Re: [802.3_MAINT] Summary of maintenance adhoc call on MAC interface
RE figure 4-6: The issue with the figure is the ambiguous meaning of calling a psuedo-Pascal function from a state machine state with a UCT exit condition. Some read it as an action that doesn't complete until the function returns a result (as a program would act when it made a function call). Others read it as the action being complete as soon as the function is called. Therefore you leave the state almost immediately. If read the second way, you could get another MA_DATA.request and enter the state to try to call Function transmitFrame again while transmitFrame is still processing the last call.
One way to make the state machine operation unambiguous would be to add an exit condition that keeps the machine in the GENERATE_TRANSMIT_FRAME state until TransmitFrame has returned a result.
Pat
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-stds-802-3-maint@xxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-stds-802-3-maint@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jeff Mandin
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:51 AM
To: STDS-802-3-MAINT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [802.3_MAINT] Summary of maintenance adhoc call on MAC interface
* Correctness of figure 4-6
Various views were expressed regarding the interpretation
and correctness of the figure (4-6) that maps the MA_Unitdata.Request()
primitive to the Pascal TransmitFrame(). However there appeared to be
some basic consensus on how it SHOULD work ie. the process should stay
in GENERATE_TRANSMIT_FRAME state until all frame data has been
transmitted to the PHY.