LCD interfacing with Microcontrollers tutorial

Introduction
The most commonly used Character based LCDs are based on Hitachi's HD44780 controller or other which are compatible with HD44580. In this tutorial, we will discuss about character based LCDs, their interfacing with various microcontrollers, various interfaces (8-bit/4-bit), programming, special stuff and tricks you can do with these simple looking LCDs which can give a new look to your application. For Specs and technical information HD44780 controller Click Here

Pin Description
The most commonly used LCDs found in the market today are 1 Line, 2 Line or 4 Line LCDs which have only 1 controller and support at most of 80 charachers, whereas LCDs supporting more than 80 characters make use of 2 HD44780 controllers. Most LCDs with 1 controller has 14 Pins and LCDs with 2 controller has 16 Pins (two pins are extra in both for back-light LED connections). Pin description is shown in the table below.

Figure 1: Character LCD type HD44780 Pin diagram Pin No. Pin no. 1 Pin no. 2 Pin no. 3 Pin no. 4 Pin no. 5 Name VSS VCC VEE RS R/W Description Power supply (GND) Power supply (+5V) Contrast adjust 0 = Instruction input 1 = Data input 0 = Write to LCD module

1 = Read from LCD module Pin no. 6 EN Enable signal Pin no. 7 D0 Data bus line 0 (LSB) Pin no. 8 D1 Data bus line 1 Pin no. 9 D2 Data bus line 2 Pin no. 10 D3 Data bus line 3 Pin no. 11 D4 Data bus line 4 Pin no. 12 D5 Data bus line 5 Pin no. 13 D6 Data bus line 6 Pin no. 14 D7 Data bus line 7 (MSB) Table 1: Character LCD pins with 1 Controller

Pin No. Pin no. 1 Pin no. 2 Pin no. 3 Pin no. 4 Pin no. 5 Pin no. 6 Pin no. 7 Pin no. 8 Pin no. 9

Description Data bus line 7 (MSB) Data bus line 6 Data bus line 5 Data bus line 4 Data bus line 3 Data bus line 2 Data bus line 1 Data bus line 0 (LSB) Enable signal for row 0 and 1 (1stcontroller) 0 = Write to LCD module Pin no. 10 R/W 1 = Read from LCD module 0 = Instruction input Pin no. 11 RS 1 = Data input Pin no. 12 VEE Contrast adjust Pin no. 13 VSS Power supply (GND) Pin no. 14 VCC Power supply (+5V) Pin no. 15 EN2 Enable signal for row 2 and 3 (2ndcontroller) Pin no. 16 NC Not Connected Table 2: Character LCD pins with 2 Controller Usually these days you will find single controller LCD modules are used more in the market. So in the tutorial we will discuss more about the single controller LCD, the operation and everything else is same for the double controller too. Lets take a look at the basic information which is there in every LCD.

Name D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0 EN1

DDRAM - Display Data RAM

Display data RAM (DDRAM) stores display data represented in 8-bit character codes. Its extended capacity is 80 X 8 bits, or 80 characters. The area in display data RAM (DDRAM) that is not used for display can be used as general data RAM. So whatever you send on the DDRAM is actually displayed on the LCD. For LCDs like 1x16, only 16 characters are visible, so whatever you write after 16 chars is written in DDRAM but is not visible to the user. Figures below will show you the DDRAM addresses of 1 Line, 2 Line and 4 Line LCDs.

Figure 2: DDRAM Address for 1 Line LCD

Figure 3: DDRAM Address for 2 Line LCD

Figure 4: DDRAM Address for 4 Line LCD

CGROM - Character Generator ROM

Now you might be thinking that when you send an ascii value to DDRAM, how the character is displayed on LCD? so the answer is CGROM. The character generator ROM generates 5 x 8 dot or 5 x 10 dot character patterns from 8-bit character codes (see Figure 5 and Figure 6 for more details). It can generate 208 5 x 8 dot character patterns and 32 5 x 10 dot character patterns. Userdefined character patterns are also available by maskprogrammed ROM.

Figure 5: LCD characters code map for 5x8 dots

Figure 6: LCD characters code map for 5x10 dots As you can see in both the code maps, the character code from 0x00 to 0x07 is occupied by the CGRAM characters or the user defined characters. If user want to display the fourth custom character then the code to display it is 0x03 i.e. when user send 0x03 code to the LCD DDRAM then the fourth user created charater or patteren will be displayed on the LCD.

