SPRUIM2H May 2020 – October 2023 AM2431 , AM2432 , AM2434 , AM6411 , AM6412 , AM6421 , AM6422 , AM6441 , AM6442
Figure 12-263 through Figure 12-266 show the supported DMA operations.
In receive mode, a DMA request is generated when the RX FIFO reaches its threshold level defined in the trigger level register (UART_TLR). This request is deasserted when the number of bytes defined by the threshold level is read by the device DMA controllers.
In transmit mode, a DMA request is automatically asserted when the TX FIFO is empty. This request is deasserted when the number of bytes defined by the number of spaces in the UART_TLR register is written by the device DMA controllers. If an insufficient number of characters is written, the DMA request stays active.
The DMA request is again asserted if the FIFO can receive the number of bytes defined by the UART_TLR register.
The threshold can be programmed in a number of ways. Figure 12-264 shows a DMA transfer operating with a space setting of 56 that can arise from using the auto settings in the UART_FCR[5-4] TX_FIFO_TRIG bit field or the UART_TLR[3-0] TX_FIFO_TRIG_DMA bit field concatenated with the TX_FIFO_TRIG bit field.
The setting of 56 spaces in the UART module must correlate with the settings of the device DMA controllers, so that the buffer does not overflow (program the DMA request size of the LH controller to equal the number of spaces in the UART module).
Figure 12-265 shows an example with eight spaces to show the buffer level crossing the space threshold. The LH DMA controller settings must correspond to those of the UART module.
The next example shows the setting of one space that uses the DMA for each transfer of one character to the transmit buffer (see Figure 12-266). The buffer is filled faster than the baud rate at which data is transmitted to the TX pin. Eventually, the buffer is completely full and the DMA operations stop transferring data to the transmit buffer.
On two occasions, the buffer holds the maximum amount of data words; shortly after this, the DMA is disabled to show the slower transmission of the data words to the TX pin. Eventually, the buffer is emptied at the rate specified by the baud rate settings of the UART_DLL and UART_DLH registers.
The DMA settings must correspond to the system LH DMA controller settings to ensure correct operation of this logic.
The final example illustrates the setting of eight spaces but setting the TX DMA threshold directly by setting UART_MDR3[1] NONDEFAULT_FREQ bit and UART_TX_DMA_THRESHOLD register (see Figure 12-267). In the example, the UART_TX_DMA_THRESHOLD[5-0] TX_DMA_THRESHOLD = 3 and the trigger level is 8. The buffer is filled at a faster rate than the BAUD rate transmits data to the TX pin. The buffer is filled with 8 bytes and the DMA operations stop transferring data to the transmit buffer. When the buffer is emptied to the threshold level by transmission, the DMA operation activates again to fill the buffer with 8 bytes.
Eventually, the buffer will be emptied at the rate specified by the BAUD Rate settings of the UART_DLL and UART_DLH registers.
If the selected threshold level + trigger level exceeds max buffer size, then the original TX DMA threshold method is used to prevent TX overrun, regardless of the UART_MDR3[1] NONDEFAULT_FREQ value.
The DMA settings should correspond to the system Local Host DMA controller settings in order to ensure the correct operation of this logic.