LCD

Introduction

ESP chips can generate various kinds of timings that needed by common LCDs on the market, like SPI LCD, I80 LCD (a.k.a Intel 8080 parallel LCD), RGB/SRGB LCD, I2C LCD, etc. The esp_lcd component is officially to support those LCDs with a group of universal APIs across chips.

Functional Overview

In esp_lcd, an LCD panel is represented by esp_lcd_panel_handle_t, which plays the role of an abstract frame buffer, regardless of the frame memory is allocated inside ESP chip or in external LCD controller. Based on the location of the frame buffer, the LCD panel allocation functions are mainly grouped into the following categories:

  • RGB LCD panel - is simply based on a group of specific synchronous signals indicating where to start and stop a frame.

  • Controller based LCD panel involves multiple steps to get a panel handle, like bus allocation, IO device registration and controller driver install.

After we get the LCD handle, the remaining LCD operations are the same for different LCD interfaces and vendors.

Application Example

LCD examples are located under: peripherals/lcd:

API Reference

Type Definitions

typedef soc_periph_lcd_clk_src_t lcd_clock_source_t

LCD clock source.

Type Definitions

typedef struct esp_lcd_panel_io_t *esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t

Type of LCD panel IO handle

typedef struct esp_lcd_panel_t *esp_lcd_panel_handle_t

Type of LCD panel handle

Enumerations

enum esp_lcd_color_space_t

LCD color space type definition.

Values:

enumerator ESP_LCD_COLOR_SPACE_RGB

Color space: RGB

enumerator ESP_LCD_COLOR_SPACE_BGR

Color space: BGR

enumerator ESP_LCD_COLOR_SPACE_MONOCHROME

Color space: monochrome

Functions

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_io_rx_param(esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, int lcd_cmd, void *param, size_t param_size)

Transmit LCD command and receive corresponding parameters.

Note

Commands sent by this function are short, so they are sent using polling transactions. The function does not return before the command tranfer is completed. If any queued transactions sent by esp_lcd_panel_io_tx_color() are still pending when this function is called, this function will wait until they are finished and the queue is empty before sending the command(s).

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi()

  • lcd_cmd – [in] The specific LCD command, set to -1 if no command needed

  • param – [out] Buffer for the command data

  • param_size – [in] Size of param buffer

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if read is not supported by transport

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_io_tx_param(esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, int lcd_cmd, const void *param, size_t param_size)

Transmit LCD command and corresponding parameters.

Note

Commands sent by this function are short, so they are sent using polling transactions. The function does not return before the command tranfer is completed. If any queued transactions sent by esp_lcd_panel_io_tx_color() are still pending when this function is called, this function will wait until they are finished and the queue is empty before sending the command(s).

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi()

  • lcd_cmd – [in] The specific LCD command (set to -1 if no command needed - only in SPI and I2C)

  • param – [in] Buffer that holds the command specific parameters, set to NULL if no parameter is needed for the command

  • param_size – [in] Size of param in memory, in bytes, set to zero if no parameter is needed for the command

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_io_tx_color(esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, int lcd_cmd, const void *color, size_t color_size)

Transmit LCD RGB data.

Note

This function will package the command and RGB data into a transaction, and push into a queue. The real transmission is performed in the background (DMA+interrupt). The caller should take care of the lifecycle of the color buffer. Recycling of color buffer should be done in the callback on_color_trans_done().

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle, which is created by factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi()

  • lcd_cmd – [in] The specific LCD command

  • color – [in] Buffer that holds the RGB color data

  • color_size – [in] Size of color in memory, in bytes

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_io_del(esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io)

Destory LCD panel IO handle (deinitialize panel and free all corresponding resource)

Parameters

io – [in] LCD panel IO handle, which is created by factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi()

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi(esp_lcd_spi_bus_handle_t bus, const esp_lcd_panel_io_spi_config_t *io_config, esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t *ret_io)

Create LCD panel IO handle, for SPI interface.

Parameters

  • bus – [in] SPI bus handle

  • io_config – [in] IO configuration, for SPI interface

  • ret_io – [out] Returned IO handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_io_i2c(esp_lcd_i2c_bus_handle_t bus, const esp_lcd_panel_io_i2c_config_t *io_config, esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t *ret_io)

Create LCD panel IO handle, for I2C interface.

Parameters

  • bus – [in] I2C bus handle

  • io_config – [in] IO configuration, for I2C interface

  • ret_io – [out] Returned IO handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_i80_bus(const esp_lcd_i80_bus_config_t *bus_config, esp_lcd_i80_bus_handle_t *ret_bus)

Create Intel 8080 bus handle.

Parameters

  • bus_config – [in] Bus configuration

  • ret_bus – [out] Returned bus handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_FOUND if no free bus is available

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_del_i80_bus(esp_lcd_i80_bus_handle_t bus)

Destory Intel 8080 bus handle.