CGRAM - Character Generator RAM

As clear from the name, CGRAM area is used to create custom characters in LCD. In the character generator RAM, the user can rewrite character patterns by program. For 5 x 8 dots, eight character patterns can be written, and for 5 x 10 dots, four character patterns can be written. Later in this tutorial i will explain how to use CGRAM area to make custom character and also making animations to give nice effects to your application.

BF - Busy Flag
Busy Flag is an status indicator flag for LCD. When we send a command or data to the LCD for processing, this flag is set (i.e BF =1) and as soon as the instruction is executed successfully this flag is cleared (BF = 0). This is helpful in producing and exact ammount of delay. for the LCD processing. To read Busy Flag, the condition RS = 0 and R/W = 1 must be met and The MSB of the LCD data bus (D7) act as busy flag. When BF = 1 means LCD is busy and will not accept next command or data and BF = 0 means LCD is ready for the next command or data to process.

Instruction Register (IR) and Data Register (DR)

There are two 8-bit registers in HD44780 controller Instruction and Data register. Instruction register corresponds to the register where you send commands to LCD e.g LCD shift command, LCD clear, LCD address etc. and Data register is used for storing data which is to be displayed on LCD. when send the enable signal of the LCD is asserted, the data on the pins is latched in to the data register and data is then moved automatically to the DDRAM and hence is displayed on the LCD. Data Register is not only used for sending data to DDRAM but also for CGRAM, the address where you want to send the data, is decided by the instruction you send to LCD. We will discuss more on LCD instuction set further in this tutorial.

Commands and Instruction set

Only the instruction register (IR) and the data register (DR) of the LCD can be controlled by the MCU. Before starting the internal operation of the LCD, control information is temporarily stored into these registers to allow interfacing with various MCUs, which operate at different speeds, or various peripheral control devices. The internal operation of the LCD is determined by signals sent from the MCU. These signals, which include register selection signal (RS), read/write signal (R/W), and the data bus (DB0 to DB7), make up the LCD instructions (Table 3). There are four categories of instructions that:

Designate LCD functions, such as display format, data length, etc. Set internal RAM addresses Perform data transfer with internal RAM Perform miscellaneous functions

Table 3: Command and Instruction set for LCD type HD44780

Although looking at the table you can make your own commands and test them. Below is a breif list of useful commands which are used frequently while working on the LCD.

No. Instruction 1 Function Set: 8-bit, 1 Line, 5x7 Dots 2 Function Set: 8-bit, 2 Line, 5x7 Dots 3 Function Set: 4-bit, 1 Line, 5x7 Dots

Hex 0x30 0x38 0x20

Decimal 48 56 32

4 5

Function Set: 4-bit, 2 Line, 5x7 Dots 0x28 40 Entry Mode 0x06 6 Display off Cursor off 6 (clearing display without clearing DDRAM 0x08 8 content) 7 Display on Cursor on 0x0E 14 8 Display on Cursor off 0x0C 12 9 Display on Cursor blinking 0x0F 15 10 Shift entire display left 0x18 24 12 Shift entire display right 0x1C 30 13 Move cursor left by one character 0x10 16 14 Move cursor right by one character 0x14 20 15 Clear Display (also clear DDRAM content) 0x01 1 Set DDRAM address or coursor position on 16 0x80+add* 128+add* display Set CGRAM address or set pointer to 17 0x40+add** 64+add** CGRAM location Table 4: Frequently used commands and instructions for LCD * DDRAM address given in LCD basics section see Figure 2,3,4 ** CGRAM address from 0x00 to 0x3F, 0x00 to 0x07 for char1 and so on.. The table above will help you while writing programs for LCD. But after you are done testing with the table 4, i recommend you to use table 3 to get more grip on working with LCD and trying your own commands. In the next section of the tutorial we will see the initialization with some of the coding examples in C as well as assembly.

LCD Initialization
Before using the LCD for display purpose, LCD has to be initialized either by the internal reset circuit or sending set of commands to initialize the LCD. It is the user who has to decide whether an LCD has to be initialized by instructions or by internal reset circuit. we will dicuss both ways of initialization one by one.

