Atmel SAM4S Series, Preliminary Data Sheet

Page: 401 / 1163

401
11100B–ATARM–31-Jul-12
SAM4S Series [Preliminary]
To change from one kind of default master to another, the Bus Matrix user interface provides the
Slave Configuration Registers, one for each slave, that allow to set a default master for each
slave. The Slave Configuration Register contains two fields:
DEFMSTR_TYPE and FIXED_DEFMSTR. The 2-bit DEFMSTR_TYPE field allows to choose
the default master type (no default, last access master, fixed default master) whereas the 4-bit
FIXED_DEFMSTR field allows to choose a fixed default master provided that DEFMSTR_TYPE
is set to fixed default master. Please refer to the Bus Matrix user interface description.
24.5 Arbitration
The Bus Matrix provides an arbitration mechanism that allows to reduce latency when conflict
cases occur, basically when two or more masters try to access the same slave at the same time.
One arbiter per AHB slave is provided, allowing to arbitrate each slave differently.
The Bus Matrix provides to the user the possibility to choose between 2 arbitration types, and
this for each slave:
1. Round-Robin Arbitration (the default)
2. Fixed Priority Arbitration
This choice is given through the field ARBT of the Slave Configuration Registers
(MATRIX_SCFG).
Each algorithm may be complemented by selecting a default master configuration for each
slave.
When a re-arbitration has to be done, it is realized only under some specific conditions detailed
in the following paragraph.
24.5.1 Arbitration Rules
Each arbiter has the ability to arbitrate between two or more different master’s requests. In order
to avoid burst breaking and also to provide the maximum throughput for slave interfaces, arbitra-
tion may only take place during the following cycles:
1. Idle Cycles: when a slave is not connected to any master or is connected to a master
which is not currently accessing it.
2. Single Cycles: when a slave is currently doing a single access.
3. End of Burst Cycles: when the current cycle is the last cycle of a burst transfer. For
defined length burst, predicted end of burst matches the size of the transfer but is man-
aged differently for undefined length burst (See
Section 24.5.1.1 “Undefined Length
Burst Arbitration” on page 401 “).
4. Slot Cycle Limit: when the slot cycle counter has reached the limit value indicating that
the current master access is too long and must be broken (See
Section 24.5.1.2 “Slot
Cycle Limit Arbitration” on page 402 ).
24.5.1.1 Undefined Length Burst Arbitration
In order to avoid too long slave handling during undefined length bursts (INCR), the Bus Matrix
provides specific logic in order to re-arbitrate before the end of the INCR transfer.