Vasile,
        I almost understood your method, but where does the Prescaler value go?
        You did'nt write anything about that. Could you please tell me a more
        refined version of your algorithm to find out the TMR0 period ?

Thanking you,
Jeethu Rao
www.jeethurao

-----Original Message-----
From: Vasile Surducan [mailto:vasile@L30.itim-cj.ro]
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 10:09 AM
To: jeethu@jeethurao.com
Cc: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [PIC]: Timer0 Interrupt Timing



Jeethu, there is a method ( Steinhart ? method ) for no errors timing
generation. A wile ago, Roman Black promised an example with this method
on his site, maibe it was just a promise... I don't know.
Here is the story of that method posted by Roman :
(I hope will help you )

Hi Guys, I've implemented a version of Bob's
zero-error one second timer. I added two changes
and the whole thing fits in just a handful of
instructions. It will give perfect results with
any crystal speed (that divides evenly by 4).

Basic theory: (example 16MHz crystal, 4MHz instruction)
* put one second value in 24bit var (4,000,000 ticks)
* the TIMER0 int is every 256 instructions
* every int we subtract 256 from value
* when value gets <0 we generate the one second event,
  and add another 4,000,000 ticks to var

It has zero cumulative error and zero short-term
average error. There will be a max error per second
of 256 instructions (64uS at 16MHz crystal).

The two changes I made from Bob's idea are;
* subtracting a set value of 256 (1x mid-byte)
* adding an extra 256 ticks at the start.

The first change means that instead of doing a
proper 24bit subtract every int, you just need
to dec the mid byte of the var, (and do carry test
and dec msb if needed). Very fast and small code.

The second change means the var never goes below
zero, instead our <0 test simply becomes a <256
test.. This is very quick, we just test that
msb=0 AND mid=0.

This condition means that now to add the 4,000,000
ticks to the variable again we are guaranteed that
msb and mid bytes are 0, so we can simply load
the two values from literals straight into the
msb and mid bytes. We no longer need a proper
24bit add! We must do an add on the lsb byte,
but this is only one byte add and one carry test.
If carry, we can just inc the mid byte, as it's
value is guaranteed.
The whole thing is very small and quick as there
are no real 24bit add/subtracts needed. :o)

-----------------------------------------------------
My code is specific to my app but here is the
psuedo code:

initialising: (assuming 16MHz crystal, 4MHz clock)
        set TIMER0 to generate int every 256 clocks
        put 4,000,000 in 24 bit var
        add another 256 to var (inc mid byte)

int handler:
        save off status/w

        dec mid byte (subtract 256 from total value)
        check carry and dec msb if needed
                (that was our entire 24bit subtract!)

        now test for msb=0 AND mid=0 (detect <256)
        if not, goto int exit (very quick int in most cases!)

        (here we have detected 1 sec event)
        generate 1 second event

        (now we do the add 4,000,000 again)
        load msb value into msb (msb was guaranteed 0)
        load mid value into mid (mid was guaranteed 0)
        add lsb value to whatever is left in lsb
        if carry, inc mid
                (that's our whole 24bit add done!)

        int exit:
        restore status/w
-----------------------------------------------------

There are a lot of good things about Bob's system.
Any crystal can be used, if it gives x instructions/sec.

It will also work great for other timing periods,
like my datalogger that needs an event at 2Hz, 4Hz, 8Hz,
selectable. I just change the total value of ticks
added to the 24bit var. This can be done on the fly
with no problems.
Quirky thing? With my 16MHz crystal, the clock is 4MHz.
So a one second period is 4,000,000 ticks. This just
happens to be 3D 09 00 in 24bit hex. Notice the lsb
is zero. This means that there will be NO ERROR on a
one second period. No jitter, as the only jitter with
this system is the lsb averaging. That was good luck,
I found it by accident! :o)

The jitter is not a big problem as with most crystals
it will be a short term average. With a 8MHz crystal,
(2,000,000 ticks) one second will be 128 ticks late,
the next second will be perfect. A 2-cycle average
with zero average error. A 4MHz crystal gives 4-cycle
average with every 4th second perfect.

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