41.6.3.5 Recoverable Faults

Recoverable faults can restart or halt the timer/counter. Two faults, called Fault A and Fault B, can trigger recoverable fault actions on the compare channels CC0 and CC1 of the TCC. The compare channels' outputs can be clamped to an inactive state either as long as the fault condition is present or from the first valid fault condition detection on until the end of the timer/counter cycle.

Fault Inputs

The first two channel input events (TCCxMC0 and TCCxMC1) can be used as Fault A and Fault B inputs, respectively. Event system channels connected to these fault inputs must be configured as asynchronous. The TCC must work in a PWM mode.

Fault Filtering

There are three filters available for each input Fault A and Fault B. They are configured by the corresponding Recoverable Fault n Configuration registers (FCTRLA and FCTRLB). The three filters can either be used independently or in any combination.

Input Filtering

By default, the event detection is asynchronous. When the event occurs, the fault system will immediately and asynchronously perform the selected fault action on the compare channel output, and, also, in device power modes where the clock is not available. To avoid false fault detection on external events (for example, due to a glitch on an I/O port), a digital filter can be enabled and configured by the Fault B Filter Value bits in the Fault n Configuration registers (FCTRLn.FILTERVAL). If the event width is less than FILTERVAL (in clock cycles), the event is discarded. A valid event is delayed by FILTERVAL clock cycles.

Fault Blanking

This ignores any fault input for a certain time just after a selected waveform output edge. This can be used to prevent false fault triggering due to signal bouncing, as shown in the figure below. Blanking can be enabled by writing an edge-triggering configuration to the Fault n Blanking Mode bits in the Recoverable Fault n Configuration register (FCTRLn.BLANK). The desired duration of the blanking must be written to the Fault n Blanking Time bits (FCTRLn.BLANKVAL).

The blanking time t_bis calculated by

$t_b=\frac{1+\mathrm{BLANKVAL}}{f_{\mathrm{GCLK\_TCCx\_PRESC}}}$

Here, f_{GCLK_TCCx_PRESC} is the frequency of the prescaled peripheral clock frequency f_{GCLK_TCCx}.

The prescaler is enabled by writing ‘1’ to the Fault n Blanking Prescaler bit (FCTRLn.BLANKPRESC). When disabled, f_{GCLK_TCCx_PRESC} = f_{GCLK_TCCx}. When enabled, f_{GCLK_TCCx_PRESC} = f_{GCLK_TCCx}/64.

The maximum blanking time (FCTRLn.BLANKVAL =
 255) at f_{GCLK_TCCx} = 64 MHz is 4 µs (no prescaler) or 256 µs (prescaling). For f_{GCLK_TCCx} = 1 MHz, the maximum blanking time is either 256 µs (no prescaling) or 16.4 ms (prescaling enabled).

Fault Qualification

This is enabled by writing a ‘1’ to the Fault n Qualification bit in the Recoverable Fault n Configuration register (FCTRLn.QUAL). When the recoverable fault qualification is enabled (FCTRLn.QUAL = 1), the fault input is disabled all the time the corresponding channel output has an inactive level, as illustrated in the following figures.

Fault Actions

Different fault actions can be configured individually for Fault A and Fault B. Most fault actions are not mutually exclusive; hence, two or more actions can be enabled at the same time to achieve a result that is a combination of fault actions.

Keep Action

This is enabled by writing the Fault n Keeper bit in the Recoverable Fault n Configuration register (FCTRLn.KEEP) to ‘1’. When enabled, the corresponding channel output is clamped to ‘0’ as long as the fault condition is present. The clamp is released on the start of the first cycle after the fault condition is no longer present; see Figure 41-25.

Restart Action

This is enabled by writing the Fault n Restart bit in Recoverable Fault n Configuration register (FCTRLn.RESTART) to ‘1’. When enabled, the timer/counter is restarted as soon as the corresponding fault condition is present. The ongoing cycle is stopped and the timer/counter starts a new cycle; see Figure 41-26. In Ramp 1 mode, when the new cycle starts, the compare outputs is clamped to inactive level as long as the fault condition is present.

