transferring message data using the DMA engine if an indirect message ready status bit is set;

a message transfer complete status interrupt at the slave configured to indicate when the transfer of the message is complete;

a slave indirect address mailbox register configured to transfer address data using the DMA engine if the indirect message ready status bit is set;

an indirect transfer message interrupt bit at the slave configured to initiate the indirect transfer; and

a slave memory map configured for use with the address data to transfer data between a location indicated by the address data and the DMA engine.