Philips pcf8579 DATASHEETS

INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

DATA SH EET

PCF8579

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

Product speciﬁcation Supersedes data of February 1995 File under Integrated Circuits, IC12

1996 Oct 25

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

FEATURES

• LCD column driver

• Used in conjunction with the PCF8578, this device forms

part of a chip set capable of driving up to 40960 dots

• 40 column outputs

• Selectable multiplex rates; 1 : 8, 1 : 16, 1 : 24 or 1 : 32

• Externally selectable bias configuration, 5 or 6 levels

• Easily cascadable for large applications (up to

32 devices)

• 1280-bit RAM for display data storage

• Display memory bank switching

• Auto-incremented data loading across hardware

subaddress boundaries (with PCF8578)

• Power-on reset blanks display

• Logic voltage supply range 2.5 to 6 V

• Maximum LCD supply voltage 9 V

• Low power consumption

2

C-bus interface

• I

• TTL/CMOS compatible

• Compatible with most microcontrollers

• Optimized pinning for single plane wiring in multiple

device applications (with PCF8578)

• Space saving 56-lead plastic mini-pack and 64-pin plastic low profile quad flat package

• Compatible with chip-on-glass technology.

PCF8579

APPLICATIONS

• Automotive information systems

• Telecommunication systems

• Point-of-sale terminals

• Computer terminals

• Instrumentation.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The PCF8579 is a low power CMOS LCD column driver, designed to drive dot matrix graphic displays at multiplex rates of 1 : 8, 1 : 16, 1 : 24 or 1 : 32. The device has 40 outputs and can drive 32 × 40 dots in a 32 row multiplexed LCD. Up to 16 PCF8579s can be cascaded and up to 32 devices may be used on the same I (using the two slave addresses). The device is optimized for use with the PCF8578 LCD row/column driver. Together these two devices form a general purpose LCD dot matrix driver chip set, capable of driving displays of up to 40960 dots. The PCF8579 is compatible with most microcontrollers and communicates via a two-line bidirectional bus (I2C-bus). Communication overheads are minimized by a display RAM with auto-incremented addressing and display bank switching.

2

C-bus

ORDERING INFORMATION

TYPE

NUMBER

PCF8579T VSO56 plastic very small outline package; 56 leads SOT190

PCF8579U7 − chip with bumps on tape −

PCF8579H LQFP64 plastic low proﬁle quad ﬂat package; 64 leads; body 10 × 10 × 1.4 mm SOT314-2

1996 Oct 25 2

NAME DESCRIPTION VERSION

PACKAGE

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

BLOCK DIAGRAM

12 (20)

V

DD

14 (22)

V

3

15 (23)

V

4

LCD

V

SS

16 (24)

6 (12)

5 (11)

V

TEST

C39 - C0

17 - 56 (30 to 33, 35 to 64, 1 to 6)

(1)

COLUMN DRIVERS

OUTPUT

CONTROLLER

PCF8579

SCL

SDA

Y DECODER

AND SENSING

AMPLIFIERS

POWER-ON

RESET

8 (14)

A3

9 (16)

A2

10 (17)

A1

11 (18)

A0

2 (8) 1 (7)

INPUT

FILTERS

(15, 19, 21, 25 to 29, 34) 13

n.c.

SUBADDRESS

COUNTER

2

I C-BUS

CONTROLLER

SA0

RAM DATA POINTER

YX

7 (13)

32 x 40 BIT

DISPLAY RAM

X DECODER

COMMAND

DECODER

DISPLAY

DECODER

TIMING

GENERATOR

(9) 3

(10) 4

MSA919

SYNC CLK

(1) LCD voltage levels, all other blocks operate at logic levels. The pin numbers given in parenthesis refer to the 64-pin version.

1996 Oct 25 3

Fig.1 Block diagram.

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic

PCF8579

displays

PINNING

SYMBOL

VSO56 LQFP64

SDA 1 7 I SCL 2 8 I SYNC 3 9 cascade synchronization input CLK 4 10 external clock input V

SS

5 11 ground (logic) TEST 6 12 test pin (connect to V SA0 7 13 I A3 to A0 8 to 11 14, 16 to 18 I V

DD

n.c. 13

, V

V

3

4

V

LCD

12 20 supply voltage

(1)

14 and 15 22 and 23 LCD bias voltage inputs

16 24 LCD supply voltage

C39 to C0 17 to 56 30 to 33, 35 to 64 and 1 to 6 LCD column driver outputs

PINS

DESCRIPTION

2

C-bus serial data input/output

2

C-bus serial clock input

2

C-bus slave address input (bit 0)

2

C-bus subaddress inputs

15, 19, 21,25 to 29, 34 not connected

SS

)

Note

1. Do not connect, this pin is reserved.

1996 Oct 25 4

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

SDA

1 2

SCL

SYNC

3

CLK

4

V

5

SS

TEST

6

SA0

7

A3

8

A2

9

A1

10 11

A0

V

12

DD

n.c.

