Processing apparatus with burst read write operations

1. A digital signal processing system comprising a programmable processor and a peripheral device coupled to the programmable processor, wherein the processor is arranged to communicate with the peripheral device using a read operation and a write operation, respectively, on a single data element, comprising a burst generation device arranged to group a plurality of read operations or a plurality of write operations in a single burst read operation or a single burst write operation, respectively, the burst generation device comprising:

a collector circuit arranged to receive the read and write operations from the programmable processor, and to generate dedicated tokens, based on information derived from the read and write operations, triggering a release of the single burst read operation or the single burst write operation, respectively;

a first FIFO buffer for storing the dedicated tokens;

a second FIFO buffer for storing information derived from the read and write operations, respectively; and

a release circuit arranged to initiate the release of the single burst write operation or the single burst read operation, respectively, from the second FIFO buffer, under the control of a dedicated token received from the first FIFO buffer.

2. A digital signal processing system comprising a programmable processor and a peripheral device coupled to the programmable processor, wherein the processor is arranged to communicate with the peripheral device using a read operation and a write operation, respectively, on a single data element, comprising a burst generation device arranged to group a plurality of read operations or a plurality of write operations in a single burst read operation or a single burst write operation, respectively, wherein the programmable processor is further arranged to communicate with the peripheral device using a burst read operation or a burst write operation, respectively, and wherein the burst generation device is further arranged to group the burst read operation and a further burst read operation, or at least one read operation, in the single burst read operation, and to group the burst write operation and a further burst write operation, or at least one write operation, in the single burst write operation, respectively, characterized in that the (burst) read or (burst) write operation, respectively, is arranged to comprise the following information:

an identifier indicating the validity of the (burst) read or (burst) write operation, respectively;

an identifier indicating a (burst) read operation or a (burst) write operation, respectively;

a memory address where the (burst) read or the (burst) write operation, respectively, refers to;

data to be written in the memory, in case of a (burst) write operation;

an identifier indicating the start of a (burst) read operation or a (burst) write operation, respectively; and

an identifier indicating the size of the (burst) read operation or the (burst) write operation, respectively.

3. A processing system according to claim 1 , characterized in that the programmable processor comprises at least one configuration register arranged for storing control information for the burst generation device.

4. A processing system according to claim 3 , characterized in that the configuration register is arranged to store a desired size for a single burst read operation or a desired size for a single burst write operation, respectively.

5. A processing system according to claim 4 , characterized in that the configuration register is further arranged to store a time out value, used for controlling the maximum time interval between two subsequent single burst operations.

6. A processing system according to claim 2 , characterized in that the burst generation device is further arranged to trigger a release of the single burst read operation or the single burst write operation, respectively, if the single burst operation has a size not equal to a desired size of the single burst operation.

7. A processing system according to claim 6 , characterized in that the release of the single burst operation depends on whether the plurality of read operations or the plurality of write operations refers to a corresponding plurality of memory addresses that are in increasing order with a step size corresponding to that of a single data element.

8. A processing system according to claim 6 , characterized in that the release of the single burst operation depends on whether the next burst write or read operation, respectively, received by the burst generation device has a size equal to the desired size of the single burst operation.

9. A processing system according to claim 6 , characterized in that the release of the single burst operation depends on the receipt of a flush command from the programmable processor.

10. A processing system according to claim 2 , characterized in that the burst generation device is further arranged to divide the burst read operation or the burst write operation, respectively, into two or more burst operations, if the burst read operation or burst write operation, respectively, has a size larger than a desired size for a single burst read operation or a desired size for a single burst write operation, respectively.

11. A processing system according to claim 2 , characterized in that the (burst) read or write operation, respectively, further comprises the following information:

an identifier indicating the number of bits of a single data element that the (burst) operation refers to;

a mask identifier indicating the bit positions in a single data element where data have to be written, in case of a (burst) write operation.

12. A processing system according to claim 1 , characterized in that the peripheral device is a physical memory.

13. A processing system according to claim 1 , characterized in that the peripheral device is a communication device.