7: Memory Management Unit
7-2 EPSON ARM720T CORE CPU MANUAL
7.1.1 Access permissions and domains
For large and small pages, access permissions are defined for each subpage (4KB for small
pages, 16KB for large pages). Sections and tiny pages have a single set of access permissions.
All regions of memory have an associated domain. A domain is the primary access control
mechanism for a region of memory. It defines the conditions necessary for an access to proceed.
The domain determines if:
the access permissions are used to qualify the access
the access is unconditionally allowed to proceed
the access is unconditionally aborted.
In the latter two cases, the access permission attributes are ignored.
There are 16 domains. These are configured using the Domain Access Control Register.
7.1.2 Translated entries
The TLB caches 64 translated entries. During CPU memory accesses, the TLB provides the
protection information to the access control logic.
If the TLB contains a translated entry for the MVA, the access control logic determines if
access is permitted:
if access is permitted and an off-chip access is required, the MMU outputs the
appropriate physical address corresponding to the MVA
if access is permitted and an off-chip access is not required, the cache services the
access
if access is not permitted, the MMU signals the CPU core to abort.
If the TLB misses (it does not contain an entry for the VA) the translation table walk hardware
is invoked to retrieve the translation information from a translation table in physical memory.
When retrieved, the translation information is written into the TLB, possibly overwriting an
existing value.
The entry to be written is chosen by cycling sequentially through the TLB locations.
When the MMU is turned off, as happens on reset, no address mapping occurs and all regions
are marked as noncachable and nonbufferable.