Difference between revisions of "EmCORE Monitor Protocol"

Revision as of 22:36, 16 January 2011

This article describes the USB communcation protocol of emCORE monitor.

Endpoints

The emCORE Monitor interface contains 4 bulk endpoints, in the following order:

Command OUT Endpoint
Command IN Endpoint
Data OUT Endpoint
Data IN Endpoint

If not stated otherwise, everything is little endian.

General Structure

Each packet send to the Command OUT Endpoint has a 16 byte header. The first 4 bytes, interpreted as a 32bit little endian word, contain the command ID. The meaning of the other bytes depends on the command. For commands that send data to the device, it will immediately follow that header.

After sending a packet to the Command OUT Endpoint, listen on the Command IN Endpoint for a response. The response also has a 16 byte header, followed by an optional data stage, depending on the command. The first 4 bytes of the header, interpreted as a 32bit word, is the status code, the meaning of the other bytes depends on the command.

Status Codes
Status Code	Description
0	Invalid response, you should bail out when receiving this
1	OK (everything went fine)
2	Command not supported
3	Device is busy, retry later (another asynchronous command is already running)

Commands

0: Invalid

Never issue this command. It will be rejected with status code 2.

1: Get device information

Use this command to figure out various device properties.

Get version information

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (1)
4	4	Requested information type (0)
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	SVN Revision Number
8	1	Major version
9	1	Minor version
10	1	Patch version
11	1	Software Type ID
12	4	Device Type ID

Software Types
Software Type ID	Description
0	invalid
2	emCORE Debugger

Hardware Types
Device Type ID	Description
0	invalid
0x47324e49	iPod Nano 2G
0x47334e49	iPod Nano 3G
0x47344e49	iPod Nano 4G
0x4c435049	iPod Classic

Get packet size information

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (1)
4	4	Requested information type (1)
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	2	Maximum Command OUT Endpoint packet size
6	2	Maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size
8	4	Maximum Data OUT Endpoint packet size
12	4	Maximum Data IN Endpoint packet size

Get user memory address range

Provides information about the range of memory not used by emCORE itself.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (1)
4	4	Requested information type (2)
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Lower bound (inclusive) of the usable memory range
8	4	Upper bound (exclusive) of the usable memory range
12	4	Undefined

2: Reset

Reboot the device.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (2)
4	4	Type: Reboot forcibly (0) / Reboot gracefully (1)
8	8	Should be zero

Graceful reboots are asynchronous commands. Forced reboots won't send a response packet before rebooting.

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1 or 3)
4	12	Undefined

The response indicates that the request has been acknowledged, however there might be substantial delay before device actually reboots.

3: Power off

Power the device off.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (3)
4	4	Type: Power off forcibly (0) / Shut down gracefully (1)
8	8	Should be zero

Both variants are asynchronous commands.

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1 or 3)
4	12	Undefined

The response indicates that the request has been acknowledged, however there might be substantial delay before device actually powers off.

4: Read memory

Use this command to read small amouts of memory through the command pipe. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size (including the header).

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (4)
4	4	Memory address to read from
8	4	Number of bytes to be read
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined
16	variable	The data read from memory

5: Write memory

Use this command to write small amouts of memory through the command pipe. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command OUT Endpoint packet size (including the header).

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (5)
4	4	Memory address to write to
8	4	Number of bytes to write
12	4	Should be zero
16	variable	The data to be written

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

6: Read memory using DMA

Use this command to read large amouts of memory through the data pipe. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Data IN Endpoint packet size.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (6)
4	4	Memory address to read from
8	4	Number of bytes to be read
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

After receiving the response, read the requested data from the Data IN Endpoint.

7: Write memory using DMA

Use this command to read large amouts of memory through the data pipe. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Data OUT Endpoint packet size.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (7)
4	4	Memory address to write to
8	4	Number of bytes to be written
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

After receiving the response, send the data to be written to the Data OUT Endpoint.

8: Read from I2C device

Use this command to read from an I2C slave. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size (including the header) or 255 bytes (excluding the header), whichever is smaller.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (8)
4	1	I2C bus index
5	1	I2C slave address (in the upper 7 bits)
6	1	Start address on the I2C device
7	1	Number of bytes to be read (0 means 256)
8	8	Should be zero

I2C transactions are asynchronous commands.

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1 or 3)
4	12	Undefined
16	variable	The data read from the I2C device (undefined if the status code is not 1)

9: Write to I2C device

Use this command to write to an I2C slave. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command OUT Endpoint packet size (including the header) or 255 bytes (excluding the header), whichever is smaller.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (9)
4	1	I2C bus index
5	1	I2C slave address (in the upper 7 bits)
6	1	Start address on the I2C device
7	1	Number of bytes to be written (0 means 256)
8	8	Should be zero
16	variable	The data to be written to the I2C device

I2C transactions are asynchronous commands.