13

V

14

3

PCF8579

15

4

16 17 18 19 20

21 22

23 24 25 26

27 28

V

LCD

C39 C38

C37 C36

C35 C34 C33 C32 C31 C30 C29 C28

PCF8579

C0

56 55

C1

54

C2 C3

53

C4

52

C5

51 50

C6

49

C7 C8

48 47

C9

46

C10

45

C11

44

C12

43

C13

42

C14

41

C15

40

C16

39

C17

38

C18

37

C19

36

C20

35

C21

34

C22 C23

33

C24

32 31

C25

30

C26

29

C27

1996 Oct 25 5

MSA918

Fig.2 Pin configuration (VSO56).

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

handbook, full pagewidth

C5 C4 C3 C2 C1

C0 SDA SCL

SYNC

CLK V

SS

TEST

SA0

A3

n.c.

A2

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

C6

C7

C8

C9

C10

C11

C12

C13

64

63

62

61

60

59

58

57

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

PCF8579

C14 56

C15 55

C16 54

C17 53

C18 52

C19 51

C20 50

C21 49

PCF8579

C22

48 47

C23 C24

46

C25

45

C26

44 43

C27 C28

42

C29

41 40

C30

39

C31

38

C32 C33

37

C34

36 35

C35 n.c.

34 33

C36

1996 Oct 25 6

17 A1

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

V4V

LCD

V

A0

n.c.

V

DD

n.c.

3

Fig.3 Pin configuration (LQFP64).

25 n.c.

26 n.c.

27 n.c.

28 n.c.

29 n.c.

30

C39

31

C38

32

C37

MBH590

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION

The PCF8579 column driver is designed for use with the PCF8578. Together they form a general purpose LCD dot matrix chip set.

Typically up to 16 PCF8579s may be used with one PCF8578. Each of the PCF8579s is identified by a unique 4-bit hardware subaddress, set by pins A0 to A3. The PCF8578 can operate with up to 32 PCF8579s when using two I2C-bus slave addresses. The two slave addresses are set by the logic level on input SA0.

Multiplexed LCD bias generation

The bias levels required to produce maximum contrast depend on the multiplex rate and the LCD threshold voltage (V which the LCD exhibits 10% contrast. Table 1 shows the optimum voltage bias levels for the PCF8578/PCF8579 chip set as functions of Vop(Vop=VDD− V with the discrimination ratios (D) for the different multiplex rates. A practical value for Vop is obtained by equating V

off(rms)

Table 1 Optimum LCD bias voltages

). Vth is typically defined as the RMS voltage at

th

), together

LCD

with Vth.

PCF8579

1.0

V

bias

op

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

1:8 1:16 1:32

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

Fig.4 LCD bias voltages as a function of the

multiplex rate.

MSA838

1:24

multiplex rate

PARAMETER

V

2

--------V

op

V

3

--------V

op

V

4

--------V

op

V

5

--------V

op

V

off rms()

----------------------V

op

V

on rms()

---------------------- V

op

V

on rms()

=

D

----------------------V

off rms()

V

op

--------V

th

MULTIPLEX RATE

1:8 1:16 1:24 1:32

0.739 0.800 0.830 0.850

0.522 0.600 0.661 0.700

0.478 0.400 0.339 0.300

0.261 0.200 0.170 0.150

0.297 0.245 0.214 0.193

0.430 0.316 0.263 0.230

1.447 1.291 1.230 1.196

3.370 4.080 4.680 5.190

Power-on reset

At power-on the PCF8579 resets to a defined starting condition as follows:

1. Display blank (in conjunction with PCF8578)

2. 1 : 32 multiplex rate

3. Start bank, 0 selected

4. Data pointer is set to X, Y address 0, 0

5. Character mode

6. Subaddress counter is set to 0

2

C-bus is initialized.

7. I Data transfers on the I2C-bus should be avoided for 1 ms

following power-on, to allow completion of the reset action.

1996 Oct 25 7

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

T

frame

0 1 2 3 4 5 67

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

ROW 0

COLUMN

ROW 0

COLUMN

ROW 0

COLUMN

ROW 0

COLUMN

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

SYNC

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

SYNC

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

SYNC

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

V

DD

V

2

V

3

V

4

V

5

V

LCD

SYNC

PCF8579

ON OFF

1:8

15

14131211109876543210

1:16

23222120191817161514131211109876543210

1:24

1:32

column

MSA841

display

1996 Oct 25 8

Fig.5 LCD row/column waveforms.

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

T

frame

ROW 1 R1 (t)

ROW 2 R2 (t)

COL 1 C1 (t)

COL 2 C2 (t)

V V V V V V

DD 2 3 4 5 LCD

state 1 (OFF) state 2 (ON)

dot matrix 1:8 multiplex rate

PCF8579

V

state 1

state 2

V

op

0.261 V 0 V

0.261 V

V

op

V

op

0.478 V

0.261 V 0 V

0.261 V

0.478 V V

op

V

state 1

V

on(rms)

V

op

V

state 2

V

off(rms)

V

op

op op

(t) = C1(t) R1(t):

188 1

=

8

(t) = C2(t) R2(t):

()

8 1

2

=

()

8

=

8 1

=

0.297

2

0.430

()

8 1

MSA840

general relationship (n = multiplex rate)

V

on(rms)

V

op

V

off(rms)

V

op

=

1

n

()

n

()

n

1

2

()

n

1

2

(t)

1996 Oct 25 9

Fig.6 LCD drive mode waveforms for 1 : 8 multiplex rate.

