In order to ensure correct timing of the half-duplex operation, a simple guard time mechanism has been added to the physical layer. When the TPI physical layer changes from receive to transmit mode, a configurable number of additional IDLE bits are inserted before the start bit is transmitted. The minimum transition time between receive and transmit mode is two IDLE bits.
The total IDLE time is the specified guard time plus two IDLE bits. The guard time is configured by dedicated bits in the TPIPCR register. The default guard time value after the physical layer is initialized is 128 bits.
The external programmer looses control of the TPIDATA line when the TPI target changes from receive mode to transmit. The guard time feature relaxes this critical phase of the communication. When the external programmer changes from receive mode to transmit, a minimum of one IDLE bit should be inserted before the start bit is transmitted.