1.7 COMMUNICATING with the LM84

There are 10 data registers in the LM84, selected by the

Command Register. At power-up the Command Register is

set to “00”, the location for the Read Local Temperature

Register. The Command Register latches whatever the last

location it was set to. Reading the Status Register resets

T_CRIT_A. All registers are predefined as read only or write

only. Read and write registers with the same function contain

mirrored data.

A Write to the LM84 will always include the address byte and

the command byte. A write to any register requires one data

byte.

Reading the LM84 can take place either of two ways:

1.

If the location latched in the Command Register is cor-

rect (most of the time it is expected that the Command

Register will point to one of the Read Temperature Reg-

isters because that will be the data most frequently read

from the LM84), the read can simply consist of an ad-

dress byte, followed by retrieving the data byte.

2.

If the Command Register needs to be set, then an

address byte, command byte, repeat start, and another

address byte will accomplish a read.

The data byte has the most significant bit first. At the end of

a read, the LM84 can accept either Acknowledge or No

Acknowledge from the Master (No Acknowledge is typically

used as a signal for the slave that the Master has read its

last byte).

1.7.1 SMBus TIMEOUT

The LM84 SMBus interface circuitry will be reset to the

SMBus idle state if the SMBData or SMBCLK lines are held

low for more than 40 ms. The LM84 may or may not reset the

state SMBData or SMBCLK if either of these lines are held

low between 25 ms and 40 ms. Holding SMBData or SMB-

CLK low for less than or equal to 25 ms will not reset the

interface circuitry. The LM84 has a built-in internal timer to

guarantee that the interface is reset if the SMBData line were

to get stuck low. This can commonly occur when the master

is reset while the slave is transmitting low. This enhance-

ment to the SMBus TIMEOUT specification ensures error

free performance even in remote systems where complete

power supply shutdown, for reset, is a nuisance. This would

have to occur since many cost effective temperature sensors

such as the LM84 do not have a pin dedicated for reset.

DS100961-9

www.national.com

11