Abstract: An integrated circuit and method of operating the integrated circuit to access external memory are provided. The integrated circuit comprises interconnect logic for coupling master logic units and slave logic units to enable transactions to be performed, each transaction comprising an address transfer from a master logic unit to a slave logic unit and one or more data transfers between that master logic unit and that slave logic unit. At least one master logic unit is operable when seeking to access data from an external memory to initiate a transaction by issuing the address transfer via the interconnect logic, the transaction having format information associated therewith used to format the one or more data transfers of the transaction for transfer over the interconnect logic. A memory controller acts as a slave logic unit for the transaction, and is coupled to the external memory via an external bus.

Abstract: A method of controlling a memory and a memory controller are disclosed. The memory controller is operable to control a memory, the memory being operable in a plurality of modes, the memory controller comprising: memory interface logic configurable to interact with the memory in each of the plurality of modes; and memory mode change logic operable, in response to a memory mode change request instruction specifying a predetermined one the plurality of modes being issued by the memory interface logic to the memory, to request the memory interface logic to be configured to interact with the memory in the predetermined one of the plurality of modes and to prevent interaction between the memory interface logic and the memory until the memory interface logic confirms that it is configured to interact with the memory in the predetermined one of the plurality of modes.