Abstract: A pin generated interrupt system in a digital data processor is capable of generating interrupt requests in order to awaken the digital data processor from a reduced state of activity and power consumption called stop mode. The user can permanently disable the pin generated interrupt system using a mask option chosen during the manufacturing process. A register bit that determines whether the pin is an input or an output is also used to enable compare circuitry that determines whether an external device is requesting an interrupt. When a plurality of pins are used, it is only necessary for an interrupt to be requested on one of the pins in order for an interrupt request signal to be generated.

Abstract: A method for servicing peripheral interrupt requests in a data processing system is provided. A state vector register stores a current state of a state machine which controls the interrupt-generating peripheral. In addition, the state vector register simultaneously stores an interrupt source identifier, which indicates the source of the highest priority interrupt request currently pending for the interrupt-generating peripheral. When the processor receives an interrupt request, the value stored in the state vector register of the interrupt-generating peripheral is read into an index register in the processor. The processor then uses the value as an index into a jump table, stored in memory, which contains the interrupt service routines. The use of the state vector register in conjunction with existing internal signals enables the processor to rapidly retrieve the appropriate interrupt service routine from memory, while minimizing the system overhead associated with servicing the interrupt request.