Dr. N. Karuppiah & Dr. S.
Ravivarman
Keyboard section
The keyboard section consists of eight return lines RL0 - RL7 that
can be used to form the columns of a keyboard matrix.
It has two additional input: shift and control/strobe. The keys are
automatically debounced.
The two operating modes of keyboard section are 2-key lockout and
N-key rollover.
In the 2-key lockout mode, if two keys are pressed simultaneously,
only the first key is recognized.
In the N-key rollover mode simultaneous keys are recognized and
their codes are stored in FIFO.
The keyboard section also has an 8 x 8 FIFO (First In First Out)
RAM.
The FIFO can store eight key codes in the scan keyboard mode. The
status of the shift key and control key are also stored along with key
code. The 8279 generate an interrupt signal when there is an entry
in FIFO. The format of key code entry in FIFO for scan keyboard
mode is,
In sensor matrix mode the condition (i.e., open/close status) of 64
switches is stored in FIFO RAM. If the condition of any of the switch
changes then the 8279 asserts IRQ as high to interrupt the
processor.
Display section
The display section has eight output lines divided into two groups
A0-A3 and B0-B2.3.
The output lines can be used either as a single group of eight lines
or as two groups of four lines, in conjunction with the scan lines for
a multiplexed display.
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