1
Introduction
The I
2
C Bus / SMBus Monitor is a Troubleshooting Tool for the Inter-
Integrated Circuit (I
2
C) Bus developed by Philips Semiconductors and the
System Management Bus (SMBus) developed by Intel Corporation. When
connected to an I
2
C Bus or SMBus network, the I
2
C Bus / SMBus Monitor
can capture and display bus message activity.
The I
2
C Bus / SMBus Monitor can operate in two modes, stand-alone and
remote. In stand-alone mode, the built-in display and keypad supports the
capture and display of bus messages. In remote mode, the monitor is
controlled by a host computer via an RS-232 serial communications port.
For remote mode operation, MCC offers an optional Windows-based I
2
C
Bus / SMBus Analyzer software (#SMB-SW) to provide remote control of
the monitor from a PC. This software allows bus message data to be
captured, logged, filtered, displayed, and analyzed using one of several
built-in protocol parsers, including the display of Smart Battery System
(SBS) messages in engineering units.
In addition to MCC’s standard software, a customer may also develop
custom software to meet special processing requirements. Custom
software can control, collect, and upload bus message data to a host
system. This provides a powerful tool for integrating the monitor into an
automatic manufacturing-test environment. Remote control is
accomplished via a series of ASCII text commands. A description of the
monitor command set is provided in the Application Program Interface
section of this manual.
The complete I
2
C Bus / SMBus Monitor package consists of a hand-held
unit, connecting clip-lead and interface cables, power supply, and optional
Windows-based analyzer software.
I
2
C Bus / SMBus Monitor
