Preface
A microcontroller is a single chip microprocessor system, which contains data and program memory, serial and parallel I/O, timers, and external and internal interrupts, all integrated into a single chip that can be purchased for as little as £2.00. About 40% of microcontroller applications are in office automation, such as PCs, laser printers, fax machines, intelligent telephones, and so on. About one-third of microcontrollers are found in consumer electronic goods. Products such as CD players, hi-fi equipment, video games, washing machines, cookers and so on fall into this category. The communications market, automotive market and the military share the rest of the application areas.
Input and output are very important parts of any microcontroller system. Typical input devices are push-button switches, keypads and various analog and digital sensors. Typical output devices are Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Graphics Liquid Crystal Displays (GLCDs), motors, actuators, buzzers, and so on. This book is about the theory and applications of display devices in microcontroller based systems. The book explains briefly the theory of the commonly used display devices, namely LEDs, 7-Segment LED displays, LCDs, monochrome GLCDs and TFT based colour LCDs. In addition, the use of each display device is explained with several working and tested projects. The description, block diagram, circuit diagram, operation and full program code of all the projects ...