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1 or 3)
4	12	Undefined

10: Read from the USB console

Use this command to get data written to the USB console. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size (including the header).

As long as the console application is running, make sure to issue this request at least once a second. Otherwise the console might start dropping data and inserting an "\n\n[overflowed]\n\n" mark. If you can't receive any data but need to keep the console from dropping data, issue zero-length read requests.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (10)
4	4	Number of bytes requested
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Actual number of valid response bytes
8	4	Size of the on-device USB console read buffer
12	4	Number of bytes still waiting in the on-device USB console read buffer
16	variable	Valid console data padded with undefined data to meet the requested size

11: Write to the USB console

Use this command to write data to the USB console. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command OUT Endpoint packet size (including the header).

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (11)
4	4	Number of bytes to be written
8	8	Should be zero
16	variable	Data to be written

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Actual number of bytes written (the remainder will have to be resent)
8	4	Size of the on-device USB console write buffer
12	4	Number of bytes still free in the on-device USB console write buffer

12: Write to device's consoles

Use this command to write data to one or more of the consoles. This is equivalent to the cwrite system call. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command OUT Endpoint packet size (including the header).

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (12)
4	4	Bitmask of consoles to be written to
8	4	Number of bytes to be written
12	4	Should be zero
16	variable	Data to be written

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

13: Read from device's consoles

Use this command to read data from one or more of the consoles. This is equivalent to the cread system call. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size (including the header). This command will not block until there is data available.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (13)
4	4	Bitmask of consoles to be read from
8	4	Number of bytes to be read
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Number of bytes actually read
8	8	Undefined
16	variable	The data read, padded with undefined data to meet the requested size

14: Flush device's console buffers

Use this command to flush one or more console's buffers. This is equivalent to the cflush system call.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (14)
4	4	Bitmask of consoles to be flushed
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

15: Get process information

Use this command to obtain the current state of the scheduler. You may not request a transfer that would exceed the maximum Command IN Endpoint packet size (including the header).

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (15)
4	4	Offset of first byte requested
8	4	Number of bytes requested
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Process information struct version (incremented each time the format changes)
8	4	Total size of the process information table
12	4	Undefined
16	variable	The requested data, padded with undefined data to meet the requested size, if it exceeds bounds

16: (Un)Freeze scheduler

Use this command to prevent execution of userspace code on the device while dumping or manipulating critical data.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (16)
4	4	Lock (1) or unlock (0) the scheduler
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Previous state: Locked (1) or unlocked (0)
8	8	Undefined

17: (Un)Suspend thread

Suspend or resume a thread

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (17)
4	4	Suspend (1) or resume (0) the thread
8	4	Thread ID
12	4	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	Previous state: Suspended (1) or running (0)
8	8	Undefined

18: Kill thread

Kill a thread

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (18)
4	4	Thread ID
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

19: Create thread

Create a new thread. This command uses an extended command size of 32 bytes.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (19)
4	4	Pointer to thread name or NULL
8	4	Pointer to entry point of the new thread
12	4	Pointer to stack of the new thread
16	4	Size of the new thread's stack in bytes
20	4	Type: User thread (0) or system thread (1)
24	4	Priority of the new thread (1-255)
28	4	Initial state: Ready (1) or suspended (0)

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	4	ID of the created thread (positive) or error code (negative)
8	8	Undefined

20: Flush CPU caches

Flushes the CPU's instruction and data caches

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (20)
4	12	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

21: Execute image

Executes an emCORE executable image. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (21)
4	4	Memory address where the image to be executed is located
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1, does not mean it actually succeeded)
4	4	The return code of execimage(). Use this to check for success.
8	8	Undefined

22: Read raw boot flash

Reads raw data from the boot flash to RAM. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (22)
4	4	Memory address to copy the data to
8	4	Bootflash address to read from
12	4	Number of bytes to be copied

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

23: Write raw boot flash

Writes raw data to the boot flash. Don't call this unless you really know what you're doing. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (23)
4	4	Memory address to read from
8	4	Bootflash address to write to
12	4	Number of bytes to be copied (must be an integer multiple of the boot flash width)

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

24: Execute firmware

Executes a firmware image at the specified address. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (24)
4	4	Memory address where the firmware image to be booted is located
8	8	Should be zero

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

25: Hardware key AES

Encrypt or decrypt a buffer using a hardware key. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (25)
4	1	Decrypt (0) / Encrypt (1)
5	1	Should be zero
6	2	Hardware key index
8	4	Memory address of the buffer to be encrypted/decrypted
12	4	Size of the buffer to be encrypted/decrypted

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined

26: HMAC-SHA1

Generate a HMAC-SHA1 hash of a buffer. This is an asynchronous command.

Command Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Command ID (26)
4	4	Memory address of the buffer to be hashed
8	4	Size of the buffer to be hashed
12	4	Destination address where the hash is stored

Response Packet
Offset	Size (bytes)	Description
0	4	Status Code (1)
4	12	Undefined