Table of Contents

Sources of information

Instruction set documentation archived from “unSP Programmer's Guide” PDF from the unSP IDE installation - local copy. A good overview can also be found in this document.

CPU

The V-Smile processor is a Sunplus µ'nSP implementing version 1.1 of the ISA (source: this is how the SPG200 projects in µ'nSP IDE are configured).

Registers

IDNameFunction
0 SP Stack Pointer
1 R1 General Purpose
2 R2 General Purpose
3 R3 General Purpose
4 R4 General Purpose
5 BP Base Pointer
6 SR Status Register
7 PC Program Counter

R3 and R4 can be used to form a 32-bit register pair for some instructions, this pair is noted MR. R3 stores the lower half and R4 stores the upper half.

There is also a 4-bit shift buffer (SB) register used by the shift and rotate addressing modes. There are separate SB registers for normal, FIQ and interrupt mode, which gets automatically switched.

The BP register has a special addressing mode with a 6-bit immediate offset. It is usually (for example by unsp IDE C compiler) used as a frame pointer, to access a function local variables efficiently. But it can also be used as a normal register if needed.

SP is generally used as a stack pointer but can be used for other things occasionally. When using the PUSH and POP instructions, the stack grows downwards (PUSH decrements SP) and the stack pointer points to the first empty space below the stack.

As a result, the typical organization of the stack in VTech code is:

Address Contents Notes
NNNF Parameter 0 Pushed by caller
NNNE Parameter 1
NNND PC (from CALL) Saved by CALL
NNNC SR (from CALL) Saved by CALL
NNNB R4 Saved by PUSH in function prelude
NNNA R3 (and more registers as needed)
NNN9 Local variable Space allocated by decrementing SP
NNN8 Local variable ← BP points here
NNN7 Empty ← SP points here

The SP can move when calling other functions, interrupts, … or when saving registers inside the function code. But BP doesn't move and can be used to access both local variables and function parameters.

The parameters are usually removed by the caller (by incrementing SP). It would also be possible to use a POP including SR and PC to return from the function while clearing parameters, but this requires loading them into registers, which is not always desirable since registers are rather used for return values.

Status Register

The status register contains various status flags, as well as the current code segment (CS) and data segment (DS) base addresses.

Bits NameDescription Notes
0-5 CS Code Segment Auto-incremented when PC wraps around
6 C Carry Flag Set if a carry occurred
7 S Sign Flag Set if the result is negative (two's complement)
8 Z Zero Flag Set when the result is zero
9 N Negative FlagSet when the MSB of the result is 1
10-15DS Data Segment Auto incremented with pre/post inc/dec addressing mode as needed

Address Space

The memory map of the µ'nSP is split into 64K sized pages. The entire 4M address space of the CPU is divided into 64 pages (0x00-0x3F). The current page can be selected via the segment registers, CS (for instruction fetch) and DS (for data operations).

When code execution reaches the end of the current page, the CS register is auto-incremented by the hardware.

Interrupts

The interrupt vector table is at the end of the first memory page. It contains addresses of the handlers for each interrupt, including the software interrupt (BREAK instruction) and CPU reset. Since the addresses are only 16bit, all handlers must be in the first memory page.

VectorName
0xFFF5BREAK
0xFFF6FIQ
0xFFF7RESET
0xFFF8IRQ0
0xFFF9IRQ1
0xFFFAIRQ2
0xFFFBIRQ3
0xFFFCIRQ4
0xFFFDIRQ5
0xFFFEIRQ6
0xFFFFIRQ7

See http://vtech.pulkomandy.tk/doku.php?id=memory_map&s%5B%5D=irq#interrupts for details about the interruptions usage.

Instruction Set

These tables detail the instruction both in the format used by the official µ'nSP toolchain as well as the mnemonic form used by the free for non-commercial use vasm.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, instructions that operate on memory ignore DS and only operate on page 0 (0x0000-0xFFFF). Instruction varients that allow a “D:” prefix generate a full 22-bit address via (DS << 16 | addr)

Data Transfer

Load

Instruction naken_asm form Notes Flags Affected
Rd = Value ld rd, value 6 and 16-bit variants available NZ
Rd = [BP + offset] ld rd, [BP + offset] Offset is limited to 6 bits
Rd = [addr] ld rd, [addr] 6 and 16-bit variants available
Rd = Rs ld rd, rs
Rd = {D:}[Rs] ld rd, {D:}[rs] Optional data-segment qualifier (D:)
Rd = {D:}[++Rs] ld rd, {D:}[++rs]
Rd = {D:}[Rs--] ld rd, {D:}[rs--]
Rd = {D:}[Rs++] ld rd, {D:}[rs++]

