DMA TRANSFER

BLOCK DIAGRAM OF DMA CONTROLLER

DMA Transfer in a
Computer
System

DMA Initialization information by

CPU
The starting address of the memory
block where data are available (to
read) or where data to be stored (to
write)
The word count, which is the no. of
words in the memory block
Control to specify the mode of
transfer such as read or write
A control to start the DMA transfer

DMA Controller
The unit communicates with the CPU via the
data bus and control lines.
There are three registers
The registers in the DMA are selected by the
CPU through the address bus by enabling the
DS (DMA select) and RS (register select) inputs.
The address register and address lines are used
for direct communication with the memory
The data transfer may be done directly b/w the
device and memory under control of DMA

 When the BG (bus grant) input is 0, the CPU can

communicate with the DMA registers through the
data bus to read from or write to the DMA
registers.
When BG = 1, the DMA can communicate directly
with the memory by specifying an address in the
address bus and activating the RD or WR control.
Using handshaking procedure the communication
is done b/w DMA and I/O device.

DMA controller
Address Register :
- contains an address to specify the desired
location in memory
- it is incremented after each word that is
transferred to memory
Word count register :
- specifies the no. of words that must be
transferred
- it is decremented for every word transfer
Control register :
- specifies the mode of transfer (read / write)

DMA controller
Once the DMA is initialized, the CPU
stops communicating with the DMA
unless it receives an interrupt signal
or if it wants to check how many
words have been transferred.

Application
For fast transfer of information b/w
magnetic disks and memory
The contents of the memory can be
transferred to the screen display
periodically by means of DMA
transfer