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MAILBOX OVERVIEW
S5933
Mailbox operations for the Add-On interface are functionally identical. The following sequences are suggested for
Add-On mailbox operations using status polling (interrupts disabled):
Reading an Add-On Incoming Mailbox:
1) Check Mailbox Status. Read the mailbox status register to determine if any information has been
passed from the PCI interface.
AMBEF
Bits 15:0
If a bit is set, valid data is contained in the
corresponding mailbox byte.
2) Read Mailbox(es). Read the mailbox bytes which AMBEF indicates are full. This automatically resets
the status bits in the AMBEF and MBEF registers.
AIMBx
Bits 31:0
Mailbox data.
Writing an Add-On Outgoing Mailbox:
1) Check Mailbox Status. Read the mailbox status register to determine if information previously written
to the mailbox has been read by the PCI interface. Writes to full mailbox bytes overwrite data
currently in the mailbox (if not already read by the PCI interface). Repeat until the byte(s) to be written
are empty.
AMBEF
Bits 31:16
If a bit is set, valid data is contained in the
corresponding mailbox byte and has not
been read by the PCI bus.
2) Write Mailbox(es). Write to the outgoing mailbox byte(s).
AOMBx
Bits 31:0
Mailbox data.
Mailbox Interrupts
Although polling status is useful, in some cases, polling requires continuous actions by the processor reading or
writing the mailbox. Mailbox interrupt capabilities are provided to avoid much of the processor overhead required
by continuously polling status bits.
The Add-On and PCI interface can each generate interrupts on an incoming mailbox condition and/or an outgoing
mailbox condition. These can be individually enabled/disabled. A specific byte in one incoming mailbox and one
outgoing mailbox is identified to generate the interrupt(s). The tasks required to setup mailbox interrupts are
shown below:
Enabling PCI mailbox interrupts:
1) Enable PCI outgoing mailbox interrupts. A specific byte within one of the outgoing mailboxes is identi-
fied to assert INTA# when read by the Add-On interface.
INTCSR
Bit 4
Enable outgoing mailbox interrupts
INTCSR
Bits 3:2
Identify mailbox to generate interrupt
INTCSR
Bits 1:0
Identify mailbox byte to generate interrupt
2) Enable PCI incoming mailbox interrupts. A specific byte within one of the incoming mailboxes is
identified to assert INTA# when written by the Add-On interface.
INTCSR
Bit 12
Enable incoming mailbox interrupts
INTCSR
Bits 11:10
Identify mailbox to generate interrupt
INTCSR
Bits 9:8
Identify mailbox byte to generate interrupt