High throughput uart to dsp interface having dual transmit and receive fifo buffers to support data transfer between a host computer and an attached modem

Abstract

The high throughput UART to DSP interface (UDIF) maintains UART functionality while integrating dual Transmit (Tx) and Receive (Rx) FIFO buffers that are optimized for more efficient interaction with their respective I/O processors. The portion of the interface design interacting with the DSP, the UDIF, provides several unique Status, Informational, and Control registers that lower the DSP overhead required for many of the basic modem functions. The UDIF design also performs parity add, parity strip, and character echo functions, traditionally performed at a high overhead cost by the DSP. These functions are more efficiently preformed by hardware implementations than by the software routines executed by the DSP. More burdensome command functions like escape, AT, and flow control commands can also be implemented through hardware implementations to reduce processor overhead.