Parameters

bus – [in] Intel 8080 bus handle, created by esp_lcd_new_i80_bus()

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE if there still be some device attached to the bus

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_io_i80(esp_lcd_i80_bus_handle_t bus, const esp_lcd_panel_io_i80_config_t *io_config, esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t *ret_io)

Create LCD panel IO, for Intel 8080 interface.

Parameters

  • bus – [in] Intel 8080 bus handle, created by esp_lcd_new_i80_bus()

  • io_config – [in] IO configuration, for i80 interface

  • ret_io – [out] Returned panel IO handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if some configuration can’t be satisfied, e.g. pixel clock out of the range

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

Structures

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_event_data_t

Type of LCD panel IO event data.

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_spi_config_t

Panel IO configuration structure, for SPI interface.

Public Members

int cs_gpio_num

GPIO used for CS line

int dc_gpio_num

GPIO used to select the D/C line, set this to -1 if the D/C line not controlled by manually pulling high/low GPIO

int spi_mode

Traditional SPI mode (0~3)

unsigned int pclk_hz

Frequency of pixel clock

size_t trans_queue_depth

Size of internal transaction queue

esp_lcd_panel_io_color_trans_done_cb_t on_color_trans_done

Callback invoked when color data transfer has finished

void *user_ctx

User private data, passed directly to on_color_trans_done’s user_ctx

int lcd_cmd_bits

Bit-width of LCD command

int lcd_param_bits

Bit-width of LCD parameter

unsigned int dc_low_on_data

If this flag is enabled, DC line = 0 means transfer data, DC line = 1 means transfer command; vice versa

unsigned int octal_mode

transmit with octal mode (8 data lines), this mode is used to simulate Intel 8080 timing

unsigned int lsb_first

transmit LSB bit first

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_spi_config_t::[anonymous] flags

Extra flags to fine-tune the SPI device

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_i2c_config_t

Panel IO configuration structure, for I2C interface.

Public Members

uint32_t dev_addr

I2C device address

esp_lcd_panel_io_color_trans_done_cb_t on_color_trans_done

Callback invoked when color data transfer has finished

void *user_ctx

User private data, passed directly to on_color_trans_done’s user_ctx

size_t control_phase_bytes

I2C LCD panel will encode control information (e.g. D/C seclection) into control phase, in several bytes

unsigned int dc_bit_offset

Offset of the D/C selection bit in control phase

int lcd_cmd_bits

Bit-width of LCD command

int lcd_param_bits

Bit-width of LCD parameter

unsigned int dc_low_on_data

If this flag is enabled, DC line = 0 means transfer data, DC line = 1 means transfer command; vice versa

unsigned int disable_control_phase

If this flag is enabled, the control phase isn’t used

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_i2c_config_t::[anonymous] flags

Extra flags to fine-tune the I2C device

struct esp_lcd_i80_bus_config_t

LCD Intel 8080 bus configuration structure.

Public Members

int dc_gpio_num

GPIO used for D/C line

int wr_gpio_num

GPIO used for WR line

lcd_clock_source_t clk_src

Clock source for the I80 LCD peripheral

int data_gpio_nums[(24)]

GPIOs used for data lines

size_t bus_width

Number of data lines, 8 or 16

size_t max_transfer_bytes

Maximum transfer size, this determines the length of internal DMA link

size_t psram_trans_align

DMA transfer alignment for data allocated from PSRAM

size_t sram_trans_align

DMA transfer alignment for data allocated from SRAM

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_i80_config_t

Panel IO configuration structure, for intel 8080 interface.

Public Members

int cs_gpio_num

GPIO used for CS line, set to -1 will declaim exclusively use of I80 bus

unsigned int pclk_hz

Frequency of pixel clock

size_t trans_queue_depth

Transaction queue size, larger queue, higher throughput

esp_lcd_panel_io_color_trans_done_cb_t on_color_trans_done

Callback invoked when color data was tranferred done

void *user_ctx

User private data, passed directly to on_color_trans_done’s user_ctx

int lcd_cmd_bits

Bit-width of LCD command

int lcd_param_bits

Bit-width of LCD parameter

unsigned int dc_idle_level

Level of DC line in IDLE phase

unsigned int dc_cmd_level

Level of DC line in CMD phase

unsigned int dc_dummy_level

Level of DC line in DUMMY phase

unsigned int dc_data_level

Level of DC line in DATA phase

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_i80_config_t::[anonymous] dc_levels

Each i80 device might have its own D/C control logic

unsigned int cs_active_high

If set, a high level of CS line will select the device, otherwise, CS line is low level active

unsigned int reverse_color_bits

Reverse the data bits, D[N:0] -> D[0:N]

unsigned int swap_color_bytes

Swap adjacent two color bytes

unsigned int pclk_active_neg

The display will write data lines when there’s a falling edge on WR signal (a.k.a the PCLK)

unsigned int pclk_idle_low

The WR signal (a.k.a the PCLK) stays at low level in IDLE phase

struct esp_lcd_panel_io_i80_config_t::[anonymous] flags

Panel IO config flags

Type Definitions

typedef void *esp_lcd_spi_bus_handle_t

Type of LCD SPI bus handle

typedef void *esp_lcd_i2c_bus_handle_t

Type of LCD I2C bus handle

typedef struct esp_lcd_i80_bus_t *esp_lcd_i80_bus_handle_t

Type of LCD intel 8080 bus handle

typedef bool (*esp_lcd_panel_io_color_trans_done_cb_t)(esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t panel_io, esp_lcd_panel_io_event_data_t *edata, void *user_ctx)

Declare the prototype of the function that will be invoked when panel IO finishes transferring color data.

