
MB86964
13
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
UNUSED BUFFER AREA
PACKET 1
DATA 1
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
DATA 2
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
DATA 3
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
DATA 4
DATA n
PACKET 2
Figure 8. Transmit Buffer Detail
When DLCR5<5>, the ACPT BAD PKTS bit, is set to a ’0’
(disabled), detection of a bad incoming packet causes the
MB86964 to release the buffer space in which that packet is
contained and to reset its internal pointers so as to use that space
for the next incoming packet. If this bit is set to a ’1’, a packet
with a CRC or alignment error will be accepted and the ap-
propriate error bits in the status field of its header will be set.
The same applies to DLCR5<3>, ACPT SHORT PKTS, which
when high allows retention of packets below 60 bytes in length,
excluding Preamble and CRC (which is shorter than IEEE
802.3 minimum packet size).
Skip Packet
Writing a ‘1’ to BMPR14<2> commands the buffer controller
to skip the balance of the current receive packet in memory.
The bit can then be read to determine completion of the skip
process is complete (within 300 ns). If there is another packet,
the bit returns to 0 when the chip is ready to read the next packet
DATA
STATUS
RESERVED
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
UNUSED BUFFER AREA
DATA
STATUS
RESERVED
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
DATA
STATUS
RESERVED
LENGTH LSB
LENGTH MSB
DATA
PACKET N
PACKET N + 1
Figure 9. Receive Buffer Detail
Receive Packet Header
The receive packet header contains four bytes and is stored in
the receive buffer preceding each packet. The receive packet
header comprises one byte of packet status, an unused byte and
two bytes (11 bits) for packet length. Bits 1 through 4 of the
status byte are an image of the same bits in the Receive Status
Register, DLCR1, with respect to the packet that follows. Bit 5
is the GOOD PKT bit, which when set to 1 indicates that no er-
rors were detected in the packet. Bits 0, 6 and 7 are unused and
are always set to 0. See Table 2.
The length stored in bytes 3 and 4 of the header specifies the
length of the portion of the packet stored in the buffer. This
length specification is in bytes, regardless of whether the sys-
tem interface is programmed for byte or word mode. During
reception, the MB86964 strips the Preamble field and checks
and strips the CRC field, so, as is the case for the transmit buff-
er, those fields of the packet are not stored in the buffer. The
length specification thus includes only the Destination ID,
Source ID, Length, and Data fields of the incoming packet.