Atmel Evaluation Kit AT91SAM9X35-EK AT91SAM9X35-EK Data Sheet

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SAM9X35 [DATASHEET]

11055E–ATARM–10-Mar-2014

Source peripheral: Device on an AMBA layer from where the DMAC reads data, which is then stored in the channel
FIFO. The source peripheral teams up with a destination peripheral to form a channel. 

Destination peripheral: Device to which the DMAC writes the stored data from the FIFO (previously read from the
source peripheral). 

Memory: Source or destination that is always “ready” for a DMAC transfer and does not require a handshaking interface
to interact with the DMAC.

Programmable Arbitration Policy: Modified Round Robin and Fixed Priority are available by means of the ARB_CFG
bit in the Global Configuration Register (DMAC_GCFG). The fixed priority is linked to the channel number. The highest
DMAC channel number has the highest priority.

Channel: Read/write datapath between a source peripheral on one configured AMBA layer and a destination peripheral
on the same or different AMBA layer that occurs through the channel FIFO. If the source peripheral is not memory, then
a source handshaking interface is assigned to the channel. If the destination peripheral is not memory, then a destination
handshaking interface is assigned to the channel. Source and destination handshaking interfaces can be assigned
dynamically by programming the channel registers.

Master interface: DMAC is a master on the AHB bus reading data from the source and writing it to the destination over
the AHB bus.

Slave interface: The APB interface over which the DMAC is programmed. The slave interface in practice could be on
the same layer as any of the master interfaces or on a separate layer.

Handshaking interface: A set of signal registers that conform to a protocol and handshake between the DMAC and
source or destination peripheral to control the transfer of a single or chunk transfer between them. This interface is used
to request, acknowledge, and control a DMAC transaction. A channel can receive a request through one of two types of
handshaking interface: hardware or software.

Hardware handshaking interface: Uses hardware signals to control the transfer of a single or chunk transfer between
the DMAC and the source or destination peripheral. 

Software handshaking interface: Uses software registers to control the transfer of a single or chunk transfer between
the DMAC and the source or destination peripheral. No special DMAC handshaking signals are needed on the I/O of the
peripheral. This mode is useful for interfacing an existing peripheral to the DMAC without modifying it.

Flow controller: The device (either the DMAC or source/destination peripheral) that determines the length of and
terminates a DMAC buffer transfer. If the length of a buffer is known before enabling the channel, then the DMAC should
be programmed as the flow controller. If the length of a buffer is not known prior to enabling the channel, the source or
destination peripheral needs to terminate a buffer transfer. In this mode, the peripheral is the flow controller.

 illustrates the hierarchy between DMAC transfers, buffer transfers, chunk

or single, and AMBA transfers (single or burst) for non-memory peripherals. 

 shows the transfer

hierarchy for memory.