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8272E–AVR–04/2013
ATmega164A/PA/324A/PA/644A/PA/1284/P
Depending on the mode of operation used, the counter is cleared, incremented, or decremented
at each timer clock (clk
Tn). The clkTn can be generated from an external or internal clock source,
selected by the Clock Select bits (CSn2:0). When no clock source is selected (CSn2:0 = 0) the
timer is stopped. However, the TCNTn value can be accessed by the CPU, independent of
whether clk
Tn is present or not. A CPU write overrides (has priority over) all counter clear or
count operations.
The counting sequence is determined by the setting of the Waveform Generation mode bits
(WGMn3:0) located in the Timer/Counter Control Registers A and B (TCCRnA and TCCRnB).
There are close connections between how the counter behaves (counts) and how waveforms
are generated on the Output Compare outputs OCnx. For more details about advanced counting
The Timer/Counter Overflow Flag (TOVn) is set according to the mode of operation selected by
the WGMn3:0 bits. TOVn can be used for generating a CPU interrupt.
16.7
Input Capture Unit
The Timer/Counter incorporates an Input Capture unit that can capture external events and give
them a time-stamp indicating time of occurrence. The external signal indicating an event, or mul-
tiple events, can be applied via the ICPn pin or alternatively, via the analog-comparator unit. The
time-stamps can then be used to calculate frequency, duty-cycle, and other features of the sig-
nal applied. Alternatively the time-stamps can be used for creating a log of the events.
The Input Capture unit is illustrated by the block diagram shown in
Figure 16-3. The elements of
the block diagram that are not directly a part of the Input Capture unit are gray shaded. The
small “n” in register and bit names indicates the Timer/Counter number.
Figure 16-3. Input Capture unit block diagram.
When a change of the logic level (an event) occurs on the Input Capture pin (ICPn), alternatively
on the Analog Comparator output (ACO), and this change confirms to the setting of the edge
detector, a capture will be triggered. When a capture is triggered, the 16-bit value of the counter
ICFn (Int.Req.)
Analog
Comparator
WRITE
ICRn (16-bit Register)
ICRnH (8-bit)
Noise
Canceler
ICPn
Edge
Detector
TEMP (8-bit)
DATA BUS (8-bit)
ICRnL (8-bit)
TCNTn (16-bit Counter)
TCNTnH (8-bit)
TCNTnL (8-bit)
ACIC*
ICNC
ICES
ACO*