Note: For the RAMP2 operation, when a new timer/counter cycle starts, the cycle index will change automatically; see Figure 41-27. Fault A and Fault B are qualified only during the cycle A and cycle B respectively:

• Fault A is disabled during cycle B
• Fault B is disabled during cycle A

Capture Action

Several capture actions can be selected by writing the Fault n Capture Action bits in the Fault n Control register (FCTRLn.CAPTURE). When one of the capture operations is selected, the counter value is captured when the fault occurs. These capture operations are available:

• CAPT – The equivalent to a standard capture operation; see Capture Operations from Related Links
• CAPTMIN – Gets the minimum time stamped value: on each new local minimum captured value, an event or interrupt is issued
• CAPTMAX – Gets the maximum time stamped value: on each new local maximum captured value, an event or interrupt (IT) is issued; see Figure 41-28
• LOCMIN – Notifies by event or interrupt when a local minimum captured value is detected
• LOCMAX – Notifies by event or interrupt when a local maximum captured value is detected
• DERIV0 – Notifies by event or interrupt when a local extreme captured value is detected; see Figure 41-29

CCx Content:

In CAPTMIN and CAPTMAX operations, CCx keeps the respective extremum captured values; see Figure 41-28. In LOCMIN, LOCMAX or DERIV0 operation, CCx follows the counter value at fault time; see Figure 41-29.

Before enabling CAPTMIN or CAPTMAX mode of capture, the user must initialize the corresponding CCx register value to a value different from zero (for CAPTMIN) or top (for CAPTMAX). If the CCx register initial value is zero (for CAPTMIN) or top (for CAPTMAX), no captures are performed using the corresponding channel.

MCx Behavior:

In LOCMIN and LOCMAX operation, capture is performed on each capture event. The MCx interrupt flag is set only when the captured value is above or equal (for LOCMIN) or below or equal (for LOCMAX) to the previous captured value. So the interrupt flag is set when a new relative local Minimum (for CAPTMIN) or Maximum (for CAPTMAX) value is detected. DERIV0 is equivalent to an OR function of (LOCMIN, LOCMAX).

In CAPT operation, capture is performed on each capture event. The MCx interrupt flag is set on each new capture.

In the CAPTMIN and CAPTMAX operation, the capture is performed only when, on capture event time, the counter value is lower (for CAPTMIN) or higher (for CAPMAX) than the last captured value. The MCx interrupt flag is set only when, on capture event time, the counter value is higher or equal (for CAPTMIN) or lower or equal (for CAPTMAX) to the value captured on the previous event. So the interrupt flag is set when a new absolute local Minimum (for CAPTMIN) or Maximum (for CAPTMAX) value is detected.

Interrupt Generation:

In CAPT mode, an interrupt is generated on each filtered Fault n and each dedicated CCx channel capture counter value. In other modes, an interrupt is only generated on an extreme captured value.

Hardware Halt Action

This is configured by writing 0x1 to the Fault n Halt mode bits in the Recoverable Fault n Configuration register (FCTRLn.HALT). When enabled, the timer/counter is halted and the cycle is extended as long as the corresponding fault is present.

The Figure 41-30 illustrates an example where both restart action and hardware halt action are enabled for Fault A. The compare channel 0 output is clamped to inactive level as long as the timer/counter is halted. The timer/counter resumes the counting operation as soon as the fault condition is no longer present. As the restart action is enabled in this example, the timer/counter is restarted after the fault condition is no longer present.

The Figure 41-32 illustrates a similar example but with additionally enabled fault qualification. Here, counting is resumed after the fault condition is no longer present.

Note: In RAMP2 and RAMP2A operations, when a new timer/counter cycle starts, the cycle index automatically changes.

Software Halt Action

This is configured by writing 0x2 to the Fault n Halt mode bits in the Recoverable Fault n configuration register (FCTRLn.HALT). Software halt action is similar to hardware halt action but, to restart the timer/counter, the corresponding fault condition must not be present anymore and the corresponding FAULT n bit in the STATUS register must be cleared by software.