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A digital indicator system with 7-segment display

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3rd International Conference on Science and Sustainable Development (ICSSD 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

A digital indicator system with 7-segment display

Matthew B. Akanle1, Victoria Oguntosin 2

1
Department of Electrical & Electrical Engineering, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State

E-mail:[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. This paper presents the design and implementation of a digital system that uses a 7-
segment display to indicate the number of drug tablets in a tablet-bottling assembly line. As well as
display the number of tablets in a bottle (from 0 – 9), the display can also indicate the name of the
vitamin tablet being assembled (Vitamin A, b, C, d, E). This work presents the digital implementation
comprising the logic expression, logic circuit and VHDL code for the Vitamin type in the bottle. A
digital implementation to display the number of Vitamins in the tablet bottle as well as the Vitamin
type with a BBC microbit microcontroller is presented. The application of this work can be extended
to give a visual indication of any industrial application that requires indication of the current
production stage/phase.

1. Introduction
Seven segment displays are made up of LEDs combined such that they can be used to display numbers and
letters. As their name implies, they are made of seven LEDs plus an additional LED for a dot. Led dot
matrix displays, on the other hand, are made up of LEDs in a square matrix form to give an indication of a
letter, number or symbol [1]. Seven segment displays can be in form of common anode or common cathode.
They can also be in form of single digit or multi digit seven segment displays.

Seven-segment displays are used in many types of everyday products, for example, in a tablet-bottling
system [2], to give an indication of measurement types such as temperature or a reading on calculator or
meters [3]. The 7-segment display for the bottling system is controlled by logic circuits which encodes a
decimal number in binary form consequently activating suitable LEDs of the display. 7-segment displays
cannot only indicate numbers (0 to 9), they can also display some alphabets.

The application of 7-segment display in this paper is to give a visual indication of the number of tablets in a
drug bottling assembly line as well as give a visual indication of the Vitamin type being assembled. The
digital drug tablet-bottling assembly line works by grouping and assembling a particular Vitamin tablet in a
bottle along a production line after these tablets have been manufactured. In this paper, we design a digital
system to indicate the alphabets (A, b, C, d, and E)which is used to categorise the kind of vitamin tablet that
is assembled in a drug bottling production line. The design of numbers 0 – 9 using a single digit 7-segment
display is also developed to give an indication of the number of tablets in the bottle. In this paper, the
decoding logic for indicating A, b, C, d, and E letters is presented in detail.

2. Single Digit Displays

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are the two common types of digital
visual displays. For 7-segment displays, seven light-emitting diodes are arranged in such a way as to give

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

light whenever current flows through the powered circuit. An LCD, on the other hand, works on the
principle of polarized light which gets activated when light is not reflected, thereby the letters, alphabets,
numbers and characters appears black. However, inactivation causes incident reflected light to be invisible.
The LED segments in 7 segments displays are organised as shown in Figure 1 and characterized as a, b, c, d,
e, f, g and dp as indicated. When chosen LED segments are turned ON or OFF, certain alphabetical letters or
numbers are created.

Figure 1: 7 segment display lettering

Common Anode (CA) displays have the anode of all LED pins connected together to 5v, therefore, a LOW
voltage applied individually on each pin will light up the LED of that particular pin. Conversely, Common
Cathode (CC) displays have the cathode of all LED pins connected together to ground, therefore, a HIGH
voltage applied individually on a given pin will turn ON the LED of that particular pin Figure 2 shows the
internal structure of a single digit 7-segment display.

(a) (b)
Figure 2: Internal structure of 1-digit 7 segment displays. (a) Common Cathode (CC) (b) Common Anode
(CA)

7 segment displays normally have 8 pins which represent the each LED on the display (7 segment plus the
dot making 8 LEDs) (Figure 3a and b). However, there is also a 7 segment display called a Binary Coded
Display (BCD) that has only 4 pins (Figure 3c. In this case, the binary combination as shown in Table 1 will
produce numbers 0 - 9 and letters A - F as shown.

