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General description of an LCD 2xN characters

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PIN
Normally the only difference in varius LCD may be the assignment of pins, the mechanical dimensions and the presence or absence of back light.
Below is the pin out of MDLS16265BLVLD4 available from WWW.SILICA.COM whose main features are:

Below is another pin out of an LCD which has no lighting.
Pin number Symbol  Level   I/O Function
1 Vss - - Power supply (GND)
2 Vcc - - Power supply (+5V)
3 Vee - - Contrast adjust
4 RS 0/1 I 0 = Instruction input
1 = Data input
5 R/W 0/1 I 0 = Write to LCD module
1 = Read from LCD module
6 E 1, 1->0 I Enable signal
7 DB0 0/1 I/O Data bus line 0 (LSB)
8 DB1 0/1 I/O Data bus line 1
9 DB2 0/1 I/O Data bus line 2
10 DB3 0/1 I/O Data bus line 3
11 DB4 0/1 I/O Data bus line 4
12 DB5 0/1 I/O Data bus line 5
13 DB6 0/1 I/O Data bus line 6
14 DB7 0/1 I/O Data bus line 7 (MSB)


pin1 GND
pin2 VCC usually 5V
pin3 LCD contrast, usually uses a potentiometer to properly adjust the contrast
pin4 RS Register Select
0 the data transferred to the LCD is a command and any data returned indicates the status
1 the data is transferred to or from the LCD
pin5 R/W Read/Write
0 write commands or characters to the LCD
1 read state or characters from the LCD
pin6 E enable, this line is used to transfer commands or characters to the LCD.
When you write on the LCD's acquisition of the LCD is made when this pin goes from 1 to 0.
When reading the LCD the acquisition by the MCU must be made after this line has gone from 0 to 1, the data remains available until this line back to 0.
pin7 to pin14 are the data bus
Remember that the data can be transferred to 4bit (nibbles using D4 ... D7) or 8bit.


Instruction set
Below are the commands available to drive the LCD

HD44780 instruction set
Instruction Code Description Execution time**
RS R/W DB7 DB6 DB5 DB4 DB3 DB2 DB1 DB0
Clear display 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Clears display and returns cursor to the home position (address 0). 1.64mS
Cursor home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 * Returns cursor to home position (address 0). Also returns display being shifted to the original position. DDRAM contents remains unchanged. 1.64mS
Entry mode set 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 I/D S Sets cursor move direction (I/D), specifies to shift the display (S). These operations are performed during data read/write. 40uS
Display On/Off control 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 D C B Sets On/Off of all display (D), cursor On/Off (C) and blink of cursor position character (B). 40uS
Cursor/display shift 0 0 0 0 0 1 S/C R/L * * Sets cursor-move or display-shift (S/C), shift direction (R/L). DDRAM contents remains unchanged. 40uS
Function set 0 0 0 0 1 DL N F * * Sets interface data length (DL), number of display line (N) and character font(F). 40uS
Set CGRAM address 0 0 0 1 CGRAM address Sets the CGRAM address. CGRAM data is sent and received after this setting. 40uS
Set DDRAM address 0 0 1 DDRAM address Sets the DDRAM address. DDRAM data is sent and received after this setting. 40uS
Read busy-flag and address counter 0 1 BF CGRAM / DDRAM address Reads Busy-flag (BF) indicating internal operation is being performed and reads CGRAM or DDRAM address counter contents (depending on previous instruction). 0uS
Write to CGRAM or DDRAM 1 0 write data Writes data to CGRAM or DDRAM. 40uS
Read from CGRAM or DDRAM 1 1 read data Reads data from CGRAM or DDRAM. 40uS

Remarks:
- DDRAM = Display Data RAM.
- CGRAM = Character Generator RAM.
- DDRAM address corresponds to cursor position.
- * = Don't care.
- ** = Based on Fosc = 250kHz.

Bit names
Bit name Setting / Status
I/D 0 = Decrement cursor position 1 = Increment cursor position
S 0 = No display shift 1 = Display shift
D 0 = Display off 1 = Display on
C 0 = Cursor off 1 = Cursor on
B 0 = Cursor blink off 1 = Cursor blink on
S/C 0 = Move cursor 1 = Shift display
R/L 0 = Shift left 1 = Shift right
DL 0 = 4-bit interface 1 = 8-bit interface
N 0 = 1/8 or 1/11 Duty (1 line) 1 = 1/16 Duty (2 lines)
F 0 = 5x7 dots 1 = 5x10 dots
BF 0 = Can accept instruction 1 = Internal operation in progress


In generale un LCD di 2 righe per 40 caratteri sarà come sotto.
2-line LCD

Interfacing
The LCD can be interfaced to 8 and 4 bits.

8-bit interface
Example of busy flag testing using an 8-bit interface.
8-bit interface

4-bit interface
Example of busy flag testing using a 4-bit interface.
4-bit interface


Example of data transfer using a 4-bit interface.
4-bit interface

Character set
Below are sample CGROM Character Code Table of MDLS16265BLVLD4

Under there is a map of another character LCD with font size 5x7 dots
LCD character set
SOFTWARE
To develop a suitable set of commands for the LCD must provide at least the commands below:

LCD initialisation
Entry mode 
- Sets entry mode of the LCD
- b0 : 0 = no display shift, 1 = display shift
 b1 : 0 = auto-decrement, 1 = auto-increment
 b2-b7 : don't care
Display mode
- Sets display control
- b0 : 0 = cursor blink off, 1 = cursor blink on (if b1 = 1)
 b1 : 0 = cursor off, 1 = cursor on
 b2 : 0 = display off, 1 = display on (display data remains in DD-RAM)
 b3-b7 : don't care
Set character generator RAM address
- Sets the Character-Generator-RAM address.
 CGRAM data is read/written after this setting.
Set display data RAM address
- Sets the Display-Data-RAM address.
 DDRAM data is read/written after this setting.
Get address counter contents
- Returns address counter contents, used for both DDRAM and CGRAM.
Test Busy flag
Clear display
Clear Line(num.line)
Cursor home
Set cursor position(row, position)
Write character
Write string




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