Ethernet (ETH): media access control (MAC) with DMA controller RM0090
947/1422 Doc ID 018909 Rev 4
then the DMA marks the first transfer from the buffer as the start of frame. If a descriptor is
marked as last (LS bit in TDES0), then the DMA marks the last transfer from that data buffer
as the end of frame. The receive DMA transfers data to a buffer until the buffer is full or the
end of frame is received. If a descriptor is not marked as last (LS bit in RDES0), then the
buffer(s) that correspond to the descriptor are full and the amount of valid data in a buffer is
accurately indicated by the buffer size field minus the data buffer pointer offset when the
descriptor’s FS bit is set. The offset is zero when the data buffer pointer is aligned to the
databus width. If a descriptor is marked as last, then the buffer may not be full (as indicated
by the buffer size in RDES1). To compute the amount of valid data in this final buffer, the
driver must read the frame length (FL bits in RDES0[29:16]) and subtract the sum of the
buffer sizes of the preceding buffers in this frame. The receive DMA always transfers the
start of next frame with a new descriptor.
Note: Even when the start address of a receive buffer is not aligned to the system databus width
the system should allocate a receive buffer of a size aligned to the system bus width. For
example, if the system allocates a 1024 byte (1 KB) receive buffer starting from address
0x1000, the software can program the buffer start address in the receive descriptor to have
a 0x1002 offset. The receive DMA writes the frame to this buffer with dummy data in the first
two locations (0x1000 and 0x1001). The actual frame is written from location 0x1002. Thus,
the actual useful space in this buffer is 1022 bytes, even though the buffer size is
programmed as 1024 bytes, due to the start address offset.
29.6.5 DMA arbiter
The arbiter inside the DMA takes care of the arbitration between transmit and receive
channel accesses to the AHB master interface. Two types of arbitrations are possible:
round-robin, and fixed-priority. When round-robin arbitration is selected (DA bit in
ETH_DMABMR is reset), the arbiter allocates the databus in the ratio set by the PM bits in
ETH_DMABMR, when both transmit and receive DMAs request access simultaneously.
When the DA bit is set, the receive DMA always gets priority over the transmit DMA for data
access.
29.6.6 Error response to DMA
For any data transfer initiated by a DMA channel, if the slave replies with an error response,
that DMA stops all operations and updates the error bits and the fatal bus error bit in the
Status register (ETH_DMASR register). That DMA controller can resume operation only
after soft- or hard-resetting the peripheral and re-initializing the DMA.
29.6.7 Tx DMA configuration
TxDMA operation: default (non-OSF) mode
The transmit DMA engine in default mode proceeds as follows:
1. The user sets up the transmit descriptor (TDES0-TDES3) and sets the OWN bit
(TDES0[31]) after setting up the corresponding data buffer(s) with Ethernet frame data.
2. Once the ST bit (ETH_DMAOMR register[13]) is set, the DMA enters the Run state.
3. While in the Run state, the DMA polls the transmit descriptor list for frames requiring
transmission. After polling starts, it continues in either sequential descriptor ring order
or chained order. If the DMA detects a descriptor flagged as owned by the CPU, or if an
error condition occurs, transmission is suspended and both the Transmit Buffer
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