AN1303

Software Real-Time Clock and Calendar Using PIC16F1827

Author: Cristian Toma DATA INTERFACE

Microchip Technology Inc. The Real-Time Clock and Calendar communicates with
the host system via a two-wire I2C bus as a slave
device. A set of I2C commands and RTCC registers are
INTRODUCTION implemented to allow the host to read and write time
This application note describes the implementation of and date information. All registers are read and write.
software Real-Time Clock and Calendar (RTCC). The The registers from 0x00 to 0x0E only support one byte
implementation can be used either separately, read/write operation (for compatibility with hardware
replacing one of the hardware RTCC devices on the RTCCs already on the market). The registers from
market, or as part of an application. In the latter 0x0F and 0x10 support multiple byte read/write
example, there is no need for the I2C™ communication operation. This is to allow multiple data to be sent in
channel. one single transfer. Of course, the user has the ability
the change the source code, thus changing the
The implementation provides the time (seconds, functionality to suit his/her own needs.
minutes, and hour), date (day, month, and year), day of
week, and one alarm. The user can customize the
firmware according to his/her own needs. TABLE 1: INTERNAL REGISTER MAP
Hex address Description Range
IMPLEMENTATION 0x01 Seconds 00-59

Current Date/Time
The basis of the Real-Time Clock (RTC) is the Timer1 0x02 Time Minutes 00-59
counter. This timer can be configured to accept a clock 0x03 Hour 0-23
source from the internal low-power oscillator. This
internal circuit is used in conjunction with an external 0x04 Day 0-6
32.768 kHz crystal. The oscillator has the ability to work 0x05 Date 1-31
during Sleep mode. This feature can be very helpful if Date
0x06 Month 1-12
the Real-Time Clock and Calendar circuit is to be
0x07 Year 0-99
powered from a battery. The Timer1 register pair
Alarm Date/Time

0x08 Minutes 00-59

(TMR1H:TMR1L) counts from 0x0000 to 0xFFFF. If the
0x09 Time Hour 0-23
register is incremented from 0xFFFF, then a roll-over
event occurs and the timer rolls over to 0x0000. 0x0A Date Date 1-31
Additionally, the interrupt flag, TMR1IF, is set and an 0x0B Month 1-12
interrupt will occur if enabled. The flag must be cleared
in the software. 0x0C Year 0-99

Timer1 can operate during Sleep mode to help reduce 0x0D Time Seconds 00-59
Current/Date/Time

the current consumption of the application. A Timer1 Minutes 00-59

roll-over event (TMR1IF bit) will wake the Hour 0-23
microcontroller from Sleep and execute the next 0x0E Date 1-31
instructions. It should be noted that, upon an overflow, Date
Month 1-12
the TMR1IF flag is set, but the counter continues to run. Year 0-99
Time and date update can be done at a later time,
provided that another Timer1 roll-over does not occur.

 2009 Microchip Technology Inc. DS01303A-page 1

AN1303
DAY OF WEEK CALCULATION 4. Day of month: We now know on which day of the
week the month starts. We must simply add the
The algorithm must calculate the day of week (e.g., day of the month to get the day of week.
“Monday”, “Tuesday”...), based on a given date (e.g.,
After we have all the four numbers, we simply add them
1st January 2000). There are several algorithms that
and use modulus of 7 to limit the values between zero
provide this calculation, but one we have chosen is fast
and six. The corresponding day of the week is given in
and the code implementation is small.
the following table:
There are several considerations that can make the
algorithm easier to implement. We do not need to store
the “year” information using the full 4 digits (e.g., TABLE 3: CORRESPONDING DAY OF
“2005”), but only the last two digits. The “year 2000 WEEK
problem” is now history and, anyway, we are more Value Corresponding day of week
interested in dates starting from present time to
ten-to-twenty years from now. 0 "Sunday"
1 "Monday"
The day-of-week algorithm must calculate four
numbers: 2 "Tuesday"