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

T

frame

ROW 1 R1 (t)

ROW 2 R2 (t)

COL 1 C1 (t)

COL 2 C2 (t)

V V V V V V

DD 2 3 4 5 LCD

PCF8579

state 1 (OFF) state 2 (ON)

dot matrix 1:16 multiplex rate

V

state 1

state 2

V

op

0.2 V 0 V

0.2 V

V

op

V

op

0.6 V

0.2 V 0 V

0.2 V

0.6 V V

op

V

state 1

V

on(rms)

V

state 2

V

off(rms)

V

op

op op

op

(t) =C1(t) R1(t):

1

16

16 1

()

=

(t) = C2(t) R2(t):

()

16 1

2

=

()

16 1

16

16 1

MSA836

general relationship (n = multiplex rate)

V

=

0.316

=

0.254

2

on(rms)

V

op

V

off(rms)

V

op

=

1

n

()

n

()

n

1

2

()

n

1

2

(t)

1996 Oct 25 10

Fig.7 LCD drive mode waveforms for 1 : 16 multiplex rate.sa

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

Timing generator

The timing generator of the PCF8579 organizes the internal data flow from the RAM to the display drivers. An external synchronization pulse SYNC is received from the PCF8578. This signal maintains the correct timing relationship between cascaded devices.

Column drivers

Outputs C0 to C39 are column drivers which must be connected to the LCD. Unused outputs should be left open-circuit.

Display RAM

The PCF8579 contains a 32 × 40-bit static RAM which stores the display data. The RAM is divided into 4 banks of 40 bytes (4 × 8 × 40 bits). During RAM access, data is transferred to/from the RAM via the I

Data pointer

The addressing mechanism for the display RAM is realized using the data pointer. This allows an individual data byte or a series of data bytes to be written into, or read from, the display RAM, controlled by commands sent on

2

C-bus.

the I

Subaddress counter

The storage and retrieval of display data is dependent on the content of the subaddress counter. Storage and retrieval take place only when the contents of the subaddress counter agree with the hardware subaddress at pins A0, A1, A2 and A3.

2

C-bus controller

I

The I2C-bus controller detects the I2C-bus protocol, slave address, commands and display data bytes. It performs the conversion of the data input (serial-to-parallel) and the data output (parallel-to-serial). The PCF8579 acts as an I2C-bus slave transmitter/receiver. Device selection depends on the I2C-bus slave address, the hardware subaddress and the commands transmitted.

Input ﬁlters

2

C-bus.

PCF8579

RAM access

There are three RAM ACCESS modes:

• Character

• Half-graphic

• Full-graphic.

These modes are specified by bits G1 and G0 of the RAM ACCESS command. The RAM ACCESS command controls the order in which data is written to or read from the RAM (see Fig.8).

To store RAM data, the user specifies the location into which the first byte will be loaded (see Fig.9):

• Device subaddress (specified by the DEVICE SELECT command)

• RAM X-address (specified by the LOAD X-ADDRESS command)

• RAM bank (specified by bits Y1 and Y0 of the RAM ACCESS command).

Subsequent data bytes will be written or read according to the chosen RAM access mode. Device subaddresses are automatically incremented between devices until the last device is reached. If the last device has subaddress 15, further display data transfers will lead to a wrap-around of the subaddress to 0.

Display control

The display is generated by continuously shifting rows of RAM data to the dot matrix LCD via the column outputs. The number of rows scanned depends on the multiplex rate set by bits M1 and M0 of the SET MODE command.

The display status (all dots on/off and normal/inverse video) is set by bits E1 and E0 of the SET MODE command. For bank switching, the RAM bank corresponding to the top of the display is set by bits B1 and B0 of the SET START BANK command. This is shown in Fig.10 This feature is useful when scrolling in alphanumeric applications.

TEST pin

The TEST pin must be connected to V

SS

.

To enhance noise immunity in electrically adverse environments, RC low-pass filters are provided on the SDA and SCL lines.

1996 Oct 25 11

Philips Semiconductors Product speciﬁcation

LCD column driver for dot matrix graphic displays

bank 0

bank 1

bank 2

LSB

bank 3

MSB

PCF8579

MSA921

driver 2 driver k

driver 1

PCF8579 PCF8579 PCF8579

RAM

4 bytes

character mode

1 k 16

PCF8579 system RAM

40-bits

01234567891011

1 byte

246810121416182022

0

1357911131517192123

2 bytes

half-graphic mode

4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 0

1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45

2 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 46

4 bytes

full-graphic mode

indicated above

written or read as

RAM data bytes are

3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47

Fig.8 RAM access mode.

1996 Oct 25 12

Philips pcf8579 DATASHEETS

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual