Arindam Halder and Ranjan Dasgupta
Tata Consultancy Services

This paper describes a novel technique with the use of 16-bit Timer_A to decode RC-6 and RC-MM IR remote control signals on run-time. The decoder described in this paper is interrupt-driven function using specific features of the Timer_A. Only a small portion of the MSP430 CPU's non real-time resources is used. Specific hardware bit-latching capabilities of the Timer_A module are used for real-time decoding of the IR data signal, independent and asynchronous to the CPU. CPU activity and power consumption are kept to an absolute minimum level. The solutions provided are written specifically for MSP430x12x derivatives, but can be adapted to any other MSP430 that incorporates Timer_A.