ATmega8(L)
Transmission
Modes
The TWI can operate in one of four major modes. These are named Master Transmitter (MT),
Master Receiver (MR), Slave Transmitter (ST) and Slave Receiver (SR). Several of these
modes can be used in the same application. As an example, the TWI can use MT mode to write
data into a TWI EEPROM, MR mode to read the data back from the EEPROM. If other masters
are present in the system, some of these might transmit data to the TWI, and then SR mode
would be used. It is the application software that decides which modes are legal.
The following sections describe each of these modes. Possible status codes are described
along with figures detailing data transmission in each of the modes. These figures contain the
following abbreviations:
S:
Rs: REPEATED START condition
R: Read bit (high level at SDA)
W: Write bit (low level at SDA)
START condition
A:
A:
Acknowledge bit (low level at SDA)
Not acknowledge bit (high level at SDA)
Data: 8-bit data byte
P: STOP condition
SLA: Slave Address
In Figure 79 on page 174 to Figure 85 on page 183, circles are used to indicate that the TWINT
Flag is set. The numbers in the circles show the status code held in TWSR, with the prescaler
bits masked to zero. At these points, actions must be taken by the application to continue or
complete the TWI transfer. The TWI transfer is suspended until the TWINT Flag is cleared by
software.
When the TWINT Flag is set, the status code in TWSR is used to determine the appropriate soft-
ware action. For each status code, the required software action and details of the following serial
transfer are given in Table 66 on page 173 to Table 69 on page 182. Note that the prescaler bits
are masked to zero in these tables.
Master Transmitter
Mode
In the Master Transmitter mode, a number of data bytes are transmitted to a Slave Receiver
(see Figure 78 on page 172). In order to enter a Master mode, a START condition must be
transmitted. The format of the following address packet determines whether Master Transmitter
or Master Receiver mode is to be entered. If SLA+W is transmitted, MT mode is entered, if
SLA+R is transmitted, MR mode is entered. All the status codes mentioned in this section
assume that the prescaler bits are zero or are masked to zero.
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2486AA–AVR–02/2013
ATMEL [ ATMEL ]