Initialization by internal Reset Circuit An internal reset circuit automatically initializes the HD44780U when the power is turned on. The following instructions are executed during the initialization. The busy flag (BF) is kept in the busy state until the initialization ends (BF = 1). The busy state lasts for 10 ms after VCC rises to 4.5 V.

Display clear

Function set: DL = 1; 8-bit interface data N = 0; 1-line display F = 0; 5 x 8 dot character font Display on/off control: D = 0; Display off C = 0; Cursor off B = 0; Blinking off Entry mode set: I/D = 1; Increment by 1 S = 0; No shift

Note: If the electrical characteristics conditions listed under the table Power Supply Conditions Using Internal Reset Circuit are not met, the internal reset circuit will not operate normally and will fail to initialize the HD44780U. For such a case, initial-ization must be performed by the MCU as explained in the section, Initializing by Instruction.

As mentioned in the Note, there are certain condtions that has to be met, if user want to use initialization by internal reset circuit. These conditions are shown in the Table 5 below.

Table 5: Power Supply condition for Internal Reset circuit Figure 7 shows the test condition which are to be met for internal reset circuit to be active.

Figure 7: Internal Power Supply reset

Now the problem with the internal reset circuit is, it is highly dependent on power supply, to meet this critical power supply conditions is not hard but are difficult to achive when you are making a simple application. So usually the second menthod i.e. Initialization by instruction is used and is recommended most of the time.

Initialization by instructions Initializing LCD with instructions is really simple. Given below is a flowchart that describles the step to follow, to initialize the LCD.

Figure 8: Flow chart for LCD initialization As you can see from the flow chart, the LCD is initialized in the following sequence... 1) Send command 0x30 - Using 8-bit interface 2) Delay 20ms 3) Send command 0x30 - 8-bit interface 4) Delay 20ms 5) Send command 0x30 - 8-bit interface 6) Delay 20ms 7) Send Function set - see Table 4 for more information 8) Display Clear command 9) Set entry mode command - explained below The first 3 commands are usually not required but are recomended when you are using 4-

bit interface. So you can program the LCD starting from step 7 when working with 8-bit interface. Function set command depends on what kind of LCD you are using and what kind of interface you are using (see Table 4 in LCD Command section). LCD Entry mode From Table 3 in command section, you can see that the two bits decide the entry mode for LCD, these bits are: a) I/D - Increment/Decrement bit b) S - Display shift. With these two bits we get four combinations of entry mode which are 0x04,0x05,0x06,0x07 (see table 3 in LCD Command section). So we get different results with these different entry modes. Normally entry mode 0x06 is used which is No shift and auto incremement. I recommend you to try all the possible entry modes and see the results, I am sure you will be surprised.

Programming example for LCD Initialization CODE: LCD_data LCD_D7 LCD_rs LCD_rw LCD_en equ equ equ equ equ P2 P2.7 P1.0 P1.1 P1.2 ;LCD ;LCD ;LCD ;LCD ;LCD Data port D7/Busy Flag Register Select Read/Write Enable

LCD_init: mov 5x7 dots clr LCD_rs clr LCD_rw instruction register setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy command mov LCD_data,#0FH command clr LCD_rs register clr LCD_rw instruction register setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy command mov LCD_data,#01H clr LCD_rs ;Selected command register ;We are writing in ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to process the ;Display on, Curson blinking ;Selected instruction ;We are writing in ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to process the ;Clear LCD ;Selected command register LCD_data,#38H ;Function set: 2 Line, 8-bit,

clr LCD_rw instruction register setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy command mov LCD_data,#06H with no shift clr LCD_rs clr LCD_rw instruction register setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy command ret

;We are writing in ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to process the ;Entry mode, auto increment ;Selected command register ;We are writing in ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to process the ;Return from routine

Now we can do the same thing in C, I am giving example using Keil C. Similar code can be written for SDCC.

