HD44780U
Timing Generation Circuit
The timing generation circuit generates timing signals for the operation of internal circuits such as
DDRAM, CGROM and CGRAM. RAM read timing for display and internal operation timing by MPU
access are generated separately to avoid interfering with each other. Therefore, when writing data to
DDRAM, for example, there will be no undesirable interferences, such as flickering, in areas other than the
display area.
Liquid Crystal Display Driver Circuit
The liquid crystal display driver circuit consists of 16 common signal drivers and 40 segment signal
drivers. When the character font and number of lines are selected by a program, the required common
signal drivers automatically output drive waveforms, while the other common signal drivers continue to
output non-selection waveforms.
Sending serial data always starts at the display data character pattern corresponding to the last address of
the display data RAM (DDRAM).
Since serial data is latched when the display data character pattern corresponding to the starting address
enters the internal shift register, the HD44780U drives from the head display.
Cursor/Blink Control Circuit
The cursor/blink control circuit generates the cursor or character blinking. The cursor or the blinking will
appear with the digit located at the display data RAM (DDRAM) address set in the address counter (AC).
For example (Figure 8), when the address counter is 08H, the cursor position is displayed at DDRAM
address 08H.
AC6 AC5 AC4 AC3 AC2 AC1 AC0
AC
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
For a 1-line display
Display position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
09
11
0A
DDRAM address
(hexadecimal)
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
cursor position
For a 2-line display
Display position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
09
49
11
0A
4A
00
40
01
41
02
42
03
43
04
44
05
45
06
46
07
47
08
48
DDRAM address
(hexadecimal)
cursor position
Note: The cursor or blinking appears when the address counter (AC) selects the character
generator RAM (CGRAM). However, the cursor and blinking become meaningless.
The cursor or blinking is displayed in the meaningless position when the AC is a CGRAM address.
Figure 8 Cursor/Blink Display Example
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HITACHI [ HITACHI SEMICONDUCTOR ]