Param panel_io

[in] LCD panel IO handle, which is created by factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_io_spi()

Param edata

[in] Panel IO event data, fed by driver

Param user_ctx

[in] User data, passed from esp_lcd_panel_io_xxx_config_t

Return

Whether a high priority task has been waken up by this function

Functions

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_reset(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel)

Reset LCD panel.

Note

Panel reset must be called before attempting to initialize the panel using esp_lcd_panel_init().

Parameters

panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_init(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel)

Initialize LCD panel.

Note

Before calling this function, make sure the LCD panel has finished the reset stage by esp_lcd_panel_reset().

Parameters

panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_del(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel)

Deinitialize the LCD panel.

Parameters

panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_draw_bitmap(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, int x_start, int y_start, int x_end, int y_end, const void *color_data)

Draw bitmap on LCD panel.

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • x_start – [in] Start index on x-axis (x_start included)

  • y_start – [in] Start index on y-axis (y_start included)

  • x_end – [in] End index on x-axis (x_end not included)

  • y_end – [in] End index on y-axis (y_end not included)

  • color_data – [in] RGB color data that will be dumped to the specific window range

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_mirror(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, bool mirror_x, bool mirror_y)

Mirror the LCD panel on specific axis.

Note

Combined with esp_lcd_panel_swap_xy(), one can realize screen rotation

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • mirror_x – [in] Whether the panel will be mirrored about the x axis

  • mirror_y – [in] Whether the panel will be mirrored about the y axis

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if this function is not supported by the panel

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_swap_xy(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, bool swap_axes)

Swap/Exchange x and y axis.

Note

Combined with esp_lcd_panel_mirror(), one can realize screen rotation

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • swap_axes – [in] Whether to swap the x and y axis

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if this function is not supported by the panel

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_set_gap(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, int x_gap, int y_gap)

Set extra gap in x and y axis.

The gap is the space (in pixels) between the left/top sides of the LCD panel and the first row/column respectively of the actual contents displayed.

Note

Setting a gap is useful when positioning or centering a frame that is smaller than the LCD.

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • x_gap – [in] Extra gap on x axis, in pixels

  • y_gap – [in] Extra gap on y axis, in pixels

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_invert_color(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, bool invert_color_data)

Invert the color (bit-wise invert the color data line)

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • invert_color_data – [in] Whether to invert the color data

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_disp_on_off(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, bool on_off)

Turn on or off the display.

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • on_off – [in] True to turns on display, False to turns off display

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if this function is not supported by the panel

esp_err_t esp_lcd_panel_disp_off(esp_lcd_panel_handle_t panel, bool off)

Turn off the display.

Parameters

  • panel – [in] LCD panel handle, which is created by other factory API like esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789()

  • off – [in] Whether to turn off the screen

Returns

  • ESP_OK on success

  • ESP_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED if this function is not supported by the panel

Functions

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_st7789(const esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, const esp_lcd_panel_dev_config_t *panel_dev_config, esp_lcd_panel_handle_t *ret_panel)

Create LCD panel for model ST7789.

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle

  • panel_dev_config – [in] general panel device configuration

  • ret_panel – [out] Returned LCD panel handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_nt35510(const esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, const esp_lcd_panel_dev_config_t *panel_dev_config, esp_lcd_panel_handle_t *ret_panel)

Create LCD panel for model NT35510.

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle

  • panel_dev_config – [in] general panel device configuration

  • ret_panel – [out] Returned LCD panel handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

esp_err_t esp_lcd_new_panel_ssd1306(const esp_lcd_panel_io_handle_t io, const esp_lcd_panel_dev_config_t *panel_dev_config, esp_lcd_panel_handle_t *ret_panel)

Create LCD panel for model SSD1306.

Parameters

  • io – [in] LCD panel IO handle

  • panel_dev_config – [in] general panel device configuration

  • ret_panel – [out] Returned LCD panel handle

Returns

  • ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG if parameter is invalid

  • ESP_ERR_NO_MEM if out of memory

  • ESP_OK on success

Structures

struct esp_lcd_panel_dev_config_t

Configuration structure for panel device.

Public Members

int reset_gpio_num

GPIO used to reset the LCD panel, set to -1 if it’s not used

esp_lcd_color_space_t color_space

Set the color space used by the LCD panel

unsigned int bits_per_pixel

Color depth, in bpp

unsigned int reset_active_high

Setting this if the panel reset is high level active

struct esp_lcd_panel_dev_config_t::[anonymous] flags

LCD panel config flags

void *vendor_config

vendor specific configuration, optional, left as NULL if not used

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