3.1.1.4. Boot Flow

On K3 architecture based devices, ROM supports boot only via MCU(R5). This means that bootloader has to run on R5 core. In order to meet this constraint, keeping safety in picture and to have faster boot time, the software boot architecture is designed as below:

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
|        SMS             |      MCU R5           |        A72            |  MAIN R5/C7x          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
|    +--------+          |                       |                       |                       |
|    |  Reset |          |                       |                       |                       |
|    +--------+          |                       |                       |                       |
|         :              |                       |                       |                       |
|    +--------+          |   +-----------+       |                       |                       |
|    | *ROM*  |----------|-->| Reset rls |       |                       |                       |
|    +--------+          |   +-----------+       |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |  ROM   |          |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |services|          |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |   |  *R5 ROM*   |     |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |        |<---------|---|Load and auth|     |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |   | tiboot3.bin |     |                       |                       |
|    | Start  |          |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |  TIFS  |<---------|---|    Start    |     |                       |                       |
|    |        |          |   |    TIFS     |     |                       |                       |
|    +--------+          |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|        :               |   |             |     |                       |                       |
|    +---------+         |   |   Load      |     |                       |                       |
|    | *TIFS*  |         |   |   system    |     |                       |                       |
|    +---------+         |   | Config data |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |<--------|---|             |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |         :             |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |  *R5 SPL*   |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |    DDR      |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |   config    |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |    Load     |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |  tispl.bin  |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |   Load R5   |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   |   firmware  |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |<--------|---| Start A72   |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   | and jump to |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   | DM fw image |     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |   +-------------+     |                       |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |---------|-----------------------|---->| Reset rls |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |  TIFS   |         |                       |          :            |                       |
|    |Services |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |<--------|-----------------------|---->|*ATF/OPTEE*|     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |          :            |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |<--------|-----------------------|---->| *A72 SPL* |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     |   Load    |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     | u-boot.img|     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |          :            |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |<--------|-----------------------|---->| *U-Boot*  |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     |  prompt   |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     |  Load R5  |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     |  Firmware |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |<--------|-----------------------|-----|  Start R5 |     |      +-----------+    |
|    |         |---------|-----------------------|-----+-----------+-----|----->| R5 starts |    |
|    |         |         |                       |     |  Load C7  |     |      +-----------+    |
|    |         |         |                       |     |  Firmware |     |                       |
|    |         |         |                       |     +-----------+     |                       |
|    |         |<--------|-----------------------|-----|  Start C7 |     |      +-----------+    |
|    |         |---------|-----------------------|-----+-----------+-----|----->| C7 starts |    |
|    |         |         |                       |                       |      +-----------+    |
|    |         |         |                       |                       |                       |
|    +---------+         |                       |                       |                       |
|                        |                       |                       |                       |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----------------------+

Here DMSC acts as master and provides all the critical services. R5/ARM64 requests DMSC to get these services done as shown in the above diagram.