8051 Interrupts

Interrupt- Facility provided in microprocessor

using which attention of microprocessor may
be drawn for some specific purpose.
Microprocessor suspends its current jobsaves the status.

Microprocessor attends to the

device/system/event causing interruptISR is executed.
Microprocessor goes back to suspended
job and starts executing from the point
where it was suspended.

Interrupt Requested
p normal Program
Execution

Normal Program
execution

Interrupt service Routine executed

One to one correspondance between

Interrupt and ISR i.e. for each interruptISR is specified and stored in memory.

For a microprocessor
having n
interrupts.
XX1, XX2---------XXn
address of ISR in memory.

ISR-n

XXn

ISR-2

XX2

ISR-1

XX1

 When Interrupt K occurs ISR-K for

interrupt is executed by loading address
XXK in PC.
XX1 - ------XXn starting address of ISR for
interrupts.
vector addresses of Interrupts.
Other issues in Interrupts
Hardware/Software Interrupts
Interrupt Priority
Enabling / Disabling of Interrupts.
Masking of Interrupts.
Edge/Level Triggered Hardware Interrupts

 8051 has five interrupt sources.

Each interrupt can be programmed to two
priority levels.
INT0 External Request from P3.2 pin
Timer 0 Overflow from Timer 0 activates
interrupt request flag TF0.
INT1 External Request from P3.3
Timer1- Overflow from Timer1 activates
interrupt request flag TF1
Serial Port completion of transmission or
reception of a serial frame activates the
flags TI or RI.

 The complete interrupt system may be

disabled or enabled by storing 0 or 1 in EA
bit of IE SFR
- IE.7.
SETB IE.7, - Enable Interrupts
CLR
IE.7, - Disable Interrupts
When Interrupt system is enabled i.e.
IE.7=1, then each of the five interrupts can
be enabled/disabled individually by making
a specified bit in IE register as 1 or 0.
- Interrupt masking
bit = 0 Interrupt is disabled i.e. masked
bit = 1 Interrupt is enabled

IE Register Interrupt Enable Register

76 5
4
3
2
1
0
EA

ES

ET1

EX1

ET0

EX0

EX0- Enable/Disable External Interrupt 0

ET0- Enable/Disable Timer 0 overflow
Interrupt
EX1- Enable/Disable External Interrupt 1
ET1- Enable/Disable Timer 1 overflow
Interrupt
ES -Enable/Disable Serial port Interrupt
EA - Enable/Disable All interrupts
Examples
-Disable all interrupts
CLR
IE.7

- Enable external interrupt 1 and Timer 0

overflow interrupt
IE = 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 = 86H
MOV A, # 86H
or
MOV IE, A
MOV IE, # 86H
Interrupt Priority
There are two priority levels for interrupts
in 8051- High and Low.
Each interrupt can be programmed to a
low or high priority level, by making bits of
IP(Interrupt Priority) SFR as 0 or 1.
bit = 0 Interrupt at Low priority level.
bit = 1 Interrupt at High priority level.

Interrupt Priority Register

7 6
5
4
3
2
1

X
X
PS
PT1
PX1
PT0
PX0
IP X
- PX0 Priority External Interrupt 0
PT0 Priority Timer 0 overflow
PX1 Priority External Interrupt 1
PT1 Priority Timer 1 overflow
PS - Priority Serial port Interrupt
Example To place Timer 0, external interrupt
1 at high priority and other interrupts at low
priority.
SETB IP.1
IP = 0000 0110 = 06H
or
SETB IP.2
MOV IP, # 06H

 A low priority interrupt cant interrupt a high

priority interrupt but a high priority interrupt can
interrupt low priority interrupt.
In the above example
(i) 8051 is executing ISR for serial port interrupt
i.e. it is servicing serial port interrupt.
- If interrupt request at external interrupt 01
occurs since it is at high level, the 8051 will be
interrupted.
(ii) 8051 is executing ISR for timer 0.
- An interrupt request at external interrupt 0 will
not interrupt 8051 since EX0 is at low level
- For interrupts which are programmed at same
priority level, following rule is applied.

Source Priority Level

External Interrupt 0
Highest
Timer 0 Overflow
External Interrupt 1
Timer 1 Overflow
Serial Port
Lowest
When two or more interrupt requests come
at the same time and all the interrupts at
the same priority level the 8051 will select
an interrupt for servicing based on above.
All the interrupts are separately scanned
during each m/c cycle.

 An interrupt request will be serviced i.e.

corresponding ISR will be executed unless An interrupt of equal or higher level is
already in progress.
Current m/c cycle is not the final m/c
cycle in the execution of instruction in
progress i.e. no interrupt request will
be responded to until the instruction
in progress in completed.
Edge/Level Triggered Interrupts : In 8051, external interrupts i.e. INT0 and
INT1 can be programmed to be low level
triggered or high to low edge triggered.

