Limited Warranty Multilabs warrants to the original consumer purchaser of this product that, for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase, this product will be free from defects in material and workmanship and will perform in substantial conformity to the description of the product in this Owner's Manual. This warranty shall not apply to defects or errors caused by misuse or neglect. If the product is found to be defective in material or workmanship or if the product does not perform as warranted above during the warranty period, Multilabs will repair it, replace it, or refund the purchase price. The repair, replacement, or refund that is provided for above shall be the full extent of Multilabs's liability with respect to this product. For repair or replacement during the warranty period, contact Multilabs customer service by email at [email protected] to receive an return authorization number and return instructions.

Limitations THE ABOVE WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF AND MULTILABS DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WHICH MAY NOT BE DISCLAIMED OR SUPPLANTED AS PROVIDED ABOVE SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE 90 DAYS OF THE EXPRESS WARRANTY ABOVE. NO OTHER REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM OF ANY NATURE BY ANY PERSON SHALL BE BINDING UPON MULTILABS OR MODIFY THE TERMS OF THE ABOVE WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER. IN NO EVENT SHALL MULTILABS BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE POSSESSION OR USE OF THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGE TO PROPERTY AND, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, PERSONAL INJURY, EVEN IF MULTILABS KNEW OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts and/or the exclusion or limitation of damages, in which case the above limitations and/or exclusions may not apply to you. You may also have other legal rights, which may vary from state to state.

ezVID Serial Video Module MULTILABS LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA WWW.MULTILABS.NET

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Copyright © MULTILABS – 2004 All rights reserved

NOTES

ezVID Serial Video Module FEATURES • • • • • • • • •

Easy to use 2 wire 9600 baud TTL level serial interface No knowledge of video signals necessary No external components Easy to use SIP package – only 2” by 2” in size 188 by 254 resolution 14 different colors 63 built-in standard characters 256 user definable characters Standard composite NTSC non-interlaced video output with RCA jack

DESCRIPTION The ezVID serial video module is a simple video card for use with microcontrollers, stamp modules, and similar devices. The module makes use of an onboard microcontroller and video signal generating chip to allow color video generation with only two I/O lines. The easy to use ezVID commands allow placement of any built-in or user defined character anywhere on the screen in any one of fourteen colors, allows the user to define up to 256 custom characters, change the background color to any one of fourteen colors, clear the entire screen to any one of fourteen colors, or reset the system. The ezVID comes in a simple to use SIP module that has four mounting holes for secure placement. A 4-pin header is used to supply power and access the serial data lines and a standard RCA style jack is provided for the video output.

SPECIFICATIONS ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS Note: These are stress ratings only. Stresses above those listed below may cause permanent damage and/or affect device reliability. The operational ratings should be used to determine applicable ranges of operation.

Storage Temperature Operating Temperature Supply Voltage (Vcc) Voltage on Tx and Rx pins Characteristic Supply Voltage Supply Current

-45°C to +85°C 0°C to 70°C 5V -0.6V to (Vcc +0.6V) Symbol Vcc Icc

Min 4.5 125

Typ 5.0 128

Max 5.5 130

Unit V mA

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Receive last byte of Place Built-In Character command until begin sending READY: minimum 663.56uS maximum 16.62mS

OPERATION

Receive last byte of Clear Screen command until begin sending READY: typically 1.41S

There are two connectors on the ezVID module, a 4-pin sip header and a video output RCA style jack. The SIP pins are marked on the unit to indicate the proper connections. The RCA jack outputs composite NTSC non-interlaced video at 1Vp-p into 75 ohms. Use a standard video cable to connect the ezVID module to the video input of your television. The connections to the 4-pin sip are as follows when looking at them from left to right: Pin 1 - +5V Input supply Pin 2 - TTL serial data from the ezVID module (Tx) Pin 3 - TTL serial data to the ezVID module (Rx) Pin 4 - Common ground

Receive last byte of Place User Character command until begin sending READY: minimum 663.56uS maximum 16.62mS

Connections

Resolution, Viewable Area, and Picture Quality The ezVID module has a total resolution of 188 pixels in the X direction (across the screen) and 254 pixels in the Y direction (up and down the screen). Due to the manufacturing process of some televisions not all pixels may be viewable (Refer to Figure 1). Some parts of the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) may be covered. An effective viewing area is between 30 to 235 in the Y direction and 14 to 174 in the X direction. It is recommended that you try different positions to find the effective viewing area of your television.