Store

Instruction naken_asm form Notes Flags Affected
[BP + offset] = Rd st rd, [BP + offset] Offset is limited to 6 bits
[addr] = Rd st rd, [addr]
{D:}[Rs] = Rd st rd, {D:}[rs] Optional data-segment qualifier (D:)
{D:}[++Rs] = Rd st rd, {D:}[++rs]
{D:}[Rs--] = Rd st rd, {D:}[rs--]
{D:}[Rs++] = Rd st rd, {D:}[rs++]

Push/Pop

Instruction naken_asm form Notes Flags Affected
PUSH Rx, Ry to [Rs] push rx-ry, [rs] rx-ry signifies a range of registers to push
PUSH Rx to [Rs] push rx, [rs] Push a single register
POP Rx, Ry from [Rs] pop rx-ry, [rs] rx-ry signifies a range of registers to pop
POP Rx from [Rs] pop rx, [rs] Pop a single register

The stack grows downwards (towards lower addresses). Push does post-decrement so SP points to the unused entry at the top of the stack.

Values before pushing:

Address Content
FFFF XXXX
FFFE
FFFD

SP = FFFE

PUSH BP, [SP]

Values after pushing:

Address Content
FFFF XXXX
FFFE BP
FFFD

SP = FFFD

ALU operations

All these operations have similar syntax and support the same addressing modes

Mnemonic naken_asm form Description Flags affected
Rd += Rs ADD Rd, Rs Add NZSC
Rd += Rs,carry ADC Rd, Rs Add with carry
Rd -= Rs SUB Rd, Rs Subtract
Rd -= Rs,carry SBC Rd, Rs Subtract with carry
CMP Rd, Rs CMP Rd, Rs Compare (same effect on flags as SUB)
Rd = -Rs NEG Rd, Rs Negate NZ
Rd ^= Rs XOR Rd, Rs Exclusive OR
Rd |= Rs OR Rd, Rs Bitwise OR
Rd &= Rs AND Rd, Rs Bitwise AND
Test Rd, Rs TEST Rd, Rs Same effect on flags as bitwise AND

Addressing modes

For all ALU operations, the following addressing modes are available:

Syntax naken_asm form Description
R1 += R2 ADD R1, R2 Register
R1 += R2 ASR 1 ADD R1, R2 ASR 1 Register with arithmetic right shift up to 4 bits
R1 += R2 LSL 1 ADD R1, R2 LSL 1 Register with logical left shift up to 4 bits
R1 += R2 LSR 1 ADD R1, R2 LSR 1 Register with logical left shift up to 4 bits
R1 += R2 ROL 1 ADD R1, R2 ROL 1 Register with 20-bit left rotation through SB up to 4 bits
R1 += R2 ROR 1 ADD R1, R2 ROR 1 Register with 20-bit right rotation through SB up to 4 bits
R1 += 23 ADD R1, #23 6-bit immediate value (Rd cannot be PC)
R1 = R2 + 1234 ADD R1, R2, #1234 3-operand 16-bit immediate
R1 += [12] ADD R1, [12] Direct (get value at 6-bit address 12)
R1 = R2 + [1234] ADD R1, R2, [1234] Direct 3-operand (get values at R2 and 16-bit address 1234)
[1234] = R1 + R2 ADD [1234], R1, R2 Direct-store 3-operand
R1 += [R2] ADD R1, [R2] Indirect (register used as pointer)
R1 += [R2--] ADD R1, [R2--] … with post-decrement
R1 += [R2++] ADD R1, [R2++] … with post-increment
R1 += [++R2] ADD R1, [++R2] … with pre-increment
R1 += D:[R2] ADD R1, D:[R2] … in data segment (address is (DS « 16) | R2))
R1 += D:[R2--] ADD R1, D:[R2--] … with post-decrement in data segment
R1 += D:[R2++] ADD R1, D:[R2++] … with post-increment in data segment
R1 += D:[++R2] ADD R1, D:[++R2] … with pre-increment in data segment
R1 += [BP+12] ADD R1, [BP+12] 6-bit displacement from BP (Rd cannot be PC)

It is possible to combine indirect with data segment and increments and decrements in the same instruction. The data segment will then be automatically updated in case the increment or decrement wraps.

The shift operations use the shift buffer (see “shift operations” section below). In particular the ROR and ROL operations do a 20-bit rotation resulting in bits from the shift buffer moving into the destination register.

