Multi-channel DMA with shared FIFO
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsFranck Seigneret, Nabil Khalifa, Sivayya Ayinala, Praveen Kolli
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A direct memory access (DMA) circuit (200) includes a read port (202) and a write port (204). The DMA circuit (200) is a multithreaded initiator with “m” threads on the read port (202) and “n” threads on the write port (204). The DMA circuit (200) includes a data FIFO (210) which is shared by all of the logical channels and the FIFO depth can be allocated dynamically allowing for the maximum number of channels to be scheduled and concurrently active. The FIFO (210) can also be allocated to a single channel if there is only one logical channel active. The FIFO (210) increases the DMA's transfer performance, pre-fetch capacity and buffering, while maximizing pipelining.
Claims21
A data storage area for use in a direct memory access (DMA) circuit having a read port and a write port, the data storage area comprising:
- a data memory which is shared by a plurality of channels supported by the DMA circuit;
- a next read address storage area coupled to the data memory, the next read address storage area stores the next address where to read the next data from a channel currently granted on the write port;
- and
- a next write address storage area coupled to the data memory, the next write address storage area allocates the next address where to write the next data of a channel currently being serviced on the read port.
A direct memory access (DMA) circuit, comprising:
- a read port;
- a write port;
- and
- a unified shared FIFO circuit coupled to the read and write ports, the unified shared FIFO circuit includes:
- a data memory which is shared amongst a plurality of channels supported by the DMA circuit;
- and
- a next write address storage area coupled to the data memory, the next write address storage area allocates the next address where to write the next data of a channel currently being serviced on the read port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.