6.42
IDT70V26S/L
High-Speed 16K x 16 Dual-Port Static RAM Industrial and Commercial Temperature Ranges
16
undo its semaphore request and perform other tasks until it was able
to write, then read a zero into Semaphore 1. If the right processor
performs a similar task with Semaphore 0, this protocol would allow the
two processors to swap 8K blocks of Dual-Port RAM with each other.
The blocks do not have to be any particular size and can even be
variable, depending upon the complexity of the software using the
semaphore flags. All eight semaphores could be used to divide the
Dual-Port RAM or other shared resources into eight parts. Sema-
phores can even be assigned different meanings on different sides
rather than being given a common meaning as was shown in the
example above.
Semaphores are a useful form of arbitration in systems like disk
interfaces where the CPU must be locked out of a section of memory
during a transfer and the I/O device cannot tolerate any wait states.
With the use of semaphores, once the two devices has determined
which memory area was “off-limits” to the CPU, both the CPU and the
I/O devices could access their assigned portions of memory continu-
ously without any wait states.
Semaphores are also useful in applications where no memory
“WAIT” state is available on one or both sides. Once a semaphore
handshake has been performed, both processors can access their
assigned RAM segments at full speed.
Another application is in the area of complex data structures. In this
case, block arbitration is very important. For this application one
processor may be responsible for building and updating a data
structure. The other processor then reads and interprets that data
structure. If the interpreting processor reads an incomplete data
structure, a major error condition may exist. Therefore, some sort of
arbitration must be used between the two different processors. The
building processor arbitrates for the block, locks it and then is able to
go in and update the data structure. When the update is completed, the
data structure block is released. This allows the interpreting processor
to come back and read the complete data structure, thereby guaran-
teeing a consistent data structure.
