6 Digit USB LED Display Known as USB7

Overview

The project uses a USB virtual COM port in order to control the 6-digit LED display USB7.

Details

A reliable USB virtual serial port is being provided by the USB7 which uses a single microcontroller. For occasions where a computer monitor is not ideal, the gap between the real world display and computer software is being bridged by the 6-digit 7-segment display. This is possible by using the serial port or parallel port which no longer exists in modern computers along with different logic ICs.

The Communication Device Class (CDC) is used by the USB virtual COM port (AVR-CDC) which is a USB-RS232C interface. It can operate extremely well on low speed USB with slower speed, which makes this its biggest advantage. This signifies that in order to accelerate the 4800bps 8N1, an ATtuny45 is enough to be used. Since the ATtiny45 is so far the cheapest component for USB-232C interface type, it saves a lot of money on building this project.

The versatility in display selection is allowed by the standard 0.56” common-anode display format. The USB7 PCB is the backbone of the project while the ATmega48 functions as the brain.