Intel® Arria® 10 Hard Processor System Technical Reference Manual

ID 683711
Date 1/10/2023
Public

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22.4.6.1. Programmable THRE Interrupt

The UART has a programmable THRE interrupt mode to increase system performance. You enable the programmable THRE interrupt mode with the interrupt enable register (IER_DLH.PTIME). When the THRE mode is enabled, THRE interrupts and the dma_tx_req signal are active at and below a programmed transmit FIFO buffer empty threshold level, as shown in the flowchart. †

Figure 143. Programmable THRE Interrupt

The threshold level is programmed into FCR.TET. The available empty thresholds are empty, 2, ¼, and ½. The optimum threshold value depends on the system's ability to begin a new transmission sequence in a timely manner. However, one of these thresholds should prove optimum in increasing system performance by preventing the transmit FIFO buffer from running empty.

In addition to the interrupt change, line status register (LSR.THRE) also switches from indicating that the transmit FIFO buffer is empty, to indicating that the FIFO buffer is full. This change allows software to fill the FIFO buffer for each transmit sequence by polling LSR.THRE before writing another character. This directs the UART to fill the transmit FIFO buffer whenever an interrupt occurs and there is data to transmit, instead of waiting until the FIFO buffer is completely empty. Waiting until the FIFO buffer is empty reduces performance whenever the system is too busy to respond immediately. You can increase system efficiency when this mode is enabled in combination with automatic flow control.

When not selected or disabled, THRE interrupts and LSR.THRE function normally, reflecting an empty THR or FIFO buffer.

Figure 144. Interrupt Generation without Programmable THRE Interrupt Mode