6.8 IPU
Each IPU subsystem contains two Arm® Cortex-M4 processors (IPUx_C0 and IPUx_C1) that share a common level 1 (L1) cache (called unicache [IPUx_UNICACHE]). The two Cortex-M4 cores are completely homogeneous to one another. Any task possible using one Cortex-M4 core is also possible using the other Cortex-M4 core. It is software responsibility to distribute the various tasks between each Cortex-M4 core for optimal performance.
The key features of the IPU subsystem are:
- Two Arm Cortex-M4 microprocessors (IPUx_C0 and IPUx_C1):
- Armv7-M and Thumb®-2 instruction set architecture (ISA)
- Armv6 SIMD and digital signal processor (DSP) extensions
- Single-cycle MAC
- Integrated nested vector interrupt controller (NVIC) (also called IPUx_Cx_INTC, where x = 0, 1)
- Integrated bus matrix
- Registers:
- Thirteen general-purpose 32-bit registers
- Link register (LR)
- Program counter (PC)
- Program status register, xPSR
- Two banked SP registers
- Integrated power management
- Extensive debug capabilities
- Unicache interface:
- Instruction and data interface
- Supports paralleled accesses
- Level 2 (L2) master interface (MIF) splitter for access to memory or configuration port
- Configuration port: Used for unicache maintenance and unicache memory management unit (IPUx_UNICACHE_MMU) configuration
- Unicache:
- 32 KiB divided into 16 banks
- 4-way
- Cache configuration lock/freeze/preload
- Internal MMU:
- 16-entry region-based address translation
- Read/write control and access type control
- Execute Never (XN) MMU protection policy
- Little-endian format
- Subsystem counter timer module (IPUx_UNICACHE_SCTM, or just SCTM)
- On-chip ROM (IPUx_ROM) and banked RAM (IPUx_RAM) memory
- Emulation/debug: Emulation feature embedded in Cortex-M4
- L2 MMU (IPUx_MMU): 32 entries with table walking logic
- Wake-up generator (IPUx_WUGEN): Generates wake-up request from external interrupts
- Power management:
- Local power-management control: Configurable through the IPUx_WUGEN registers.
- Three sleep modes supported, controlled by the local power-management module.
- IPUx is clock-gated in all sleep modes.
- IPUx_Cx_INTC interrupt interface stays awake.
For more information, see chapter Dual Cortex-M4 IPU Subsystem of the Device TRM.