 Level triggered When signal at INT0 or

INT1 is low-interrupt is caused.
Edge Triggered When signal at INT0 or
INT1 becomes low from high-interrupt is
caused.
Bits 0 to 3 of TCON register are used for
programming level or edge triggered
interrupts.
TCON
TF1:- TR1
TF0
TR0
IE1
IT1
IE0
IT0
7 6
5
4
3
2
1
0
IT0 (TCON.0) and IT1 (TCON.2) are used for
Level/Edge triggered programming.

When IT0 = 0 INT0 is Low Level triggered

IT0 = 1
INT0
is High to Low
edge triggered
IT1 = 0
INT1
Low level triggered
IT1 = 1
INT1 High to Low edge
triggered
When edge triggered external interrupt
occurs
Hardware will set the flag IE0 (TCON.1) for
INT0 and IE1(TCON.3) for INT1.
In case of edge triggered interrupts,
occurrence of interrupt needs to be saved.

 The ISR location for each interrupt is

predefined in 8051.
Source ISR Location
External Interrupt 0
0003H
Timer 0 Overflow 000BH
Ext. Interrupt 1
0013H
Timer 1 Overflow 001BH
Serial Port
0023H
The ISR must start at these locations and jump
to another memory location if it is bigger.
For Example:- ORG 0013H
SJMP
NIMT1.
NIMT1 :-

Programming
External Interrupts :- In a plant when
there is gas leakage, the gas detector
sends a high to low interrupt on INT0. The
8051 (12MHz clock) starts water spray by
sending control signal (5V) to P0.1 and
sends alarm signal by blinking LED
connected to P2.0(Common Anode)
Main Program :ORG
00
SJMP
030H
ORG
030H
; Enable Interrupt INT0

IE

EA

ES

ET1

EX1

ET0

EX0

= 1000 0001 = 81H

MOV
IE, # 81H
; Program INT0 to edge triggered by making
IT0=1 i.e. (TCON.0=1)
SETB TCON.0[ or SETB IT0]
; Set INT0 to high priority
IP = X
X
X
PS
PT1 PX1 PT0 PX0
MOV IP, # 01H [or SETB IP.0]
SJMP $

ISR for INT0

ORG
SJMP
NXINT0:
MOV
REPET:
ACALL
SETB
DJNZ
RETI
DEL1S:RET

0003H
NXINT0
SETB
P0.1
R3, # 100
CLR P2.0
DEL1S
P2.0
R3, REPET
Delay of 1second
END

Timer Interrupt:- In a Rly station when a train

passes a signal point, P0.2 line of 8051
becomes 1. 8051 waits for 30 seconds and
watches P1.2 line which may be activated by
station master. If not activated in 30 sec., 8051
sends all clear signal by lighting LED connected
to P1.7, to enable other trains to come.
Note:- Station master will activated P1.2 if any
coach of train is left out.
8051 is having 12MHz clock 12 oscillator m/c
cycle.
Delay calculation
12 MHz clock.
1 m/c cycle = 12/12 sec. = 1sec.

 Use Timer 0 as Timer for delay

Timer 0 ISR will light LED connected to P1.7
if P1.2=0
Mode = 01 16 bit timer
count = 0000 to FFFF i.e. 216 sec= 1
Overflow
1 Overflow = 65536 count
30 x 106 sec
= 65536 x n
n = 457.76 = 458 times overflow
= 2 x 229 times overflow
Main Program:ORG
0000H
SJMP
0030H
ORG
0030H

Timer 0

TMOD =
= 01H

GATE

MOV
TMOD,
MOV
R3,
MOV
R4,
JNB
P0.2,
MOV
TL0,
MOV
TH0,
; Enable Interrupt
SETBIE.7[ MOV
SETBIE.1

C/
T

M1

M0

# 01H
# 229
#2
$
# 00
# 00
IE, # 82H]

; Set priority SETB

IP.1
; Clear Interrupt flag
CLR
TF0 [TCON.5]
; Initiate Timer 0
SETB
TR0 [TCON.4]
SJMP
$
Timer 0 ISR
ORG
000BH
; Timer interrupt has to cause repeated interrupts
458 i.e. 2 x 229 times.
; Check if R3= 0
DEC
R3
CJNE
R3, #00, KK1
DEC
R4

CJNE
R4,# 00 , KK2
JNB
P1.2 , KK3
; Station master has activated P1.2
SJMP
KK4
KK2:
MOV
R3, # 229
SJMP
KK1
KK3:
SETB
P1.7
SJMP
KK4
KK1:
MOV
TL0, # 00
MOV
TH0, # 00
CLR
TF0 ; clear flag
SETB
TR0 initiate timer 0
MOV
IE, # 82H; Enable Interrupt
KK4:
RETI

Timer Interrupt:- Generate a pulse train of

1KHz at P1.0 using timer 0, (12 MHz clock
frequency.)
Delay calculation:1 m/c cycle = 1 sec.
1KHz = 103Hz =103 cycles per sec.

