Title :
A self timed interrupt controller: a case study in asynchronous micro-architecture design
Author :
Gloria, Alessandro De ; Faraboschi, Paolo ; Olivieri, Mauro
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Biophys. & Electron. Eng., Genoa Univ., Italy
Abstract :
We report the results of the design and layout simulation of an interrupt controller dedicated to the SGS-Thomson ST9 microprocessor family. The unit is composed of a delay insensitive local control-path and a synchronous local data-path for priority computations. The local control-path is automatically synthesised out of an Occam algorithmic specification, while the local data-path is made up of conventional hardware units. Layout simulation shows that the average time for an interrupt to be served is reduced to 28%
Keywords :
Occam; application specific integrated circuits; asynchronous circuits; circuit analysis computing; circuit layout CAD; integrated circuit design; interrupts; microprocessor chips; Occam algorithmic specification; SGS-Thomson ST9 microprocessor family; asynchronous micro-architecture design; delay insensitive local control-path; layout simulation; priority computations; self timed interrupt controller; synchronous local data-path; Asynchronous circuits; Automatic control; Circuit synthesis; Computational modeling; Computer aided software engineering; Computer languages; Delay; Frequency; Hardware; Microprocessors;
Conference_Titel :
ASIC Conference and Exhibit, 1994. Proceedings., Seventh Annual IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Rochester, NY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-2020-4
DOI :
10.1109/ASIC.1994.404555
