(Select MCU family for more information)
More about graphic LCD support on LPC MCUs.
(Select MCU family for more information)
More about segment LCD support on LPC MCUs.
Graphic LCD controllers
Four LPC microcontroller series include an optimized graphic LCD controller for driving a variety of color and monochrome LCD panels without loading the CPU. This highly optimized peripheral features:
LPC MCUs equipped with LCD display controllers also include a dedicated LCD DMA controller, free access to Segger emWin and SWIM graphics libraries and support for external memory expansion for larger frame buffers and animations. GUI middleware is available from third-party companies, including Draupner Graphics, Express Logic, and Altia.
Free graphics libraries
The high-performance emWin embedded graphics library, developed by SEGGER Microcontroller, is available to LPC developers in library form for free commercial use with NXP LPC microcontrollers. The emWin graphics library is a processor- and display-independent GUI that makes it easy to add an LCD display to application designs.
The software bundle offered by NXP includes the emWin Color basic package, the Window Manager/Widgets module including the GUIBuilder, the Memory Devices module for flicker-free animation, the Anti-aliasing module for smooth display of curves, lines and fonts, the Font Converter and the VNC Server.
Simple Window Interface Manager (SWIM) is a basic graphics library developed for the NXP LPC products that allows developers to quickly and easily implement a system with basic graphics support. It can also be used with LPC controllers with and without a dedicated LCD interface. SWIM supports basic graphics primitives such as lines and squares and simple non-overlapping windows with logical coordinates per window.
Segment LCD controllers
Two LPC MCUs incorporate an on-chip PCF8576D Universal LCD driver to offer segment LCD support. Both are capable of driving any static or multiplexed LCDs containing up to 4 backplanes and 40 segments, and can be easily cascaded with multiple segment LCD drivers to accommodate up to 2560 segments for larger display applications. Display overhead is minimized by an on-chip display RAM with auto-increment addressing.
Support for external memory expansion
As products move away from mechanical interfaces toward small LCD panels or touchscreens, there’s a growing need for external memories to support larger frame buffers and more sophisticated display features, such as animations. Select LPC families give developers the design flexibility to expand external memory features through an 8/16/32-bit external memory controller (EMC) and/or a quad SPI Flash interface (SPIFI). The EMC can be used with external static memories, such as RAM, ROM, or Flash, or dynamic memories, such as single-data-rate SDRAM. The SPIFI interface provides easy connection to low-cost external Quad SPI (QSPI) or SPI Flash memory.
