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Abstract

A computer system having a simple handshake protocol for implementing DMA transfers. A system bus is provided having a plurality of ports for coupling to system components including memory, central processing unit(s) and peripherals. A direct memory access controller (DMAC) is provided with a peripheral-independent interface coupled to the system bus and communicates with the system bus using system bus defined transactions. The DMAC comprises a set of registers. A central processing unit (CPU) configures teh DMAC by loading values into the DMAC registers. The configured DMAC issues an enable signal to a selected system component identified in the DMAC registers. A peripheral request interface is associated with the selected system components and communicates with the system bus using the system bus defined transactions. The selected system component asserts a request signal to the DMAC. In response to the request signal, the DMAC implements a DMA transfer according to the values stored in the DMAC configuration registers. Peripheral-specific signaling is provided to the system component by the peripheral request interface

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First Claim