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Siemens AG Semiconductors
Version 5.2
Confidential
20/10/1998
8
The following points are basic requirements for the MultiMediaCard adapter:
Protocol translation from standard MultiMediaCard bus to a simple byte oriented protocol
MultiMediaCard bus master
Data buffering to enable minimal data access latency
Error detection capability
The MultiMediaCard adapter is the link between the application and the MultiMediaCard bus. It
translates the protocol of the serial MultiMediaCard bus to a parallel adapter (byte oriented) bus.
Figure 2 shows the adapter in the MultiMediaCard system environment.
The interface to the application adapter layer is easily connected to a microcontroller port. Some
example architectures are given in Appendix A.
Independent of the type and requirements of the application the MultiMediaCard bus requires a
master. This master is the MultiMediaCard adapter. On the MultiMediaCard bus side it is the only
bus master and controls all activity on that bus. It supports all MultiMediaCard bus commands. On
the other side it is a slave to the application adapter or respectively to the application. No application
specific functions are supported here except those that are common to most MultiMediaCard sys-
tems.
The transfer of data between application and MultiMediaCard can be simplified on the one hand and
accelerated on the other if the
controller provides a data buffering functionality. With a data buffer the transfer on the application
interface is separated
from the MultiMediaCard bus side. They can run independently at different data rates and modes of
access.
The controller must indicate several status and error information to the application. It will provide the
status of the control
ler itself, the MultiMediaCard bus activity and the results of the last MultiMediaCard command.
Errors can occur in the controller, on the bus
and in the cards. They will be flagged or cause an interrupt.
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The MultiMediaCard adapter combines all of the requirements and functions of an MultiMediaCard
host. One requirement in a sophisticated MultiMediaCard system is to sustain a 20 Mbit/s data rate.
A software emulation of the MultiMediaCard bus protocol achieves data transfers at a reduced data
rate (approximately up to 400 kHz). A dedicated slave will rid the application controller of time con-
suming functions. The CRC protection of a command is generated here and stuffing bits, required
by the bus protocol, will be inserted by the adapter also. Different card latencies can be buffered and
a parallel interface results in higher data rate at lower application bus frequencies.
The requirements and functions lead to the following MultiMediaCard adapter subunits:
Adapter interface: the interface to an application adapter or microprocessor.
Controller:
MultiMediaCard system command interpreter.
Memory control:
FIFO controller for the data buffer
Data buffer:
to support a continuous data transfer with minimal access latency and a fast
burst write mode.
CRC:
generates and checks CRC bits for every command/response and data
block.