CODE: #include <AT89X51.H>. #define LCD_data P2 #define LCD_D7 P2_7 #define LCD_rs P1_0 #define LCD_rw P1_1 #define LCD_en P1_2 void LCD_init() { LCD_data = 0x38; bit, 5x7 dots LCD_rs = 0; LCD_rw = 0; register LCD_en = 1; LCD_en = 0; LCD_busy(); the command LCD_data = 0x0F; blinking command LCD_rs = 0; LCD_rw = 0; register

//Function set: 2 Line, 8//Selected command register //We are writing in data //Enable H->L //Wait for LCD to process //Display on, Curson //Selected command register //We are writing in data

LCD_en = 1; LCD_en = 0; LCD_busy(); the command LCD_data = 0x01; LCD_rs = 0; LCD_rw = 0; register LCD_en = 1; LCD_en = 0; LCD_busy(); the command LCD_data = 0x06; increment with no shift LCD_rs = 0; LCD_rw = 0; register LCD_en = 1; LCD_busy(); }

//Enable H->L //Wait for LCD to process //Clear LCD //Selected command register //We are writing in data //Enable H->L //Wait for LCD to process //Entry mode, auto //Selected command register //We are writing in data //Enable H->L

With the help of the above code, you are able to initialize the LCD. Now there is a function/subroutine coming in the code i.e. LCD_busy, which is used to put delay for LCD so that there should not be any command or data sent to the LCD untill it finish executing the command. More on this delay routine is explained in the next section. Reading the busy Flag
As discussed in the previous section, there must be some delay which is needed to be there for LCD to successfully process the command or data. So this delay can be made either with a delay loop of specified time more than that of LCD process time or we can read the busy flag, which is recomended. The reason to use busy flag is that delay produced is almost for the exact amount of time for which LCD need to process the time. So is best suited for every application. Steps to read busy flag when we send the command, the BF or D7th bit of the LCD becomes 1 and as soon as the

command is processed the BF = 0. Following are the steps to be kept in mind while reading the Busy flag.

Select command register Select read operation Send enable signal Read the flag

So following the above steps we can write the code in assembly as below... CODE: ;Ports used are same as the previous example LCD_busy: setb LCD_D7 port as i/p setb LCD_en clr LCD_rs setb LCD_rw check: clr LCD_en setb LCD_en jb LCD_D7,check again till it becomes 0 ret ;Make D7th bit of LCD data ;Make port pin as o/p ;Select command register ;we are reading ;Enable H->L ;read busy flag again and ;Return from busy routine

The equivalent C code Keil C compiler. Similar code can be written for SDCC. CODE: void LCD_busy() { LCD_D7 = 1; LCD_en = 1; LCD_rs = 0; LCD_rw = 1; while(LCD_D7){ again till it becomes 0 LCD_en = 0; LCD_en = 1; } }

//Make D7th bit of LCD as i/p //Make port pin as o/p //Selected command register //We are reading //read busy flag again and //Enable H->L

The above routine will provide the necessary delay for the instructions to complete. If

you dont want to read the busy flag you can simply use a delay routine to provide the a specific ammount of delay. A simple delay routine for the LCD is given below.

CODE: LCD_busy: mov back: mov r6,#FFH djnz r6,$ djnz r7,back ret routine r7,#50H

;Return from busy

CODE: void LCD_busy() { unsigned char i,j; for(i=0;i<50;i++) for delay for(j=0;j<255;j++); }

//A simple for loop

Now we are ready with the initialization routine and the busy routine for LCD. In the next section we will see how to send data and command to the LCD. Sending Commands to LCD
To send commands we simply need to select the command register. Everything is same as we have done in the initialization routine. But we will summarize the common steps and put them in a single subroutine. Following are the steps:

Move data to LCD port select command register select write operation send enable signal wait for LCD to process the command

Keeping these steps in mind we can write LCD command routine as.

CODE: ;Ports used are same as the previous example ;Routine to send command to LCD LCD_command: mov LCD_data,A clr LCD_rs clr LCD_rw instruction register setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy command ret ; ; ; ; ; ;

;Move the command to LCD port ;Selected command register ;We are writing in ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to process the ;Return from busy routine

Usage of the above routine A will carry the command for LCD e.g. we want to send clear LCD command mov a,#01H acall LCD_command ;01H is command for clearing LCD ;Send the command

The equivalent C code Keil C compiler. Similar code can be written for SDCC.

