
AHB Clocking
Copyright 2000–2001 by LSI Logic Corporation. All rights reserved.
7-7
7.4 AHB Clocking
The ARM946E-S design uses a single rising-edge clock (CLK) to time all
internal activity. Some systems in which the ARM946E-S is embedded
might need to run the AHB at a lower rate. To support this requirement,
the ARM946E-S requires a clock enable (HCLKEN) to time AHB
transfers.
The HCLKEN input is driven HIGH coincident with a rising edge of the
ARM946E-S CLK. This action indicates that this particular rising-edge is
also an HCLK rising-edge. HCLK must be synchronous with the
ARM946E-S CLK.
When the ARM9E-S processor is running from tightly coupled SRAM or
performing writes using the write buffer, the ARM946E-S HCLKEN and
HREADY inputs are not used to stall the ARM9E-S processor. The
processor only stalls when there are SRAM stall cycles or if the write
buffer overflows. This means that the ARM9E-S is executing instructions
at the faster CLK rate and is effectively decoupled from the HCLK
domain.
However, when an AHB read access or unbuffered write occurs, the core
does stall until the AHB transfer is completed. While the lower rate HCLK
clocks the AHB system, HCLKEN is examined to determine when to
drive out the AHB address and control that start an AHB transfer.
HCLKEN then must detect the next rising edge of HCLK, so the BIU
knows when the access is complete.
If the slave being accessed at the HCLK rate has a multicycle response,
the HREADY input to the ARM946E-S is driven LOW until the data is
ready to return. The BIU must do a logical AND on the HREADY
response with HCLKEN to detect when the AHB transfer is completed
.
When the transfer is completed, SYSCLKEN is reasserted and enables
the processor.
Note:
When an AHB access is required, the processor core is
stalled until the next HCLKEN pulse is received. The
processor is stalled twice, once before it starts the access
and while waiting for the access to finish. The stall before
the start of the access is a synchronization penalty, and the
worst case can be expressed in CLK cycles as the
HCLK-to-CLK ratio minus 1.