IDT7005S/L
HIGH-SPEED 8K x 8 DUAL-PORT STATIC RAM
MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL TEMPERATURE RANGES
Software handshaking between processors offers the until the semaphore is freed by the first side.
maximum in system flexibility by permitting shared resources
When a semaphore flag is read, its value is spread into all
to be allocated in varying configurations. The IDT7005 does data bits so that a flag that is a one reads as a one in all data
not use its semaphore flags to control any resources through bits and a flag containing a zero reads as all zeros. The read
hardware, thus allowing the system designer total flexibility in valueislatchedintooneside’soutputregisterwhenthatside's
system architecture.
semaphore select (SEM) and output enable (OE) signals go
An advantage of using semaphores rather than the more active. This serves to disallow the semaphore from changing
common methods of hardware arbitration is that wait states state in the middle of a read cycle due to a write cycle from the
are never incurred in either processor. This can prove to be other side. Because of this latch, a repeated read of a
a major advantage in very high-speed systems.
semaphoreinatestloopmustcauseeithersignal(SEMorOE)
to go inactive or the output will never change.
A sequence WRITE/READ must be used by the sema-
phore in order to guarantee that no system level contention
will occur. A processor requests access to shared resources
by attempting to write a zero into a semaphore location. If the
semaphore is already in use, the semaphore request latch will
contain a zero, yet the semaphore flag will appear as one, a
fact which the processor will verify by the subsequent read
(see Table III). As an example, assume a processor writes a
zero to the left port at a free semaphore location. On a
subsequent read, the processor will verify that it has written
successfully to that location and will assume control over the
resource in question. Meanwhile, if a processor on the right
side attempts to write a zero to the same semaphore flag it will
fail, as will be verified by the fact that a one will be read from
that semaphore on the right side during subsequent read.
Had a sequence of READ/WRITE been used instead, system
contention problems could have occurred during the gap
between the read and write cycles.
It is important to note that a failed semaphore request must
be followed by either repeated reads or by writing a one into
the same location. The reason for this is easily understood by
looking at the simple logic diagram of the semaphore flag in
Figure 4. Two semaphore request latches feed into a sema-
phore flag. Whichever latch is first to present a zero to the
semaphore flag will force its side of the semaphore flag low
andtheothersidehigh. Thisconditionwillcontinueuntilaone
is written to the same semaphore request latch. Should the
other side’s semaphore request latch have been written to a
zero in the meantime, the semaphore flag will flip over to the
other side as soon as a one is written into the first side’s
request latch. The second side’s flag will now stay low until its
semaphore request latch is written to a one. From this it is
easy to understand that, if a semaphore is requested and the
processor which requested it no longer needs the resource,
the entire system can hang up until a one is written into that
semaphore request latch.
HOW THE SEMAPHORE FLAGS WORK
The semaphore logic is a set of eight latches which are
independent of the Dual-Port RAM. These latches can be
used to pass a flag, or token, from one port to the other to
indicate that a shared resource is in use. The semaphores
provideahardwareassistforauseassignmentmethodcalled
“Token Passing Allocation.” In this method, the state of a
semaphore latch is used as a token indicating that shared
resource is in use. If the left processor wants to use this
resource, it requests the token by setting the latch. This
processor then verifies its success in setting the latch by
reading it. If it was successful, it proceeds to assume control
overthesharedresource. Ifitwasnotsuccessfulinsettingthe
latch, it determines that the right side processor has set the
latchfirst, hasthetokenandisusingthesharedresource. The
left processor can then either repeatedly request that
semaphore’s status or remove its request for that semaphore
to perform another task and occasionally attempt again to
gain control of the token via the set and test sequence. Once
the right side has relinquished the token, the left side should
succeed in gaining control.
The semaphore flags are active low. A token is requested
by writing a zero into a semaphore latch and is released when
the same side writes a one to that latch.
The eight semaphore flags reside within the IDT7005 in a
separate memory space from the Dual-Port RAM. This
address space is accessed by placing a low input on the SEM
pin (which acts as a chip select for the semaphore flags) and
using the other control pins (Address, OE, and R/W) as they
would be used in accessing a standard static RAM. Each of
the flags has a unique address which can be accessed by
eithersidethroughaddresspinsA0–A2. Whenaccessingthe
semaphores, none of the other address pins has any effect.
When writing to a semaphore, only data pin D0 is used. If
a low level is written into an unused semaphore location, that
flagwillbesettoazeroonthatsideandaoneontheotherside
(see Table III). That semaphore can now only be modified by
thesideshowingthezero. Whenaoneiswrittenintothesame
locationfromthesameside,theflagwillbesettoaoneforboth
sides (unless a semaphore request from the other side is
pending) and then can be written to by both sides. The fact
that the side which is able to write a zero into a semaphore
subsequently locks out writes from the other side is what
makes semaphore flags useful in interprocessor communica-
tions. (Athoroughdiscussingontheuseofthisfeaturefollows
shortly.) A zero written into the same location from the other
side will be stored in the semaphore request latch for that side
The critical case of semaphore timing is when both sides
request a single token by attempting to write a zero into it at
the same time. The semaphore logic is specially designed to
resolve this problem. If simultaneous requests are made, the
logic guarantees that only one side receives the token. If one
side is earlier than the other in making the request, the first
side to make the request will receive the token. If both
requests arrive at the same time, the assignment will be
arbitrarily made to one port or the other.
One caution that should be noted when using semaphores
is that semaphores alone do not guarantee that access to a
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