CODE: void LCD_command(unsigned char var) { LCD_data = var; //Function set: 2 Line, 8bit, 5x7 dots LCD_rs = 0; //Selected command register LCD_rw = 0; //We are writing in instruction register LCD_en = 1; //Enable H->L LCD_en = 0; LCD_busy(); //Wait for LCD to process the command } // Using the above function is really simple // var will carry the command for LCD // e.g. // // LCD_command(0x01);

Setting cursor position on LCD To set the cursor position on LCD, we need to send the DDRAM address... CODE: Bit7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 AD6 AD5 AD4 AD3 AD2 AD1 AD0

The seventh bit is always 1, and bit 0 to 7 are DDRAM address (See the introduction section of LCD). so if you want to put the cursor on first position the address will be '0000000B' in binary and 7th bit is 1. so address will be 0x80, so for DDRAM all address starts from 0x80. For 2 line and 16 character LCD. The adress from 0x80 to 0x8F are visible on first line and 0xC0 to 0xCF is visible on second line, rest of the DDRAM area is still available but is not visible on the LCD, if you want to check this thing, then simply put a long sting greater than 16 character and shift the entire display, you will see all the missing character coming from the back.. this way you can make scrolling line on LCD (see more on shifting display in commands section). Below is an example for setting cursor position on LCD. CODE: ;We are placing the cursor on the 4th position ;so the DDRAM address will be 0x03 ;and the command will be 0x80+0x03 = 0x83 mov a,#83H ;load the command acall LCD_command ;send command to LCD CODE: // to do the same thing is C // as we done before LCD_command(0x83);

Sending Data to LCD To send data we simply need to select the data register. Everything is same as the command routine. Following are the steps:

Move data to LCD port select data register select write operation send enable signal wait for LCD to process the data

Keeping these steps in mind we can write LCD command routine as. CODE: ;Ports used are same as the previous example ;Routine to send data (single character) to LCD LCD_senddata: mov LCD_data,A LCD port setb LCD_rs clr LCD_rw setb LCD_en clr LCD_en acall LCD_busy process the data ret routine

;Move the command to ;Selected data register ;We are writing ;Enable H->L ;Wait for LCD to ;Return from busy

; Usage of the above routine ; A will carry the character to display on LCD ; e.g. we want to print A on LCD ; ; mov a,#'A' ;Ascii value of 'A' will be loaded in accumulator ; acall LCD_senddata ;Send data

The equivalent C code Keil C compiler. Similar code can be written for SDCC. CODE: void LCD_senddata(unsigned char var) { LCD_data = var; //Function set: 2 Line, 8bit, 5x7 dots

LCD_rs = 1; //Selected data register LCD_rw = 0; //We are writing LCD_en = 1; //Enable H->L LCD_en = 0; LCD_busy(); //Wait for LCD to process the command } // Using the above function is really simple // we will pass the character to display as argument to function // e.g. // // LCD_senddata('A');

Now you have seen that its really easy to send command and data to LCD. Now what if we have a string to send to LCD? how we are going to do that? Is simple, we will store the LCD string in the ROM of controller and call the string character by character. A simple exmple is shown below. CODE: ;Sending string to LCD Example LCD_sendstring: clr a for any previous data movc a,@a+dptr character in accumulator jz exit acall lcd_senddata inc dptr pointer sjmp LCD_sendstring the next character exit: ret

;clear Accumulator ;load the first ;go to exit if zero ;send first char ;increment data ;jump back to send

;End of routine

; Usage of the above routine ; DPTR(data pointer) will carry the address ; of string to send to LCD.

; e.g. we want to print "LCD Tutorial" on LCD then ; ; mov dptr,#my_string ;my_string is the label where the string is stored ; acall LCD_sendstring ;Send string ; ; To store a string.. ; my_string: ; DB "LCD Tutorial", 00H ; 00H indicate that string is finished.

The equivalent C code Keil C compiler. Similar code can be written for SDCC. CODE: void LCD_sendstring(unsigned char *var) { while(*var) //till string ends LCD_senddata(*var++); //send characters one by one } // Using the above function is really simple // we will pass the string directly to the function // e.g. // // LCD_sendstring("LCD Tutorial");

Now we are ready with sending data and sending command to LCD. Now the last and final section which is creating custom characters or patterns to display on LCD. Please proceed to the next section to read more. CGRAM and Character Building
As already explained, all character based LCD of type HD44780 has CGRAM area to create user defined patterns. For making custom patterns we need to write values to the CGRAM area defining which pixel to glow. These values are to be written in the CGRAM adress starting from 0x40. If you are wondering why it starts from 0x40? Then the answer is given below.

