RTC_B Operation
693
SLAU367P – October 2012 – Revised April 2020
Copyright © 2012–2020, Texas Instruments Incorporated
Real-Time Clock B (RTC_B)
28.2 RTC_B Operation
The RTC_B module provides seconds, minutes, hours, day of week, day of month, month, and year in
selectable BCD or hexadecimal format. The calendar includes a leap-year algorithm that considers all
years evenly divisible by four as leap years. This algorithm is accurate from the year 1901 through 2099.
28.2.1 Real-Time Clock and Prescale Dividers
The prescale dividers, RT0PS and RT1PS, are automatically configured to provide a 1-s clock interval for
the RTC_B. The low-frequency oscillator must be operated at 32768 Hz (nominal) for proper RTC_B
operation. RT0PS is sourced from the low-frequency oscillator XT1. The output of RT0PS / 256 (Q7) is
used to source RT1PS. RT1PS is further divider and the /128 output sources the real-time clock counter
registers providing the required 1-second time interval.
When RTCBCD = 1, BCD format is selected for the calendar registers. It is possible to switch between
BCD and hexadecimal format while the RTC is counting.
Setting RTCHOLD halts the real-time counters and prescale counters, RT0PS, and RT1PS.
28.2.2 Real-Time Clock Alarm Function
The RTC_B module provides for a flexible alarm system. There is a single user-programmable alarm that
can be programmed based on the settings contained in the alarm registers for minutes, hours, day of
week, and day of month.
Each alarm register contains an alarm enable (AE) bit that can be used to enable the respective alarm
register. By setting AE bits of the various alarm registers, a variety of alarm events can be generated.
•
Example 1: A user wishes to set an alarm every hour at 15 minutes past the hour (that is, at 00:15:00,
01:15:00, 02:15:00, etc). This is possible by setting RTCAMIN to 15. By setting the AE bit of the
RTCAMIN and clearing all other AE bits of the alarm registers, the alarm is enabled. When enabled,
the RTCAIFG is set when the count transitions from 00:14:59 to 00:15:00, 01:14:59 to 01:15:00,
02:14:59 to 02:15:00, and so on.
•
Example 2: A user wishes to set an alarm every day at 04:00:00. This is possible by setting
RTCAHOUR to 4. By setting the AE bit of the RTCHOUR and clearing all other AE bits of the alarm
registers, the alarm is enabled. When enabled, the RTCAIFG is set when the count transitions from
03:59:59 to 04:00:00.
•
Example 3: A user wishes to set an alarm for 06:30:00. RTCAHOUR would be set to 6 and RTCAMIN
would be set to 30. By setting the AE bits of RTCAHOUR and RTCAMIN, the alarm is enabled. Once
enabled, the RTCAIFG is set when the time count transitions from 06:29:59 to 06:30:00. In this case,
the alarm event occurs every day at 06:30:00.
•
Example 4: A user wishes to set an alarm every Tuesday at 06:30:00. RTCADOW would be set to 2,
RTCAHOUR would be set to 6, and RTCAMIN would be set to 30. By setting the AE bits of
RTCADOW, RTCAHOUR, and RTCAMIN, the alarm is enabled. Once enabled, the RTCAIFG is set
when the time count transitions from 06:29:59 to 06:30:00 and the RTCDOW transitions from 1 to 2.
•
Example 5: A user wishes to set an alarm the fifth day of each month at 06:30:00. RTCADAY would be
set to 5, RTCAHOUR would be set to 6, and RTCAMIN would be set to 30. By setting the AE bits of
RTCADAY, RTCAHOUR, and RTCAMIN, the alarm is enabled. Once enabled, the RTCAIFG is set
when the time count transitions from 06:29:59 to 06:30:00 and the RTCDAY equals 5.
NOTE:
Setting the alarm
Before setting an initial alarm, all alarm registers including the AE bits should be cleared.
To prevent potential erroneous alarm conditions from occurring, the alarms should be
disabled by clearing the RTCAIE, RTCAIFG, and AE bits before writing initial or new time
values to the RTC time registers.