7: Memory Management Unit
7-4 EPSON ARM720T CORE CPU MANUAL
7.3 Address translationThe MMU translates VAs generated by the CPU core, and by CP15 register c13, into physical
addresses to access external memory. It also derives and checks the access permission, using
the TLB.
The MMU table walking hardware is used to add entries to the TLB. The translation
information, that comprises both the address translation data and the access permission data,
resides in a translation table located in physical memory. The MMU provides the logic for you
to traverse this translation table and load entries into the TLB.
There are one or two stages in the hardware table walking, and permission checking, process.
The number of stages depends on whether the address is marked as a section-mapped access
or a page-mapped access.
There are three sizes of page-mapped accesses and one size of section-mapped access. The
page-mapped accesses are for:
• large pages
• small pages
• tiny pages.
The translation process always starts out in the same way, with a level one fetch. A
section-mapped access requires only a level one fetch, but a page-mapped access requires a
subsequent level two fetch.
7.3.1 Translation Table Base Register
The hardware translation process is initiated when the TLB does not contain a translation for
the requested MVA. The
Translat ion Table Base
register points to the base address of a table
in physical memory that contains section or page descriptors, or both. The 14 low-order bits of
the Translation Table Base Register are set to zero on a read, and the table must reside on a
16KB boundary. Figure7-1 shows the format of the Translation Table Base Register.
Figure 7-1 Translation Table Base Register
31 1413 0
Translationtable base