Bit 7 is 0 and Bit 6 is 1, due to which the CGRAM adress command starts from 0x40, where the address of CGRAM (Acg) starts from 0x00. CGRAM has a total of 64 Bytes. When you are using LCD as 5x8 dots in function set then you can define a total of 8 user defined patterns (1 Byte for each row and 8 rows for each pattern), where as when LCD is working in 5x10 dots, you can define 4 user defined patterns. Lets take an of bulding a custom pattern. All we have to do is make a pixel-map of 7x5 and get the hex or decimal value or hex value for each row, bit value is 1 if pixel is glowing and bit value is 0 if pixel is off. The final 7 values are loaded to the CGRAM one by one. As i said there are 8 rows for each pattern, so last row is usually left blank (0x00) for the cursor. If you are not using cursor then you can make use of that 8th row also. so you get a bigger pattern.

To explain the above explaination in a better way. I am going to take an example. Lets make a "Bell" pattern as shown below.

Now we get the values for each row as shown. Bit: 4 3 2 1 0 - Hex Row1: 0 0 1 0 0 - 0x04 Row2: 0 1 1 1 0 - 0x0E Row3: 0 1 1 1 0 - 0x0E Row4: 0 1 1 1 0 - 0x0E Row5: 1 1 1 1 1 - 0x1F Row6: 0 0 0 0 0 - 0x00 Row7: 0 0 1 0 0 - 0x04 Row8: 0 0 0 0 0 - 0x00 We are not using row 8 as in our pattern it is not required. if you are using cursor then it is recommended not to use the 8th row. Now as we have got the values. We just need to

put these values in the CGRAM. You can decided which place you want to store in. Following is the memory map for custom patterns in CGRAM. Memory Map Pattern No. CGRAM Address (Acg) 1 0x00 - 0x07 2 0x08 - 0x0F 3 0x10 - 0x17 4 0x18 - 0x1F 5 0x20 - 0x27 6 0x28 - 0x2F 7 0x30 - 0x37 8 0x38 - 0x3F We can point the cursor to CGRAM address by sending command, which is 0x40 + CGRAM address (For more information please see Table 4 in commands section). Lets say we want to write the Bell pattern at second pattern location. So we send the command as 0x48 (0x40 + 0x08), and then we send the pattern data. Below is a small programming example to do this.

CODE: ;LCD Ports are same as discussed in previous sections LCD_build: mov A,#48H where we want to store acall LCD_command mov A,#04H acall LCD_senddata mov A,#0EH acall LCD_senddata mov A,#0EH acall LCD_senddata mov A,#0EH acall LCD_senddata mov A,#1FH acall LCD_senddata mov A,#00H acall LCD_senddata mov A,#04H acall LCD_senddata mov A,#00H

;Load the location ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load ;Send ;Load the row the row the row the row the row the row the row the row command 1 data data 2 data data 3 data data 4 data data 5 data data 6 data data 7 data data 8 data

acall LCD_senddata ret

;Send the data ;Return from routine

The above routine will create bell character at pattern location 2. To display the above generated pattern on LCD, simply load the pattern location (0,1,2,...7) and call the LCD_senddata subroutine. Now we can also write the above routine in C as...

CODE: //LCD Ports are same as discussed in previous sections void LCD_build(){ LCD_command(0x48); //Load the location where we want to store LCD_senddata(0x04); //Load row 1 data LCD_senddata(0x0E); //Load row 2 data LCD_senddata(0x0E); //Load row 3 data LCD_senddata(0x0E); //Load row 4 data LCD_senddata(0x1F); //Load row 5 data LCD_senddata(0x00); //Load row 6 data LCD_senddata(0x04); //Load row 7 data LCD_senddata(0x00); //Load row 8 data }
I think now most of you find programing in C more simple than assembly. We can also summarize the above in a simple small routine so that you can simply call the build routine providing a pointer to array containing the build data. Below example shows how to do it.