14,30

174,30

VIEWABLE AREA

14,235

174,235

Figure 1

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Stop bit Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 Start bit Stop bit Bit 7 Bit 6 Bit 5 Bit 4 Bit 3 Bit 2 Bit 1 Bit 0 Start bit

The representation of Figure 1 shows a typical television. The dotted area represents the entire CRT. Some of the CRT is covered by the manufacturer by a decorative bezel. This leaves a viewing area that is less than the entire CRT. It may be necessary to adjust the color, tint, sharpness, and/or contrast on your television to get the best picture quality.

Data to ezVID

Character Placement Each character, whether built-in or user defined, is 8 pixels wide (X direction) by 14 pixels high (Y direction). This creates a character with equal sides (square appearance, see figure 2) when displayed on a television. When a character is placed on the screen two of the variables that are sent to the ezVID module are an X and Y position. The X and Y position dictates where the upper left-hand corner pixel of the character will be placed, this is the starting point. The ezVID module places characters in a transparent mode. This means that one character can overlap another. Each pixel in a character can either be on (the pixel will be drawn in the color indicated) or off (pixel is not drawn). If a pixel is on then it overwrites the pixel that was in that position. If a pixel is off then the current pixel in that location is not overwritten. Clearing a character from the screen requires that the character be rewritten to match the background color. For example, to clear a red “A” on a blue background, re-draw the “A” in blue in the same position as the red “A”. Placing a “space” character (character number 30 of the built-in character set) over the “A” will have no affect as the “space” character’s pixels are all off. However, placing a solid blue square character (character number 31 of the built-in character set) over the red “A” will clear the “A” as all of its pixels are on.

Color Codes The ezVID module supports 14 different colors at one time. The code for each of the colors is as follows: Code Color 0 Black 1 White 2 Grey 1 3 Grey 2 4 Grey 3 5 Grey 4 6 Grey 5 7 Grey 6 8 Blue 9 Red 10 Purple 11 Green 12 Cyan 13 Orange

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Data from ezVID Tdly Figure 3 Values for Tdly Reset code received until reset is complete: minimum 69.15uS maximum 16.63mS Receive a data byte until begin sending ACK: minimum 139.68nS maximum 663.56uS Receive bad command code until begin sending NAK: minimum 69.98uS maximum 16.69mS Stop sending data to ezVID before the full command is sent until begin sending NAK: minimum 16.68mS maximum 33.3mS Received full command with bad data until begin sending NAK: minimum 69.28uS maximum 16.69mS Receive last byte of Add User Character command until begin sending READY: minimum 663.56uS maximum 16.62mS Receive last byte of Background Color command until begin sending READY: typically 4.24S

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Command 5 - Clear Screen

Built-in Characters

Syntax: code, color This command is used to clear the screen of all characters and set a new background color. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a clear screen command. This code is a capital “S” (decimal=83). • Color is a value from 0 to 13 which indicates the new background color.

The ezVID module comes with 63 built-in characters. Below is the list of character codes 0-62. For the bitmapped images of each character please visit our website at www.multilabs.net: Code Character Code Character Code Character Code Character 0 @ 16 P 32 ! 48 ; 1 A 17 Q 33 “ 49 < 2 B 18 R 34 # 50 = 3 C 19 S 35 $ 51 > 4 D 20 T 36 % 52 ? 5 E 21 U 37 & 53 0 6 F 22 V 38 ‘ 54 1 7 G 23 W 39 ( 55 2 8 H 24 X 40 ) 56 3 9 I 25 Y 41 * 57 4 10 J 26 Z 42 + 58 5 11 K 27 [ 43 , 59 6 12 L 28 44 60 7 £ 13 M 29 ] 45 . 61 8 14 N 30 Space 46 / 62 9 15 O 31 47 : _

Command 6 - Place User Defined Character Syntax: code, character #, color, x, y This command is used to place a user defined character on the screen. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a place user defined character command. This code is a capital “U” (decimal=85). • Character # is a value from 0 to 62 which tells ezVID which user defined character to place on the screen. • Color is a value from 0 to 13 which indicates the character color to use. • X is a value from 1 to 188 which indicates the starting x position on the screen. • Y is a value from 1 to 254 which indicates the starting y position on the screen.