Bit shift addressing modes

Given a starting register like this:

Bits 15-0
RsRs15-Rs0

And the SB bits:

Bits 3-0
SBSB3-SB0

The result of the shift operations are (for a shift by 3 bits):

ASR

Arithmetic shift right (signed divide by two)

Bits 15-13Bits 12-0
RsRs15 Rs15-Rs3
Bits 3-1Bit 0
SBRs2-Rs0 SB3
LSL

Logical shift left (multiply by two)

Bits 15-3Bits 2-0
RsRs12-Rs0 0
Bit 3Bit 2-0
SBSB0 Rs15-Rs13
LSR

Logical shift right (unsigned divide by two)

Bits 15-13Bits 12-0
Rs0 Rs15-Rs3
Bits 3-1Bit 0
SBRs2-Rs0 SB3
ROL

Rotate left through shift buffer

Bits 15-3Bits 2-0
RsRs12-Rs0 SB3-SB1
Bit 3Bit 2-0
SBSB0 Rs15-Rs13
ROR

Rotate right through shift buffer

Bits 15-13Bits 12-0
RsSB2-SB0 Rs15-Rs3
Bits 3-1Bit 0
SBRs2-Rs0 SB3

Multiplication and division

Multiplication

Multiplication result is stored in R3 and R4 (the register pair is called MR)

Instruction naken_asm form Notes Flags Affected
MR = Rd x Rs MUL.SS Rd, Rs Signed multiplication
MR = Rd x Rs,us MUL.US Rd, Rs Rd is unsigned, Rs is signed
MR = [Rd] x [Rs],n MAC [Rd], [Rs], N Multiply-accumulate two sets of N signed values pointed by Rd and Rs
MR = [Rd] x [Rs],us,n MAC.US [Rd], [Rs], N Multiply-accumulate two sets of N values pointed by Rd (unsigned values) and Rs (signed values)

Multiply-accumulate operations do the computation with 32-bit precision with the result is stored in MR. The Rd and Rs pointers will automatically be incremented by N. The values of the array pointed to by the Rd array will each be moved one index forward when the FIR_MOV setting is enabled, see the FIR_MOV section for details.

FIR_MOV

FIR_MOV ON

FIR_MOV OFF

Affects the FIR setting used by the MULS instructions.

When enabled, MULS instructions will modify the array pointed to by the Rd register after finishing the calculation by moving each value one index forward with the last value discarded and the first value left in place. This can be used for automatically advancing the time step when implementing FIR filters, with the Rd array storing the input signal and the Rs array storing the weights.

Program Flow

Conditional jumps

Syntax:

JMP label

The target address is stored as a 6 bit displacement and a separate bit indicating forward or backward jump. So this can only jump back and forward 63 addresses.

Instruction Notes Flags Affected
JB,JCC,JNAE label Jump if C=0
JAE,JNB,JCS label Jump if C=1
JGE,JNL,JSC label Jump if S=0
JL,JNGE,JSS label Jump if S=1
JNE,JNZ label Jump if Z=0
JE,JZ label Jump if Z=1
JPL label Jump if N=0
JMI label Jump if N=1
JBE,JNA label Jump if Z=1 or C=0
JA,JNBE label Jump if Z=0 and C=1
JLE,JNG label Jump if Z=1 or S=1
JG,JNLE label Jump if Z=0 and S=0
JVC label Jump if N=S
JVS label Jump if N != S
JMP label Jump always

xasm supports the syntax SJMP for “smart jump” that will automatically be converted to a jump + GOTO if the address is outside the reachable range for a normal jump.

Other instructions

CALL

CALL label

Because SR is pushed automatically, flags are always saved accross a CALL/RETF

GOTO

Like a call, but does not save PC and SR on the stack. In ISA 1.0, GOTO does not set the CS: so it is not possible to jump outside the current segment. In ISA 1.1 and above this problem is fixed.

RETF

Return from function. Pops PC and SR from the stack.

RETI

Return from interrupt. In addition to what RETF does, also restores the interrupt flag.

BREAK

Jumps to the BREAK software IRQ handler.

Interrupt control

IRQ enable/disable

Instruction Notes Flags Affected
IRQ OFF Disable interrupts
IRQ ON Enable interrupts
FIQ OFF Disable fast interrupts
FIQ ON Enable fast interrupts
INT FIQ Enable FIQ, disable IRQ
INT FIQ,IRQ Enable FIQ and IRQ
INT IRQ Disable FIQ, enable IRQ
INT OFF Disable FIQ and IRQ