CODE: //Input: // location: location where you want to store // 0,1,2,....7 // ptr: Pointer to pattern data // //Usage: // pattern[8]={0x04,0x0E,0x0E,0x0E,0x1F,0x00,0x04,0x00}; // LCD_build(1,pattern); // //LCD Ports are same as discussed in previous sections

void LCD_build(unsigned char location, unsigned char *ptr){ unsigned char i; if(location<8){ LCD_command(0x40+(location*8)); for(i=0;i<8;i++) LCD_senddata(ptr[ i ]); } }

So the above example shows how to simpify most of your work. To make easy for you to find the values for custom patterns. You can make use of Custom Character Calculator given below.

Custom Character Calculator Bitmap Decimal Hex

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

List of bitmap values: Dec: Hex:

0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00

This part of the tutorial ends here. For programming help please post in the forum. Have a nice time with your LCD.

LCD interfacing with Microcontrollers tutorial - 4-bit Mode

Introduction
Till now whatever we discussed in the previous part of ths LCD tutorial, we were dealing with 8-bit mode. Now we are going to learn how to use LCD in 4-bit mode. There are many reasons why sometime we prefer to use LCD in 4-bit mode instead of 8-bit. One basic reason is lesser number of pins are needed to interface LCD. In 4-bit mode the data is sent in nibbles, first we send the higher nibble and then the lower nibble. To enable the 4-bit mode of LCD, we need to follow special sequence of initialization that tells the LCD controller that user has selected 4-bit mode of operation. We call this special sequence as resetting the LCD. Following is the reset sequence of LCD.

Wait for abour 20mS Send the first init value (0x30) Wait for about 10mS Send second init value (0x30) Wait for about 1mS Send third init value (0x30) Wait for 1mS Select bus width (0x30 - for 8-bit and 0x20 for 4-bit) Wait for 1mS

The busy flag will only be valid after the above reset sequence. Usually we do not use busy flag in 4-bit mode as we have to write code for reading two nibbles from the LCD. Instead we simply put a certain ammount of delay usually 300 to 600uS. This delay might vary depending on the LCD you are using, as you might have a different crystal frequency on which LCD controller is running. So it actually depends on the LCD module you are using. So if you feel any problem running the LCD, simply try to increase the delay. This usually works. For me about 400uS works perfect.

LCD connections in 4-bit Mode

Above is the connection diagram of LCD in 4-bit mode, where we only need 6 pins to interface an LCD. D4-D7 are the data pins connection and Enable and Register select are for LCD control pins. We are not using Read/Write (RW) Pin of the LCD, as we are only writing on the LCD so we have made it grounded permanently. If you want to use it.. then you may connect it on your controller but that will only increase another pin and does not make any big difference. Potentiometer RV1 is used to control the LCD contrast. The unwanted data pins of LCD i.e. D0-D3 are connected to ground.

Sending data/command in 4-bit Mode

We will now look into the common steps to send data/command to LCD when working in 4-bit mode. As i already explained in 4-bit mode data is sent nibble by nibble, first we send higher nibble and then lower nibble. This means in both command and data sending function we need to saperate the higher 4-bits and lower 4-bits.

The common steps are:

Mask lower 4-bits Send to the LCD port Send enable signal Mask higher 4-bits Send to LCD port Send enable signal

We are done with the theory part now, In the next section we will take a look at the programming microcontroller to control LCD in 4-bit mode.

LCD interfacing with Microcontrollers tutorial - 4-bit Mode

4-bit Initialization
Initialization of LCD is completed only after the reset sequence and basic initialization commands. We have already discussed about the reset sequence of the lcd in the previous section. So lets look at the programming now...

