Computer to microcomputer interface
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of communicating between an outside computer and a microcontroller having a random access memory, using a two wire asynchronous bus, comprising the steps of:
- (A) transmitting an access signal from the computer to the microcontroller, using a first wire of the two wire asynchronous bus;
(B) determining a response step to be performed by the microcontroller, using the access signal from step (A); and
(C) performing a response step, using the microcontroller, said response step being from a group consisting of (1) loading data transmitted from the computer into the random access memory, using the first wire of the two wire asynchronous bus when the access signal indicates that the computer will write data to the random access memory;
(2) transmitting preselected contents from the random access memory to the computer, using a second wire of the two wire asynchronous bus when the access signal indicates that the computer will read data from the random access memory; and
(3) altering an operating status of the microcontroller when the access signal corresponds to a command signal.
21 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A serial interface for facilitating communication between an outside computer and a microcontroller located on a printed circuit board enables the computer to read the contents of a RAM location or write to any RAM location in the microcontroller. The methodology used in association with this invention is preferably utilized across a two-wire asynchronous bus where one of the lines is dedicated to transmissions from the microcontroller and the other line is dedicated to transmissions from the computer to the microcontroller.
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A method of communicating between an outside computer and a microcontroller having a random access memory, using a two wire asynchronous bus, comprising the steps of:
-
(A) transmitting an access signal from the computer to the microcontroller, using a first wire of the two wire asynchronous bus; (B) determining a response step to be performed by the microcontroller, using the access signal from step (A); and (C) performing a response step, using the microcontroller, said response step being from a group consisting of (1) loading data transmitted from the computer into the random access memory, using the first wire of the two wire asynchronous bus when the access signal indicates that the computer will write data to the random access memory;
(2) transmitting preselected contents from the random access memory to the computer, using a second wire of the two wire asynchronous bus when the access signal indicates that the computer will read data from the random access memory; and
(3) altering an operating status of the microcontroller when the access signal corresponds to a command signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method of interfacing an outside computer with a microcontroller on a printed circuit board, using a two wire asynchronous bus, comprising the steps of:
-
transmitting an access signal from the computer to the microcontroller, using a first wire of the two wire bus, the access signal dictating a response to be performed by the microcontroller; defining a first response to be performed by the microcontroller that includes sending data from a preselected random access memory in the microcontroller to the computer, using a second wire of the two wire bus; defining a second response to be performed by the microcontroller that includes receiving data from the computer, using the first wire, and placing the data into a preselected random access memory in the microcontroller; determining whether the access signal dictates that the first response is to be performed; determining whether the access signal dictates that the second response is to be performed; and performing a response step from a set of response steps consisting of the first and second response steps.
-
Specification