Hardware manual

Rev. 3.0, 09/98, page 207 of 361
10.3.2 Asynchronous Mode
In asynchronous mode, each transmitted or received character is individually synchronized by
framing it with a start bit and stop bit.
Full duplex data transfer is possible because the SCI has independent transmit and receive
sections. Double buffering in both sections enables the SCI to be programmed for continuous data
transfer.
Figure 10.2 shows the general format of one character sent or received in asynchronous mode.
The communication channel is normally held in the mark state (High). Character transmission or
reception starts with a transition to the space state (Low).
The first bit transmitted or received is the start bit (Low). It is followed by the data bits, in which
the least significant bit (LSB) comes first. The data bits are followed by the parity or
multiprocessor bit, if present, then the stop bit or bits (High) confirming the end of the frame.
In receiving, the SCI synchronizes on the falling edge of the start bit, and samples each bit at the
center of the bit (at the 8th cycle of the internal serial clock, which runs at 16 times the bit rate).
“0”
“0”
D0 D1 D2 D3 D4
One unit of data (one character or frame)
7 or 8 bits
1 bit
0 or 1 bit 1 or 2 bits
Start
bit
Parity or
multipro-
cessor bit
Stop bit
Idle state (mark)
D5 D6 D7
(LSB) (MSB)
0/1 “1” “1”
“1”
Figure 10.2 Data Format in Asynchronous Mode
(1) Data Format: Table 10.7 lists the data formats that can be sent and received in asynchronous
mode. Twelve formats can be selected by bits in the SMR.