Rev. 1.1
193
C8051F410/1/2/3
A typical SMBus transaction consists of a START condition followed by an address byte (Bits7-1: 7-bit
slave address; Bit0: R/W direction bit), one or more bytes of data, and a STOP condition. Each byte that is
received (by a master or slave) must be acknowledged (ACK) with a low SDA during a high SCL (see
Figure 21.3). If the receiving device does not ACK, the transmitting device will read a NACK (not acknowl-
edge), which is a high SDA during a high SCL.
The direction bit (R/W) occupies the least-significant bit position of the address byte. The direction bit is set
to logic 1 to indicate a "READ" operation and cleared to logic 0 to indicate a "WRITE" operation.
All transactions are initiated by a master, with one or more addressed slave devices as the target.
The
master generates the START condition and then transmits the slave address and direction bit. If the trans-
action is a WRITE operation from the master to the slave, the master transmits the data a byte at a time
waiting for an ACK from the slave at the end of each byte. For READ operations, the slave transmits the
data waiting for an ACK from the master at the end of each byte. At the end of the data transfer, the master
generates a STOP condition to terminate the transaction and free the bus.
Figure 21.3 illustrates a typical
SMBus transaction.
SLA6
SDA
SLA5-0
R/W
D7
D6-0
SCL
Slave Address + R/W
Data Byte
START
ACK
NACK
STOP
Figure 21.3. SMBus Transaction
21.3.1. Arbitration
A master may start a transfer only if the bus is free. The bus is free after a STOP condition or after the SCL
and SDA lines remain high for a specified time (see
on page 194). In the event that two or more devices attempt to begin a transfer at the same time, an arbi-
tration scheme is employed to force one master to give up the bus. The master devices continue transmit-
ting until one attempts a HIGH while the other transmits a LOW. Since the bus is open-drain, the bus will
be pulled LOW. The master attempting the HIGH will detect a LOW SDA and lose the arbitration. The win-
ning master continues its transmission without interruption; the losing master becomes a slave and
receives the rest of the transfer if addressed. This arbitration scheme is non-destructive: one device
always wins, and no data is lost.
21.3.2. Clock Low Extension
SMBus provides a clock synchronization mechanism, similar to I2C, which allows devices with different
speed capabilities to coexist on the bus. A clock-low extension is used during a transfer in order to allow
slower slave devices to communicate with faster masters. The slave may temporarily hold the SCL line
LOW to extend the clock low period, effectively decreasing the serial clock frequency.