1. Centuries: There is a table for centuries. But as 3 "Wednesday"

we previously mentioned, we are interested only 4 "Thursday"
in the current century. So, the value for the years 5 "Friday"
2000-2099 is 6. The centuries number will 6 "Saturday"
always be 6.
2. Years: There are 365 days in one year. Each Here is an example:
leap year has one more day than a normal year. Let’s use Thursday, the 1st of October, 2009:
If we add the number of years elapsed from the 1. We are interested in this century only. The first
start of the century with the number of the leap number is 6.
years elapsed from the start of the century, we
2. Note the last two digits of the year: 09.
get the day of the week when the year starts.
Here we take into account only the last two digits 3. Divide 09 by 4, leave out the remainder. 9/4 = 2.
of the year. 4. Look at the month table: for October, we have a
value of 0.
EQUATION 1: 5. Add all the numbers we have until now with the
day the month. 6 + 9 + 2 + 0 + 1= 18
y = year + year
----------- 6. Divide 18 by 7 and find the remainder: 18/7= 2
4
remainder 4.
3. Months: we must use the months table to get the 7. Use the corresponding day of week table
day of the week a month starts on. Every Janu- (Table 3). For value 4, we get the day of
ary starts on the first day of each year. Please Thursday.
notice that the table has corrections for the leap
year.

TABLE 2: MONTHS
January 0 (in leap year 6)
February 3 (in leap year 2)
March 3
April 6
May 1
June 4
July 6
August 2
September 5
October 0
November 3
December 5

DS01303A-page 2  2009 Microchip Technology Inc.

 AN1303
LOW-POWER CONCLUSION
A Real-Time Clock can be powered by an alternate This application note shows the ease of implementing
backup power supply, such as a coin cell battery. a software Real-Time Clock and Calendar using the
Typically, while the main system is running, there will be PIC16F1827. The Extreme-Low-Power (XLP)
power from the main power supply. While the main technology features make this design a well-suited
system is turned off, there cannot be any read/write solution in terms of overall cost, performance and
request from the host, thus the Real-Time Clock circuit power consumption.
will typically draw power only to update the time and the
date.
CODE RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS:
In order to preserve energy, the processor must stay in
Sleep mode as much as possible. The internal • Flash program memory – 821 words (including
low-power oscillator will continue to work during Sleep I2C communication with multi-byte reads and
mode. The Timer1 counter is configured to wake the alarm implementation)
processor from Sleep once every second. The time is • Data RAM size: 53 bytes
updated (also the calendar, if needed) and the • Interrupts: Timer1 interrupt
processor goes back to Sleep mode. The same applies • Timers: Timer1
for accessing the internal registers via the I2C bus. The
• Hardware resources: External 32.768 kHz crystal
processor wakes up from Sleep following a Start
condition and goes back to Sleep mode after a Stop
condition.
The user must make sure that all the unnecessary
modules are turned off or disabled during Sleep mode.
Also, all external power consuming parts must be
turned off.

POSSIBLE UPGRADES
The current implementation updates the time and
calendar once every second. In the previous chapter,
we learned that, in order to preserve more power, the
processor must stay in Sleep mode as much as
possible. Thus, the time spent in Active mode, when
the power consumption is higher, must be kept as short
as possible. One possible upgrade would be to have a
32-bit register incremented once every second. This
will help minimize the on-time of the microcontroller
even more. The only task the processor will do during
the active period would be to increment the counter.
The actual conversion between the counter and the
date and time will be made on demand, during an I2C
data transfer. Wake-up alarms or time-triggered events
can also be implemented using this 32-bit time-stamp
method.

 2009 Microchip Technology Inc. DS01303A-page 3

AN1303
NOTES:

DS01303A-page 4  2009 Microchip Technology Inc.

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DS01303A-page 5  2009 Microchip Technology Inc.

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