Lecture 7 - LCD

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
HD44780u character LCD

What type of LCD?
About 44780
• The 44780 standard requires 3 control lines as well as either 4
or 8 I/O lines for the data bus.
– The three control lines are: E, RS, and RW
• The user can select whether the LCD is to operate with a 4-bit
data bus or an 8-bit data bus.
– If a 4-bit interface is used, the LCD will require a total of 7
pins/lines (3 control lines + 4 lines for the data bus).
– If an 8-bit interface is used the LCD will require a total of 11
pins/lines (3 control lines + 8 lines for the data bus).
About Character LCD
• The most common LCDs are 16x2 and 20x2 displays

– 16x2 - 16 characters per line and 2 lines
• HD44780U is the de-facto product for character LCD.
• Vast majority of manufacturers produce LCDs that
are compatible with this product.
Cursor Positioning
• The area shaded in blue is the visible display.

• There are 16 characters per line by 2 lines.
• The numbers in each box is the memory
address that corresponds to that screen
position.
Example
• The first character in the upper left-hand corner is at

address 00h. The following character position is address
01h, etc.
• This continues until we reach the 16th character of the
first line which is at address 0Fh.
• If we write a character to the last position of the first
line and then write a second character, the second
character will not appear on the second line.
• You should force cursor to the beginning of the 2nd line.
Schematic (4-bit interface)
• (DB4, DB5, DB6, and DB7) are used for data
Source: MCB2300-schematic.pdf
Control Line: Enable
• The E line is called "Enable“.
• The E line is used to start data read/write
• The E line must be raised/lowered

before/after each instruction sent to the LCD
regardless of whether that instruction is read
or write, text or instruction. If you never bring
E low, your instruction will never be executed.
Control Line: Register Select
• The RS line is the "Register Select" line.

• When RS is low (0)
– the data on the data lines is to be treated as a
command or a special instruction (such as clear
screen, position cursor, etc.).
• When RS is high (1)
– the data being sent is a character which should be
displayed on the screen.
Control Line: Read/Write
• The R/W line is the "Read/Write" control line.
• When R/W is low (0), the information on the data
bus is being written to the LCD.
• When R/W is high (1), the program is effectively
querying (or reading) the LCD.
• Only one instruction ("Get LCD status") is a read
command. All others are write commands, R/W will
almost always be low.
Initializing the LCD
• Before you can really use the LCD, you must initialize and configure it.
– This is accomplished by sending a number of initialization instructions to the LCD.
• 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.
1. Display clear
2. Function set:
DL = 1 ; 8-bit interface data
N = 0 ; 1-line display
F = 0 ; 5 x 8 dot character font
3. Display on/off control:
D = 0 ; Display off
C = 0 ; Cursor off
B = 0 ; Blinking off
4. Entry mode set:
I/D = 1 ; Increment by 1 (I/D  Increment/Decrement)
S = 0 ; No shift
Two approaches
1. Not checking Busy Flag at all

– Estimate the processing time of LCD
– Creates a time delay that’s long enough so that LCD can
receive all of the commands and data.
– However, this approach is not flexible. If more than one
supplier is used in the product line, the software may not
work for all platforms.
Source: HD44780u manual
Two approaches
2. Check busy flag

– Flexible
– Can get the fastest display time out of the LCD
– Works with any compatible LCD without “tuning” the
software
Checking the Busy Flag
To check the state of the busy flag and read the

address counter
– Set R/W Pin of the LCD (to read from the LCD)
– Select the instruction register by clearing RS pin
– Enable the LCD by setting the enable E pin
– The most significant bit of the LCD data bus (DB7) is the
state of the busy flag (1=Busy,0=ready to accept
instructions/data). The other bits hold the current value of
the address counter.
What is Busy Flag?
• It takes a certain amount of time for each

instruction to be executed by the LCD.
• The delay varies depending on the frequency of
the crystal attached to the oscillator input of the
HD44780 as well as the instruction which is being
executed.
• When an instruction is being executed for internal
operation, no instruction other than the busy
flag/address read instruction can be executed.
Busy Flag
• When the busy flag is 1

– the HD44780U is in the internal
operation mode, and the next instruction will not
be accepted.
• When RS = 0 and R/W = 1, the busy flag is
output to DB7.
– Check it to make sure it is 0 before sending in
another instruction.
Busy Flag check timing sequence
8-bit interface

4-bit interface
Source: MCB2300-schematic.pdf
4-bit interface
• 8-bit data is constructed by sending 4-bit data twice.
• Four high order bits (for 8-bit operation, DB4 to DB7)
are transferred before the four low order bits.
4-bit interface

LCM-S01602DSR/B
Source: http://www.lumex.com/specs/LCM-S01602DSR%20B.pdf

Lecture 7 - LCD

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Lecture 7 - LCD

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Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

HD44780u character LCD

• The most common LCDs are 16x2 and 20x2 displays

• The area shaded in blue is the visible display.

• The first character in the upper left-hand corner is at

• The E line must be raised/lowered

• The RS line is the "Register Select" line.

1. Not checking Busy Flag at all

2. Check busy flag

To check the state of the busy flag and read the

• It takes a certain amount of time for each

• When the busy flag is 1

Source: HD44780u manual

Source: HD44780u manual

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