CPU32+
5-4
MC68360 USER’S MANUAL
MOTOROLA
Figure 5-2. Loop Mode Instruction Sequence
5.1.3 Vector Base Register
The vector base register (VBR) contains the base address of the 1024-byte exception vector
table, which consists of 256 exception vectors. Exception vectors contain the memory
addresses of routines that begin execution at the completion of exception processing. These
routines perform a series of operations appropriate for the corresponding exceptions.
Because the exception vectors contain memory addresses, each vector consists of one long
word, except the reset vector. The reset vector consists of two long words: the address used
to initialize the supervisor stack pointer (SSP) and the address used to initialize the PC.
The address of an interrupt exception vector is derived from an 8-bit vector number and the
VBR. The vector numbers for some exceptions are obtained from an external device; other
numbers are supplied automatically by the processor. The processor multiplies the vector
number by 4 to calculate the vector offset, which is added to the VBR. The sum is the mem-
ory address of the vector. All exception vectors are located in supervisor data space, except
the reset vector, which is located in supervisor program space. Only the initial reset vector
is fixed in the processor's memory map; once initialization is complete, there are no fixed
assignments. Since the VBR provides the base address of the vector table, the vector table
can be located anywhere in memory; it can even be dynamically relocated for each task that
is executed by an operating system. Refer to 5.5 Exception Processing for additional details.
5.1.4 Exception Handling
The processing of an exception occurs in four steps, with variations for different exception
causes. During the first step, a temporary internal copy of the status register (SR) is made,
and the SR is set for exception processing. During the second step, the exception vector is
determined. During the third step, the current processor context is saved. During the fourth
step, a new context is obtained, and the processor then proceeds with instruction process-
ing.
Exception processing saves the most volatile portion of the current context by pushing it on
the supervisor stack. This context is organized in a format called the exception stack frame.
This information always includes the SR and PC context of the processor when the excep-
tion occurred. To support generic handlers, the processor places the vector offset in the
exception stack frame. The processor also marks the frame with a frame format. The format
31
0
VECTOR BASE REGISTER (VBR)
ONE-WORD INSTRUCTION
DBcc
DBcc DISPLACEMENT
$FFFC = 4