Peripheral communication

Abstract

Peripherals(18, 20, 22, 24, 26) are connected to a processor (6) and a programmable peripheral interconnect (10) is connected to each peripheral. One of the peripherals (18) is configured to signal an event to the interconnect, and one of the peripherals (20) is configured to respond to a task signal from the interconnect by performing a task. The task-receiving peripheral (20) has a task register (40), addressable by the processor (6), and performs the task in response to a change in the contents of the register (40). The interconnect (10) accesses a memory (14) in which a mapping is stored between an event of a first peripheral (18) and a task of a second peripheral (20), the mapping comprising (i) an identification of the event, and (ii) the address of a task register (40). The mapping causes the interconnect (10) to provide a channel by sending a task signal to the second peripheral (20) in response to a signal of the event from the first peripheral (18).

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to communication between peripheral devices connected to a processor. Background technique [0002] Microcontroller systems typically include peripheral devices that are separate from, but usually connected to, the central processing unit (CPU) via a bus. These peripherals may be located on the same integrated circuit or within the same multi-chip module or system-level package as the processor (eg, system-on-a-chip). Alternatively, the peripherals may be located off-chip from the main processor, eg, in a different package. Examples of peripherals include timers, cryptographic engines, serial interfaces (UARTs), and embedded radio transceivers. [0003] In a simple architecture, the processor communicates directly with each peripheral. One peripheral communicates with another peripheral via the processor, for example, using interrupts. However, the mechanism may be slow and may cause unpredictable timing, since the processor m...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, the mechanism can be slow and can lead to unpredictable timing because the processor may have to wake up from a low power (sleep) state or have to complete its current operation before forwarding the message

Communication from one peripheral device to another peripheral device may also result in significant power consumption due to waking up the processor if the processor is in a sleep state

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