uC/OS-II friendly UART communication

I understand you do not like the blocking nature of read() calls.

I am sure there should be some non-blocking call to check UART buffer if there is any character ready to be received. I am still a beginner in NiosII and uC/OS-II so I cannot tell what is its name, but I believe it is...

Also, when I was checking UART registers in Nios II I have noticed and EOP (End Of Packet) register where you put your character ending communication protocol packet (ETX?) This way your task could be awaken only after the complete packet has been collected in the UART buffer.

I am not sure if I am interpreting this correctly, maybe somebody with more experience will chime in...