Working with time: interrupts, counters and timers

Chapter Six

Dr. Gheith Abandah

Outline
Interrupts
Interrupt Structures Interrupt Demonstration Program Dealing with Multiple Interrupt Sources Context Saving

Counters and Timers Watchdog Timer Sleep Mode

Dr. Gheith Abandah 2

General Interrupt Structure

Dr. Gheith Abandah

The 16F84A Interrupt Sources

1. External interrupt. It shares a pin with Port B, bit 0. It is edge triggered. 2. Timer 0 overflow. It occurs when the timers 8-bit counter overflows. 3. Port B interrupt on change. This interrupts when a change is detected on any of the higher 4 bits of Port B. 4. EEPROM write complete.
Dr. Gheith Abandah 4

The 16F84A Interrupt Structure

INTCON: SFR 0Bh

Dr. Gheith Abandah 5

PIC Response to an Interrupt

Dr. Gheith Abandah

Interrupt Demonstration 1 Page 1

#include p16f84A.inc

; ;Port A all output ;Port B: Bit 0 = Interrupt input ; org 00 ;Reset start goto start
org 04 ;Int Service Routine start goto Int_Routine
Dr. Gheith Abandah 7

Interrupt Demonstration 1 Page 2

start bsf movlw movwf movlw movwf status,rp0 01 trisb 00 trisa ;select bank 1 ;bits 1-7 output, bit 0 input

;porta bits all output

bcf status,rp0 ;select bank 0 bsf intcon,inte ;enable external interrupt bsf intcon,gie ;enable global int ;Remove semi-colon from following instruction to change ;interrupt edge ; bsf option_reg,intedg
Dr. Gheith Abandah 8

Interrupt Demonstration 1 Page 3

wait movlw movwf movlw movwf goto ; org 0080 Int_Routine ;Int Service Routine continues here movlw 00 movwf porta bcf intcon,intf ;clear INTF - Important retfie Dr. Gheith Abandah 9 end 0a porta 15 porta wait ;set up initial port output values

Multiple Interrupts Identifying the Source

interrupt btfsc goto btfsc goto btfsc goto btfsc goto intcon,0 portb_int intcon,1 ext_int intcon,2 timer_int eecon1,4 eeprom_int ;test RBIF ;Port B Change routine ;test INTF ;external interrupt routine ;test T0IF ;timer overflow routine ;test EEPROM write complete flag ;EEPROM write complete routine

Dr. Gheith Abandah

10

Bad Effects of Interrupt Service Routines

movf addwf movwf btfsc plo,0 qlo,0 ;What happens on an interrupt here? rlo status,0

Int_Routine bcf status,0 ;clear the Carry flag movlw 0ff ;change W reg value bcf intcon,intf retfie end
Dr. Gheith Abandah 11

Solution: Context Saving

PUSH movwf w_temp swapf status,0 movwf status_temp ;Copy W to W_TEMP register ;Swap status into W ;Save status

...

Actual ISR goes here

... POP
swapf movwf swapf swapf status_temp,0 ;Swap nibbles into W status ;Move W into STATUS register w_temp,1 ;Swap nibbles in W_TEMP w_temp,0 ;Swap nibbles in W_TEMP into W

Clear interrupt flag(s) here

retfie
Dr. Gheith Abandah 12

Critical Regions
In critical regions, we cannot allow the intrusion of an interrupt. Critical regions generally include all timesensitive activity and any calculation where the ISR makes use of the result. Disable, or mask, the interrupts for their duration, by manipulating the enable bits in the INTCON register.
Dr. Gheith Abandah 13

Counters and Timers

A digital counter is usually made of flip flops and counts up or down. When the triggering event is a constant frequency clock, we get a timer.

Dr. Gheith Abandah

14

Timer Applications
(a) Measure the time between two events (b) Measure the time between two pulses (c) Measure a pulse duration

Use polling or interrupts

Dr. Gheith Abandah

15

PIC 16F84A Timer 0 Module

Dr. Gheith Abandah

16

PIC 16F84A Timer 0 Module

Dr. Gheith Abandah

17

Option Register

T0CS: Clock source select T0SE: Source edge select PSA: Prescaler assignment bit PS2:PS0: Prescaler rate select

Dr. Gheith Abandah

18

Counter Demonstration Page 1

; ;Demos Timer 0 as counter, using ping-pong hardware ; ;Clock freq 800kHz approx (RC osc.) ;Port A 4 right paddle (ip) Counter input. ; 2 "out of play" led (op) ;Port B 7-0 "play" leds (all op) ; list p=16F84A #include p16f84A.inc ;

Dr. Gheith Abandah

19

Counter Demonstration Page 2

; org 00 ; Initialise bsf status,rp0 movlw B'00011000' movwf trisa movlw 00 movwf trisb movlw B'00101000'

;select memory bank 1

;set port A to above pattern

;all port B bits output ;set up T00 for external input, ; +ve edge, and no prescale

movwf TMR0 bcf status,rp0 ;select bank 0 ;

Dr. Gheith Abandah 20

Counter Demonstration Page 3

; movlw movwf movf movwf goto end 04 ;switch on a led to show power is on porta TMR0,0 ;Continuously display T0 on Port B portb loop

loop

Dr. Gheith Abandah

21

Hardware-Generated Delays
In software-generated delays, the CPU is tied up during the delay time. Can use Timer 0 for delays. The timer overflow interrupt is used to inform the CPU when the delay time is up. Example:
Clock = 800 KHz Fosc/4 = 200 KHz T = 5 s Preselect = 8 for 125 count 125 x 8 x 5 s = 5.00 ms Need to set T0 at 256-125 = 131 to get overflow after 5 ms
Dr. Gheith Abandah 22

HW Delay Demonstration Page 1

... ;Initialise org start movlw movwf movlw movwf movlw 0010 bsf status,5 B'00011000' trisa 00 trisb B'00000010'

;select memory bank 1

;set port A to above pattern

;all port B bits output ;set up T0 for internal input, ; prescale by 8 ;select bank 0

movwf option_reg bcf status,5 ...

Dr. Gheith Abandah

23

HW Delay Demonstration Page 2

... ;introduces delay of 5ms approx delay5 movlw D'131' ;preload T0, so that 125 cycles, ; each of 40us, occur to overflow movwf TMR0 del1 btfss intcon,2 ;test for Timer Overflow flag goto del1 ;loop if not set bcf intcon,2 ;clear Timer Overflow flag return

Dr. Gheith Abandah

24

The Watchdog Timer

A big danger with any computer-based system is that the software fails in some way and that the system locks up or becomes unresponsive. The WDT continually counts up. If it ever overflows, it forces the microcontroller into reset. If the instruction clrwdt is not executed every (18 ms * prescaler rate), overflow occurs.
Dr. Gheith Abandah 25

Sleep Mode
When the sleep instruction is executed, the PIC halts execution and enters power saving mode. It awakes at:
External reset (MCLR) WDT wake-up Occurrence of an enabled interrupt

Dr. Gheith Abandah

26

Summary
Interrupts and counter/timers are important hardware features of almost all microcontrollers. They both carry a number of important hardware and software concepts, which must be understood. The basic techniques of using interrupts and counter/timers have been introduced in this chapter. There is considerably increased sophistication in their use in more advanced applications.

Dr. Gheith Abandah

27