2008 Microchip Technology Inc.
DS22096A-page 53
MCP453X/455X/463X/465X
7.0
DEVICE COMMANDS
The MCP4XXX’s I2C command formats are specified in
this section. The I2C protocol does not specify how
commands are formatted.
The MCP4XXX supports four basic commands.
Depending on the location accessed determines the
commands that are supported.
For the Volatile Wiper Registers, these commands are:
Write Data
Read Data
Increment Data
Decrement Data
For the TCON Register, these commands are:
Write Data
Read Data
These commands have formats for both a single
command or continuous commands. These commands
Each command has two operational states. These
operational states are referred to as:
Normal Serial Commands
High-Voltage Serial Commands
TABLE 7-1:
I2C COMMANDS
Normal serial commands are those where the HVC pin
is driven to VIH or VIL. With High-Voltage Serial Com-
mands, the HVC pin is driven to VIHH. In each mode,
there are four possible commands.
Table 7-2 shows the supported commands for each
memory location.
Table 7-3 shows an overview of all the device com-
mands and their interaction with other device features.
7.1
Command Byte
The MCP4XXX’s Command Byte has three fields: the
Address, the Command Operation, and 2 Data bits,
see
Figure 7-1. Currently only one of the data bits is
defined (D8).
The device memory is accessed when the Master
sends a proper Command Byte to select the desired
operation. The memory location getting accessed is
contained in the Command Byte’s AD3:AD0 bits. The
action desired is contained in the Command Byte’s
C1:C0 bits, see
Table 7-1. C1:C0 determines if the
desired
memory
location
will
be
read,
written,
Incremented (wiper setting +1) or Decremented (wiper
setting -1). The Increment and Decrement commands
are only valid on the volatile wiper registers.
If the Address bits and Command bits are not a valid
combination, then the MCP4XXX will generate a Not
Acknowledge pulse to indicate the invalid combination.
The I2C Master device must then force a Start Condi-
tion to reset the MCP4XXX’s 2C module.
D9 and D8 are the most significant bits for the digital
potentiometer’s wiper setting. The 8-bit devices utilize
D8 as their MSb while the 7-bit devices utilize D7 (from
the data byte) as it’s MSb.
FIGURE 7-1:
Command Byte Format.
Note:
High Voltage commands are supported
for
compatibility
with
Non-Volatile
devices in the family.
Command
# of Bit
Clocks (1)
Operates on
Volatile/
Non-Volatile
memory
Operation
Mode
Write Data
Single
29
Both
Continuous
18n + 11
Volatile Only
Read Data
Single
29
Both
Random
48
Both
Continuous
18n + 11
Both
Increment
Single
20
Volatile Only
Continuous
9n + 11
Volatile Only
Decrement
Single
20
Volatile Only
Continuous
9n + 11
Volatile Only
Note 1:
“n” indicates the number of times the
command operation is to be repeated.
AA
D
3
A
D
2
A
D
1
A
D
0
C
1
C
0
D
9
D
8
A
MCP4XXX
COMMAND BYTE
00
= Write Data
01
= Increment
MSbits (Data)
10
= Decrement
11
= Read Data
Command Operation bits
Memory Address