1 clock period
= 10-3 sec = 1 msec.
UP time = 0.5 milli sec.
DN time= 0.5 milli sec.

1 m/c cycle = 1 sec

0.5 milli sec. = 0.5 x103 m/c cycle
= 500 m/c cycle
For mode = 01 16 bit counter
Preset value 65535-500=65035 = FE0BH
Considering additional m/c cycle for roll over
Preset value = FE0CH
Main Program:; Program timer mode.
Gate C/T
M1 M0
TMOD = 0 0 0 0 0
0
0
1
= 01H

;
;

MOV
TMOD , # 01H
Load preset value
MOV
TL0, # 0CH
MOV
TH0, # FEH
Clear Timer 0 control interrupt bit TF0
CLR
TF0 [ CLR TCON.5]
Enable Timer 0 interrupt
EA
ET0 EX0
1
0
IE =1 0 0
= 82H
MOV
IE, # 82H
Set priority for Timer 0 interrupt
PTO

IP =0

1
0

PXO

= 02H

Note : - Timer 0, Timer 1 and serial port

interrupts are generated internally. Thus
level / Edge trigger programming is not
required.
; Set P1.0 to low level
CLR
P1.0
; Initiate Timer 0
SETB
TR0[SETB TCON.4]
SJMP
$
Timer 0 ISR
ORG
000BH
SJMP
TMR0

;
;
;

TMR0:
CPL
P1.0
Enable Timer 0 interrupt
MOV
IE, #82H
Clear TF0
CLR
TF0[TCON.5]
Reload value
MOV
TL0, # 0CH
MOV
TH0,# FEH
Initiate Timer 0
SETB
TR0[TCON.4]
RETI

Serial Port Interrupt

Note :- Two flags TI (Transmission) and (RI)
Reception are there.
- Both cause only one interrupt
- Serial Port Interrupt
-

T1
R1

Serial Port Interrupt

- Thus in ISR , You have to check the status

of RI and TI to know whether
Transmit or
Receive Interrupt has occurred.

Example
Send 10 bytes of data stored at
location 0030H onwards serially in mode1
(8 bits start- stop) at baud rate
4800.8051 has clock frequency of
11.0592MHz

Main Program
ORG
00H
SJMP
030H
ORG
030H
MOV
R2, # 00H for count
; Set mode, =01, SM0, SM1 =01
REN = 1
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
SCON =SM0 SM1 SM2 REN TB8 RB8 T1 RI
0

=50H

MOV

SCON, #50H

; Enable Serial Interrupt.

7

IE = EA
1

ES

ET1

EX1

ET0

EX0

= 90H
MOV
; Set Priority as High
IP =

IE, # 90H

PS

PT1

Px1

PT0

PX0

=10H
MOV

IP, # 10H

; Set Timer 1 to mode 2 Auto reload

TMOD =
Timer 1

Gat
e
0

C/T

M1

M0

Timer 0

MOV TMOD, #20H

; Load Preset value, in TH1
; Preset value for 4800 = -6 decimal or FAH
MOV
TH1, # FAH [MOV TH1 , # -6]
; Load byte to be transmitted to SBUF
Loop1: CJNE
R2, #10, XY
SJMP
XY1
XY:
MOV
A, R2
MOV

R0, A

ADD

A, #30H
MOV
A, @R0
INC
R2
MOV
SBUF, A

Clear TI and RI flags

CLR
TI [CLR SCON.1]
CLR
RI [CLR SCON.0]
; Initiate Timer 1
CLR
TF1 [CLR TCON.7]
SETB
TR1 [SETB TCON.6]
; At 4800 baud the 10 bit transmission
; will take 10/4800 sec = 1000/480 2
msecond
; We need to give delay of 2ms . and then
; Check TI bit to find if the

; transmission is complete
[ ACALL DEL 2MS ]
JNB
TI, $
CLR
TI
; Load next byte.
INC
R2
CJNE R2, # 9, Loop1
SJMP $
SJMP
LOOP1
XY1:
NOP
END

ISR Serial Interrupt

ORG
0023 H
SJMP
SRINT
; Enable serial Interrupt
SRINT: MOV
IE, #90H
CLR
T1
; Initiate Timer 1
CLR
TF1
SETB
TR1
RETI
; Similar steps to receive 20 byte of data and
store in memory.