Name

GIC Interrupt Controller — Advanced Interrupt Controller Definitions And usage

Interrupt controller definitions

The file <cyg/hal/var_ints.h> (located at hal/arm/cortexa/altera_hps/VERSION/include/var_ints.h in the eCos source repository) contains interrupt vector number definitions for use with the eCos kernel and driver interrupt APIs.

The list of interrupt vectors may be augmented on a per-platform basis. Consult the platform HAL documentation for your platform for whether this is the case.

Interrupt Controller Functions

The HPS uses a standard ARM Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC), which is implemented in the Cortex-A HAL. The Cortex-A HAL exports the standard interrupt vector management functions. The hal_IRQ_handler queries the IRQ status register to determine the interrupt cause. Functions hal_interrupt_mask and hal_interrupt_unmask enable or disable interrupts within the interrupt controller.

Interrupts are configured in the hal_interrupt_configure function. Refer to the HPS documentation for any limitations as to what types of signal can be detected.

The hal_interrupt_eoi function performs End-Of-Interrupt processing and is called automatically by the architecture HAL. The hal_interrupt_acknowledge function is intended to acknowledge an interrupt, although for the GIC it is a NUL function since the necessary work it handled by the EOI function.

The hal_interrupt_set_level is used to set the priority level of the supplied interrupt within the GIC. Priorities may range between 0 and 255, with lower values mapping to higher priority. The GIC in the HPS only implements the top 5 bits of the priority value, so there are actually 32 distinct priority levels available.

Note that in all the above, it is not recommended to call the described functions directly. Instead either the HAL macros (HAL_INTERRUPT_MASK et al) or preferably the kernel or driver APIs should be used to control interrupts.