On-Chip Communication Architectures

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Some components can have both master and slave ports, which means that

they can act as both masters and slaves. These components are master/slave

hybrid components. For instance, the DMA ( direct memory access) component

in Fig. 2.1 has a slave port that allows the Processor to write into (and read from)

the DMA confi guration register fi le, in order to initialize and confi gure it. Once

confi gured, the DMA component uses its master port to initiate and control data

transfers between memory blocks (which would otherwise have been managed

by the Processor; as a result the Processor is freed up to perform other activity

which typically improves ...