Assembly Program CODE: ;In this whole 4-bit tutorial LCD is connected to ;my controller in following way... ;D4 - P3.0 ;D5 - P3.1 ;D6 - P3.2 ;D7 - P3.3 ;EN - P3.7 ;RS - P3.5 lcd_port equ P3 en equ P3.7 rs equ P3.5 lcd_reset: mov lcd_port, mov delay,#20 acall delayms mov lcd_port, Init mov lcd_port, mov delay,#15 acall delayms mov lcd_port, EN = 1 mov lcd_port, mov delay,#5 acall delayms mov lcd_port, mov lcd_port, mov delay,#5 acall delayms mov lcd_port, 4bit) ;LCD connected to Port3 ;Enable connected to P3.7 ;Register select to P3.5 ;LCD reset sequence #0FFH ;20mS delay #83H #03H ;Data = 30H, EN = 1, First ;Data = 30H, EN = 0 ;Delay 15mS ;Second Init, Data = 30H, ;Data = 30H, EN = 0 ;Delay 5mS ;Third Init ;Delay 5mS #82H ;Select Data width (20H for

#83H #03H

#83H #03H

mov lcd_port, #02H mov delay,#5 acall delayms ret lcd_init: acall lcd_reset mov a,#28H acall lcd_cmd mov a,#0CH acall lcd_cmd mov a,#06H increment) acall lcd_cmd mov a,#80H acall lcd_cmd ret

;Data = 20H, EN = 0 ;Delay 5mS

;Call LCD Reset sequence ;4-bit, 2 line, 5x7 dots ;Call LCD command ;Display ON cursor OFF ;Call LCD command ;Set entry mode (Auto ;Call LCD command ;Bring cursor to line 1 ;Call LCD command

C Program CODE: //The pins used are same as explained earlier #define lcd_port P3 //LCD Registers addresses #define LCD_EN 0x80 #define LCD_RS 0x20 void lcd_reset() { lcd_port = 0xFF; delayms(20); lcd_port = 0x03+LCD_EN; lcd_port = 0x03; delayms(10); lcd_port = 0x03+LCD_EN; lcd_port = 0x03; delayms(1); lcd_port = 0x03+LCD_EN; lcd_port = 0x03; delayms(1); lcd_port = 0x02+LCD_EN; lcd_port = 0x02; delayms(1);

} void lcd_init () { lcd_reset(); lcd_cmd(0x28); font. lcd_cmd(0x0C); blink. lcd_cmd(0x06); Display shift. lcd_cmd(0x80); 80h. }

// Call LCD reset // 4-bit mode - 2 line - 5x7 // Display no cursor - no // Automatic Increment - No // Address DDRAM with 0 offset

Sending Dommand/Data to LCD in 4-bit mode

Assembly Program CODE: lcd_cmd: mov temp,a temp swap a anl a,#0FH add a,#80H mov lcd_port,a anl a,#0FH mov lcd_port,a mov anl add mov anl mov a,temp a,#0FH a,#80H lcd_port,a a,#0FH lcd_port,a ;Swap to use higher nibble ;Mask the first four bits ;Enable = 1, RS = 0 ;Move it to lcd port ;Enable = 0, RS = 0 ;Move to lcd port ;Reload the command from temp ;Mask first four bits ;Enable = 1 ;Move to port ;Enable = 0 ;Move to lcd port ;delay 1 ms ;LCD command Routine ;Save a copy of command to

mov delay,#1 acall delayms ret lcd_dat: mov temp,a swap a

;LCD data Routine ;Keep copy of data in temp ;We need higher nibble

anl add mov nop clr mov anl add mov nop clr

a,#0FH a,#0A0H lcd_port,a en a,temp a,#0FH a,#0A0H lcd_port,a en

;Mask first four bits ;Enable = 1, RS = 1 ;Move to lcd port ;Enable = 0 ;Reload the data from temp ;we need lower nibble now ;Enable = 1, RS = 1 ;Move to lcd port ;Enable = 0 ;Delay 1mS

mov delay,#1 acall delayms ret

C Program CODE: void lcd_cmd (char cmd) { lcd_port = ((cmd >> 4) & 0x0F)|LCD_EN; lcd_port = ((cmd >> 4) & 0x0F); lcd_port = (cmd & 0x0F)|LCD_EN; lcd_port = (cmd & 0x0F); delayus(200); delayus(200); } void lcd_data (unsigned char dat) { lcd_port = (((dat >> 4) & 0x0F)|LCD_EN|LCD_RS); lcd_port = (((dat >> 4) & 0x0F)|LCD_RS); lcd_port = ((dat & 0x0F)|LCD_EN|LCD_RS); lcd_port = ((dat & 0x0F)|LCD_RS); delayus(200); delayus(200); }