Interrupt request control module with a DSP interrupt vector generator

US6356970B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• 3Com Corporation · US

Inventors

• Harrison Killian · Kaysville, US
• David J. Moore · Riverton, US
• Jeff Harrell · West Jordan, US
• Shayne Messerly · Kaysville, US
• Brady Brown · Centerville, US
• Garn H. Morrell · Kaysville, US
• Gerald Wilson · South Jordan, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 28, 1999
• Grant date: Mar 12, 2002
• Expiry date: May 28, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F13/26
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In a system having an DSP, an ASIC and a memory, in which the ASIC generates a number of different competing interrupts for the DSP to service, the ASIC has an interrupt request control module which automatically provides the DSP with a vector pointing to the memory location of the interrupt service routine for the currently pending interrupt request having the highest priority of all pending requests. The DSP reads this vector and uses it to access the interrupt service routine in the memory. Reading of this vector causes the interrupt request to be de-asserted, which causes the next highest priority pending interrupt request to become the highest priority pending interrupt request. As a result, a new vector is presented for the next read by the DSP.