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7530J–AVR–03/12
Atmel ATmega48/88/168 Automotive
15.1.2
Definitions
Many register and bit references in this document are written in general form. A lower case “n”
replaces the Timer/Counter number, in this case 2. However, when using the register or bit
defines in a program, the precise form must be used, i.e., TCNT2 for accessing Timer/Counter2
counter value and so on.
The definitions in the following table are also used extensively throughout the section.
15.2
Timer/Counter Clock Sources
The Timer/Counter can be clocked by an internal synchronous or an external asynchronous
clock source. The clock source clk
T2 is by default equal to the MCU clock, clkI/O. When the AS2
bit in the ASSR Register is written to logic one, the clock source is taken from the Timer/Counter
Oscillator connected to TOSC1 and TOSC2. For details on asynchronous operation, see
“Asyn-15.3
Counter Unit
The main part of the 8-bit Timer/Counter is the programmable bi-directional counter unit.
Figure15-2 shows a block diagram of the counter and its surrounding environment.
Figure 15-2. Counter Unit Block Diagram
Signal description (internal signals):
count
Increment or decrement TCNT2 by 1.
direction
Selects between increment and decrement.
clear
Clear TCNT2 (set all bits to zero).
clk
Tn
Timer/Counter clock, referred to as clk
T2 in the following.
top
Signalizes that TCNT2 has reached maximum value.
bottom
Signalizes that TCNT2 has reached minimum value (zero).
BOTTOM
The counter reaches the BOTTOM when it becomes zero (0x00).
MAX
The counter reaches its MAXimum when it becomes 0xFF (decimal 255).
TOP
The counter reaches the TOP when it becomes equal to the highest value in the
count sequence. The TOP value can be assigned to be the fixed value 0xFF
(MAX) or the value stored in the OCR2A Register. The assignment is depen-
dent on the mode of operation.
DATA BUS
TCNTn
Control Logic
count
TOVn
(Int.Req.)
top
bottom
direction
clear
TOSC1
T/C
Oscillator
TOSC2
Prescaler
clk
I/O
clk
Tn