Quick Reference Guide September 2011 Graphics Quick Reference Guide www.microchip.com/graphicsDisplay Controller Solutions Graphical Displays Microchip offers varying levels of solutions to drive everything The table below shows examples of the frame buffer sizes from simple monochrome LCDs to full color WVGA user required for some popular resolution and color depths. interfaces. PIC24 DA family supports up to 96 KB on chip Graphics support includes the following approaches: PIC32 MCUs support up to 128 KB on chip PIC24F DA integrated graphics controller External SRAM can be used for larger frame buffers PIC32 controllerless graphics For advanced graphics, external graphics controllers have additional frame buffer storage Support for PIC MCU with external graphics controllers The silicon offering is complemented with powerful, free Display Resolution Color Depth/ and easy to use graphics library, display designer GUI and Typical Sizes Memory Requirement in (bytes) hardware development kits with flexible interface to various 1 bpp 2 bpp 8 bpp 16 bpp glass sizes. (Mono) (4 shades) (256 colors) (65K colors) Supported Screen Sizes and Colors WVGA 800x480 7 48,000 96,000 384,000 768,000 Microchip graphics solutions support various screen sizes VGA 640x480 5.7 38,400 76,800 307,200 614,400 and colors ranging from small monochrome OLED displays up WQVGA 480x272 4.3 16,320 32,640 130,560 261,120 to WVGA displays with vivid color. The table below shows the QVGA 320x240 3.2 9,600 19,200 76,800 153,600 bits per pixel required to represent color. Common for 128x64 1-2.7 1,024 2,048 8,192 16,384 Display Color Depth Color Examples OLED Representation (bits per pixel) Internal SRAM on PIC24DA or PIC32 MCU External SRAM Mono Black and White 1 4 shades 2 Grayscale 16 shades 4 Target Applications 256 colors 8 Applications that benefit from attractive and easy to use Color 65K colors 16 16 million colors 24 graphical displays include: Consumer: Thermostats, Cordless Phones, Remote Controls As the color depth and display resolution increase, the frame Home Appliance: Coffee Makers, Washing Machines, Ovens buffer grows. Depending on the size, the frame buffer can be stored in the microcontroller RAM, in external SRAM or Industrial: Digital Instrument Gauges, Storage Controls, integrated into an external graphics controller. Remote Terminals Portable Medical: Glucometers, Blood-Pressure Monitors, Portable ECGs PIC24 DA Integrated PIC32 External Solomon Systech External Epson Graphics Controller Controllerless Graphics Graphics Controller SSD1926 Graphics Controller S1D13517 Display* WQVGA 480x272 WQVGA 480x272 WQVGA 480x272 WVGA 800x480 HW Acceleration: Rectangles, HW Acceleration, SD card, I/F, SDRAM, I/F, Alpha-blending, Graphics DMA on PIC32 + <5 MIPS Characters, Images JPEG engine Picture-in-picture Color Lookup Table + 128 KB on MCU + 256 KB on Solomon Systech Frame Buffer Ext SDRAM 96 KB on MCU + Ext SRAM Ext SRAM Controller Core MIPS 16 80 Power Better Good Good Good Cost *Max size at 16 bpp, 60 Hz 2 Graphics Quick Reference Guide