Datasheet

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Atmel | SMART SAM D20 [DATASHEET]
Atmel-42129K–SAM-D20_datasheet–06/2014
10.4 AHB-APB Bridge
The AHB-APB bridge is an AHB slave, providing an interface between the high-speed AHB domain and the low-power
APB domain. It is used to provide access to the programmable control registers of peripherals (see “Product Mapping” on
page 19).
to operate the AHB-APB bridge, the clock (CLK_HPBx_AHB) must be enabled. See “PM – Power Manager” on page 101
for details.
10.5 PAC – Peripheral Access Controller
10.5.1 Overview
There is one PAC associated with each AHB-APB bridge. The PAC can provide write protection for registers of each
peripheral connected on the same bridge.
The PAC peripheral bus clock (CLK_PACx_APB) is enabled by default, and can be enabled and disabled in the Power
Manager. Refer to “PM – Power Manager” on page 101 for details. The PAC will continue to operate in any sleep mode
where the selected clock source is running.
Write-protection does not apply for debugger access. When the debugger makes an access to a peripheral, write-
protection is ignored so that the debugger can update the register.
Write-protect registers allow the user to disable a selected peripheral’s write-protection without doing a read-modify-write
operation. These registers are mapped into two I/O memory locations, one for clearing and one for setting the register
bits. Writing a one to a bit in the Write Protect Clear register (WPCLR) will clear the corresponding bit in both registers
(WPCLR and WPSET) and disable the write-protection for the corresponding peripheral, while writing a one to a bit in the
Write Protect Set (WPSET) register will set the corresponding bit in both registers (WPCLR and WPSET) and enable the
write-protection for the corresponding peripheral. Both registers (WPCLR and WPSET) will return the same value when
read.
If a peripheral is write-protected, and if a write access is performed, data will not be written, and the peripheral will return
an access error (CPU exception).
The PAC also offers a safety feature for correct program execution, with a CPU exception generated on double write-
protection or double unprotection of a peripheral. If a peripheral n is write-protected and a write to one in WPSET[n] is
detected, the PAC returns an error. This can be used to ensure that the application follows the intended program flow by
always following a write-protect with an unprotect, and vice versa. However, in applications where a write-protected
peripheral is used in several contexts, e.g., interrupts, care should be taken so that either the interrupt can not happen
while the main application or other interrupt levels manipulate the write-protection status, or when the interrupt handler
needs to unprotect the peripheral, based on the current protection status, by reading WPSET.