In scatter-gather DMA mode, the channel reads the data from the address specified in the SRC descriptor and writes to a location specified by the DST descriptor. The DMA implements a hybrid descriptor to support descriptor storage in two formats.
•Linear
•Linked-list
•Hybrid (multiple linear buffer descriptor arrays chained as a linked list)
Software can make use of a hybrid descriptor to dynamically switch between linear and linked-list mode. The hybrid descriptor approach allows the DMA driver software to arrange descriptors in a contiguous array of BDs, or a linked list of BDs, or a mixed mode wherein contiguous arrays of BDs can be chained together to create a linked list of BD arrays. This approach allows the driver software to be designed in a manner wherein BDs can be allocated at initialization or in real time (and chained to a preceding BD). In applications where contiguous sets of memory are easily available, the software driver might not be able to manage a link list for descriptor storage. In this case, the descriptor can be stored in a linear array.
To support previously described cases, the DMA implements a hybrid descriptor. Each descriptor on the SRC and DST side implements a bit descriptor-element type, which indicates the type of the current descriptor. This allows software to switch between a linear and a link-list scheme dynamically. This Figure shows supported descriptor modes.
