Digi NS9215 manual Transferring a frame to system memory, Receive buffer descriptor format

E T H E R N E T C O M M U N I C A T I O N M O D U L E

Receive packet processor

Transferring a frame to system memory

The RX_RD logic manages the transfer of a frame in the RX_FIFO to system memory. The transfer is enabled by setting the ERXDMA (enable receive DMA) bit in Ethernet General Control Register #1.

Transferring a frame in the receive FIFO to system memory begins when the RX_WR logic notifies the RX_RD logic that a good frame is in the receive FIFO. Frames are transferred to system memory using up to four rings (that is, 1, 2, or 3 rings can also be used) of buffer descriptors that point to buffers in system memory. The maximum frame size that each ring can accept is programmable. The first thing the RX_RD logic does, then, is analyze the frame length in the receive status FIFO to determine which buffer descriptor to use.

The RX_RD logic goes through the four buffer descriptors looking for the optimum buffer size. It searches the enabled descriptors starting with A, then B, C, and finally D; any pools that are full (that is, the F bit is set in the buffer descriptor) are skipped. The search stops as soon as the logic encounters an available buffer that is large enough to hold the entire receive frame.

The pointers to the first buffer descriptor in each of the four pools are found in the related Buffer Descriptor Pointer register (RXAPTR, RXBPTR, RXCPTR, RXDPTR). Pointers to subsequent buffer descriptors are generated by adding an offset of 0x10 from this pointer for each additional buffer used.

Receive buffer descriptor format

	31	30	29	28		16	15
OFFSET + 0
					Source Address
OFFSET + 4					Buffer Length (11 lower bits used)
OFFSET + 8					Destination Address (not used)
OFFSET + C	W	I	E	F	Reserved			Status

0

Receive buffer descriptor format description

The current buffer descriptor for each pool is kept in local registers. The current buffer descriptor registers are initialized to the buffer descriptors pointed to by the Buffer Descriptor Pointer registers, by setting the ERXINIT (enable initialization of RX buffer descriptor registers) bit in Ethernet General Control Register #1. The initialization process is complete when RXINIT (RX initialization complete) is set in the Ethernet General Status register. At the end of a frame, the next buffer descriptor for the ring just used is read from system memory and stored in the registers internal to the RX_RD logic.

268Hardware Reference NS9215