This is the Revision A verion of the InOut4 RoboBrick. The status of this project is that it has been replaced by the InOut10 RoboBrick.

InOut4 Robobrick (Revision A)

Table of Contents

This document is also available as a PDF document.

1. Introduction

The InOut4 RoboBrick allows you to read up to 8 digital inputs. An interrupt can be generated on the states of selected inptus.

A picture of the InOut4-A RoboBrick is shown below:

2. Programming

The InOut4 RobBrick has 4 I/O lines that can changed between input and output lines to meet the user's needs. The first operation is to specify the line direction. Next, the user does some input and output until it is time to change the line direction. The user may change the line direction as many times as needed.

The InOut4 RoboBrick supports RoboBrick Interrupt Protocol for those lines that are being used as inputs. The interrupt pending bit is set whenever the the formula:

L&(~I) | H&I | R&(~P)&I | F&P&(~I)]
is non-zero, where: and Once the interrupt pending bit is set, it must be explicitly cleared by the user.

The InOut4 RoboBrick supports both the standard shared commands and the shared interrupt commands in addition to the following commands:

Read Inputs
This command requests the that InOut4 RoboBrick return the 4-bits of its inputs XOR'ed with the complement mask.
Read Complement Mask
This command will return the contents of the complement mask.
Read Low Mask
This command will return the contents of the low mask.
Read High Mask
This command will return the contents of the high mask.
Read Raising Mask
This command will return the contents of the raising mask.
Read Falling Mask
This command will return the contents of the falling mask.
Read Direction Mask
This command will return the contents of the direction mask.
Read Outputs
This command will return the contents of the outputs.
Read Raw
This command requests the that InOut4 RoboBrick return the 4-bits of its inputs without XOR'ing them with the complement mask.
Set Complement Mask
This command will set the contents of the complement mask.
Set Low Mask
This command will set the contents of the Low mask.
Set High Mask
This command will set the contents of the high mask.
Set Raising Mask
This command will set the contents of the raising mask.
Set Falling Mask
This command will set the contents of the falling mask.
Set Direction Mask
This command will set the contents of the direction mask.
Set Outputs
This command will set the outputs.
Bit Clear
This command will clear a specified bit in the outputs.
Bit Set
This command will set a specified bit in the outputs.
Bit Toggle
This command will clear a specified bit in the outputs.
Bit Read
This command will read a specified bit in the outputs.
These commands are summarized in the table below:
Command Send/
Receive		 Byte Value Discussion
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Read Inputs Send 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Return input values abcd (after XOR'ing with complement mask)
Receive 0 0 0 0 a b c d
Read Complement Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Return complement mask cccc
Receive 0 0 0 0 c c c c
Read Low Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Return low mask llll
Receive 0 0 0 0 l l l l
Read High Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Return high mask hhhh
Receive 0 0 0 0 h h h h
Read Raising Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Return raising mask rrrr
Receive 0 0 0 0 r r r r
Read Falling Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Return falling mask ffff
Receive 0 0 0 0 f f f f
Read Direction Mask Send 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 Return direction mask dddd
Receive 0 0 0 0 d d d d
Read Outputs Send 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 Return outputs oooo
Receive 0 0 0 0 o o o o
Read Raw Send 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Return raw data abcd (without XOR'ing with complement mask)
Receive 0 0 0 0 a b c d
Set Complement Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Set complement mask to cccc
Send 0 0 0 0 c c c c
Set High Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Set high mask to hhhh
Send 0 0 0 0 h h h h
Set Low Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 Set low mask to llll
Send 0 0 0 0 l l l l
Set Raising Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Set raising mask to rrrr
Send 0 0 0 0 r r r r
Set Falling Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 Set falling mask to ffff
Send 0 0 0 0 f f f f
Set Direction Mask Send 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 Set direction mask to dddd. 0=output; 1=input
Send 0 0 0 0 d d d d
Set Outputs Send 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 Set outputs to oooo. 0=output; 1=input
Send 0 0 0 0 o o o o
Bit Clear Send 0 0 0 1 0 0 b b Clear bit bb in outputs.
Bit Set Send 0 0 0 1 0 1 b b Clear bit bb in outputs.
Bit Toggle Send 0 0 0 1 1 0 b b Toggle bit bb in outputs.
Bit read Send 0 0 0 1 1 1 b b Read bit bb from outputs.
Receive 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 b
Read Interrupt Bits Send 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 Return the interrupt pending bit p and the interrupt enable bit e.
Receive 0 0 0 0 0 0 e p
Set Interrupt Commands Send 1 1 1 1 0 c c c Set Interrupt Command ccc.
Shared Commands Send 1 1 1 1 1 c c c Execute Shared Command ccc.

3. Hardware

The hardware consists of a circuit schematic and a printed circuit board.

3.1 Circuit Schematic

The schematic for the InOut4 RoboBrick is shown below:

InOut4 Schematic

The parts list kept in a separate file -- inout4.ptl.

3.2 Printed Circuit Board

The printed circuit board files are listed below:

inout4_back.png
The solder side layer.
inout4_front.png
The component side layer.
inout4_artwork.png
The artwork layer.
inout4.gbl
The RS-274X "Gerber" back (solder side) layer.
inout4.gtl
The RS-274X "Gerber" top (component side) layer.
inout4.gal
The RS-274X "Gerber" artwork layer.
inout4.drl
The "Excellon" NC drill file.
inout4.tol
The "Excellon" tool rack file.

4. Software

The InOut4 software is available as one of:

inout4.ucl
The µCL source file.
inout4.asm
The resulting human readable PIC assembly file.
inout4.lst
The resulting human readable PIC listing file.
inout4.hex
The resulting Intel® Hex file that can be fed into a PIC12C5xx programmer.

5. Issues

The following issues have come up:

Copyright (c) 2000-2002 by Wayne C. Gramlich. All rights reserved.