Intel 253668-032US User Manual

Page of 806
10-52   Vol. 3
ADVANCED PROGRAMMABLE INTERRUPT CONTROLLER (APIC)
Here, the TPR value is the task priority value in the TPR (see 
), the IRRV 
value is the vector number for the highest priority bit that is set in the IRR (see 
) or 00H (if no IRR bit is set), and the ISRV value is the vector number 
). Following arbitra-
tion among the destination processors, the processor with the lowest value in its APR 
handles the IPI and the other processors ignore it.
(P6 family and Pentium processors.) For these processors, if a focus processor 
exists, it may accept the interrupt, regardless of its priority. A processor is said to be 
the focus of an interrupt if it is currently servicing that interrupt or if it has a pending 
request for that interrupt. For Intel Xeon processors, the concept of a focus processor 
is not supported.
In operating systems that use the lowest priority delivery mode but do not update 
the TPR, the TPR information saved in the chipset will potentially cause the interrupt 
to be always delivered to the same processor from the logical set. This behavior is 
functionally backward compatible with the P6 family processor but may result in 
unexpected performance implications.
10.7.3 
IPI Delivery and Acceptance
When the low double-word of the ICR is written to, the local APIC creates an IPI 
message from the information contained in the ICR and sends the message out on 
the system bus (Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon processors) or the APIC bus (P6 family and 
Pentium processors). The manner in which these IPIs are handled after being issues 
in described in 
10.7.4 
SELF IPI Register
SELF IPIs are used extensively by some system software. The x2APIC architecture 
introduces a new register interface. This new register is dedicated to the purpose of 
sending self-IPIs with the intent of enabling a highly optimized path for sending self-
IPIs. 
 provides the layout of the SELF IPI register. System software only spec-
ifies the vector associated with the interrupt to be sent. The semantics of sending a 
self-IPI via the SELF IPI register are identical to sending a self targeted edge trig-
gered fixed interrupt with the specified vector. Specifically the semantics are identical 
to the following settings for an inter-processor interrupt sent via the ICR - Destina-
tion Shorthand (ICR[19:18] = 01 (Self)), Trigger Mode (ICR[15] = 0 (Edge)), 
Delivery Mode (ICR[10:8] = 000 (Fixed)), Vector (ICR[7:0] = Vector).