Timing The ezVID module has very specific timing requirements that must be meet while communicating data to the module for proper operation. For every data byte sent the ezVID module will send an acknowledgment (ACK) back and for every full command the ezVID will either send a byte back indicating that it is ready for another command (READY) or it will send a negative-acknowledgment (NAK) to indicate that the command information received contained an error. If a NAK is received then the ezVID discards all the received data. If data bytes are sent before an ACK is received then the previous data byte and the current data byte will be lost. If the ezVID is processing a command and data bytes are sent before the READY is received than all data sent will be discarded by the ezVID when the READY is sent. An ACK has a decimal value of 6, a NAK has a decimal value of 21, and a READY has a decimal value of 5. The following is a timing diagram (Figure 3) followed by the timing values of the ezVID. Figure 3 is valid for all timing values except for startup time which is typically 180mS.

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User Definable Characters The ezVID module has 256 user definable characters, 0 to 255. Figure 2 is a sample of an 8 by 14 pixel blank matrix which can be used to draw characters. Each row represents a single byte. To calculate each byte, add up the value(s) of each pixel in the row that is on (the values are at the top of each row). When you have all 14 bytes calculated you can send them to the ezVID module. See the “Commands” section on how to format and send the data. Any user defined character can be re-defined at any time. However, re-defining a character will not change the character already placed on the screen. These characters are stored in the on-board Static RAM (SRAM). All user defined characters will be erased when power is removed from the ezVID module.

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128 64 32 16

8

4

2

Command 1 - Add User Character

1

Syntax: code, character #, byte0, byte1, byte2, byte3, byte4, byte5, byte6, byte7, byte8, byte9, byte10, byte11, byte12, byte13 This command adds a user defined character. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a add user character command. This code is a capital “A” (decimal=65). • Character # is a value from 0 to 255 which tells ezVID which character to define. • Bytes0-13 are the 14 bytes which make up the character bitmap. They are sent to the ezVID from top byte first to bottom byte.

Command 2 - Background Color

= 60 = 60 = 66 = 66 = 165 = 165 = 129 = 165 = 165 = 153 = 90 = 66 = 60 = 60 Figure 2

Commands The ezVID module has 6 simple commands. They are Add User Character, Background Color, Place Built-in Character, Reset, Clear Screen, and Place User Defined Character. Communications are done through the TTL level Tx and Rx serial data lines. The protocol is 9600 baud with 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity. Command data is sent one byte at a time with an acknowledgement from the ezVID module following each byte. Once a full command is sent the ezVID will indicate that it is complete with the command by sending a READY. See “Timing” section for more details. The following is the name, syntax, and definition of each command. Each item on the syntax is sent as a byte.

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Syntax: code, color This command is used to change the background color. Changing the background color does not affect characters on the screen. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a background color command. This code is a capital “B” (decimal=66). • Color is a value from 0 to 13 which indicates the new background color.

Command 3 - Place Built-in Character Syntax: code, character #, color, x, y This command is used to place a built-in character on the screen. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a place built-in character command. This code is a capital “C” (decimal=67). • Character # is a value from 0 to 62 which tells ezVID which built-in character to place on the screen. • Color is a value from 0 to 13 which indicates the character color to use. • X is a value from 1 to 188 which indicates the starting x position on the screen. • Y is a value from 1 to 254 which indicates the starting y position on the screen.

Command 4 - Reset Syntax: code This command is used to reset the ezVID module. The reset affects the video matrix memory and the built-in character memory. User defined characters are unaffected by a reset. • Code is the character that tells ezVID that this is a reset command. This code is a capital “R” (decimal=82).

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