RM0090: Reference manual - STMicroelectronics

RM0090 Ethernet (ETH): media access control (MAC) with DMA controller
other stations that a collision has occurred. If the collision is seen during the preamble
transmission phase, the MAC completes the transmission of the preamble and SFD and
then sends the jam pattern.
A jabber timer is maintained to cut off the transmission of Ethernet frames if more than 2048
(default) bytes have to be transferred. The MAC uses the deferral mechanism for flow
control (back pressure) in Half-duplex mode. When the application requests to stop
receiving frames, the MAC sends a JAM pattern of 32 bytes whenever it senses the
reception of a frame, provided that transmit flow control is enabled. This results in a collision
and the remote station backs off. The application requests flow control by setting the BPA bit
(bit 0) in the ETH_MACFCR register. If the application requests a frame to be transmitted,
then it is scheduled and transmitted even when back pressure is activated. Note that if back
pressure is kept activated for a long time (and more than 16 consecutive collision events
occur) then the remote stations abort their transmissions due to excessive collisions. If IEEE
1588 time stamping is enabled for the transmit frame, this block takes a snapshot of the
system time when the SFD is put onto the transmit MII bus.
Transmit scheduler
The MAC is responsible for scheduling the frame transmission on the MII. It maintains the
interframe gap between two transmitted frames and follows the truncated binary exponential
backoff algorithm for Half-duplex mode. The MAC enables transmission after satisfying the
IFG and backoff delays. It maintains an idle period of the configured interframe gap (IFG bits
in the ETH_MACCR register) between any two transmitted frames. If frames to be
transmitted arrive sooner than the configured IFG time, the MII waits for the enable signal
from the MAC before starting the transmission on it. The MAC starts its IFG counter as soon
as the carrier signal of the MII goes inactive. At the end of the programmed IFG value, the
MAC enables transmission in Full-duplex mode. In Half-duplex mode and when IFG is
configured for 96 bit times, the MAC follows the rule of deference specified in Section
4.2.3.2.1 of the IEEE 802.3 specification. The MAC resets its IFG counter if a carrier is
detected during the first two-thirds (64-bit times for all IFG values) of the IFG interval. If the
carrier is detected during the final one third of the IFG interval, the MAC continues the IFG
count and enables the transmitter after the IFG interval. The MAC implements the truncated
binary exponential backoff algorithm when it operates in Half-duplex mode.
Transmit flow control
When the Transmit Flow Control Enable bit (TFE bit in ETH_MACFCR) is set, the MAC
generates Pause frames and transmits them as necessary, in Full-duplex mode. The Pause
frame is appended with the calculated CRC, and is sent. Pause frame generation can be
initiated in two ways.
A pause frame is sent either when the application sets the FCB bit in the ETH_MACFCR
register or when the receive FIFO is full (packet buffer).
● If the application has requested flow control by setting the FCB bit in ETH_MACFCR,
the MAC generates and transmits a single Pause frame. The value of the pause time in
the generated frame contains the programmed pause time value in ETH_MACFCR. To
extend the pause or end the pause prior to the time specified in the previously
transmitted Pause frame, the application must request another Pause frame
transmission after programming the Pause Time value (PT in ETH_MACFCR register)
with the appropriate value.
● If the application has requested flow control when the receive FIFO is full, the MAC
generates and transmits a Pause frame. The value of the pause time in the generated
frame is the programmed pause time value in ETH_MACFCR. If the receive FIFO
Doc ID 018909 Rev 3 916/1416