A New Approach for Seven-Segment Display Control Based on One Control pin

Abstract

Seven segment display is a widely used electronic component in many applications from education to industry, but its main drawback lies in the needed connections to control it using a microcontroller, where it requires either the usage of several control pins or a complex communication protocol. This paper aims to present a simple method to control a seven-segment display using only one control pin without the need for any complex communication protocol. This method is implemented using RC filter, combinational logic circuit, flash converter, and a BCD to seven segment encoder and tested using Arduino Uno. This work can ease the use of seven-segment displays by reducing the number of control pins needed and this method could be developed in the future to be implemented as a working module.