NRF9160-SICA-R7 datasheet(115/400 Pages) NORDIC

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Peripherals

eventOut0

eventIn1

eventOut N

eventIn N

TASK_SEND[0]

TASK_SEND[N]

EVENTS_RECEIVE[0]

EVENTS_RECEIVE[N]

Figure 21: IPC registers SEND_CNF and RECEIVE_CNF

A SEND task can be viewed as broadcasting events onto one or more IPC channels, and a RECEIVE event

can be seen as subscribing to a subset of IPC channels. It is possible for multiple IPCs to trigger events onto

the same channel at the same time. When two or more events on the same channel occur within tIPC, the

events may be merged into a single event seen from the IPC receiver. One of the events can therefore be

lost. To prevent this, the user must ensure that events on the same IPC channel do not occur within tIPC of

each other. When implementing firmware data structures, such as queues or mailboxes, this can be done

by using one channel for acknowledgements.

An IPC event often does not contain any data itself, it is used to signal other MCUs that something has

occurred. Data can be shared through shared memory, for example in the form of a software implemented

mailbox, or command/event queues. It is up to software to assign a logical functionality to an IPC channel.

For instance, one IPC channel can be used to signal that a command is ready to be executed, and any

processor in the system can subscribe to that particular channel and decode/execute the command.

General purpose memory

The GPMEM registers can be used freely to store information. These registers are accessed like any other

of the IPC peripheral's registers.

6.6.1 IPC and PPI connections

The IPC SEND tasks and RECEIVE events can be connected through PPI channels. This makes it possible to

relay events from peripherals in one MCU to another, without CPU involvement.

Figure below illustrates a timer COMPARE event that is relayed from one MCU to IPC using PPI, then back

into a timer CAPTURE event in another MCU.

4418_1315 v2.0

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NRF9160-SICA-R7 Datasheet(PDF) 115 Page - Nordic Semiconductor