Figure 3: Single-digit 7 segment displays; (a) Generic 7-segment display (b) Common anode/ cathode 7-
segment display (c) Binary coded (BCD) 7-segment display

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

Table 1: Binary Coded Display pin configuration

For common anode 7-segment displays, Table 2 shows the binary and hexadecimal value that would
produce numbers 0 - 9 and alphabets A - F, this can be traced by using Figure 2. For common cathode 7-
segment displays, the binary and hexadecimal values are shown in Table 3 for numbers 0 - 9 and alphabets
A - F. Notice that the binary values can also be produced by carrying out a NOT operation on the respective
common anode binary value. For example, number‘’2’’is formed by the following segments: a, b, d, e, and
g; number‘’5’’is formed by the following segments: a, c, d, f and g; alphabet ‘’A’’ is formed by the
following segments: a, b, c, e, f and g; letter ‘’E’’ is formed by the following segments: a, d, e, f and g. As
shown in both Tables 2 and 3, there is no one segment that is shared by all digits but segment “e” is shared
to all alphabets that can be displayed by the 7-segment.

Table 2: Common Anode

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

Table 3: Common Cathode 7 segment display:

3. Logic Design for Display

7-segment displays have their segments designed in order that the formations of various letters shown in
Table 4 are obtained. Activation of each segment is through a decoding circuit that distinguishes the code for
each alphabet in which that particular segment is utilized. Because a CA display is used, the segments are
activated with a LOW voltage and deactivated with a positive HIGH voltage.

Table 4: Segments activated for each of the five alphabets used in the 7 segment displays.
Letter Activated Segment
A A, B, C, E, F, G
b C, D, E, F, G
C A, D, E, F
d B, C, D, E, G
E A, D, E, F, G

A 7-segment display truth table for producing the alphabets is indicated in Table 5. 4 hexa-decimal inputs
and 7 outputs can be seen for each segment as part of the logic. Since the alphabet F is not utilized as part of
the inputs, therefore, all outputs for F are all fixed to 1.

Table 5: Hexadecimal-to-7-segment decoder for letters A through E

Letter Hexadecimal Inputs Segment Outputs
3 2 0 1 
A 1 0 1 0 0001000
b 1 0 1 1 1100000
C 1 1 0 0 0110001
d 1 1 0 1 1000010
E 1 1 1 0 0110000
F 1 1 1 1 1111111

3.1 Karnaugh Maps

In order that simplified logic are developed for each segment, the truth table in Table 5 is drawn using
Karnaugh maps. Numbers that will not be shown on the display are invalid and therefore ‘’X’’ is entered on
the Karnaugh maps.

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

3.2 Expressions for the Segment Logic

Using the table in Table 4, a standard Sum-of-Products (SOP) expression was written for each segment and
then simplified with the use of K-map. Entries corresponding to chosen outputs from the table are written
into the suitable cells representing the hex inputs. The 1s and Xs are clustered in order to achieve the
simplified SOP expressions for the display logic,.
Segment a:Segment a is used for the alphabetsA, C and E. The Boolean expression for segment a is:

2 1 
a= 3 
0 + 3 2 

1 

0 + 3 2 1 

0
Simplified expression for segment a is shown in Figure 4:

Figure 4: K-map simplification of segment a

a = 0
Segment b:Segment b is used for the alphabetsA and d. The Boolean expression for segment b is:

2 1 
b = 3 
0 + 3 2 

1 0
Simplified expression for segment b is shown in Figure 5:

Figure 5: K-map simplification of segment b

1 
b=
0 + 1 0 + 2 1
Segment c:Segment c is used for the alphabetsA, b and d. The Boolean expression for segment c is:

2 1 
c = 3 
0 + 3 

2 1 0 + 3 2 

1 0
Simplified expression for segment c is shown in Figure 6:

Figure 6: K-map simplification of segment c

1 
c=
0 + 2 1
Segment d: Segment d is used for the alphabetsb, C, d and E. The Boolean expression for segment d is:
H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H
d= 3 2 1 0 3 2 1 0 3 2 1 0 3 2 1 0

Minimization of the expressions for segment d is shown in Figure 7:

Figure 7: K-map simplification of segment d

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

d  H 3 H 2 H1  H 3 H 2 H1
Segment e: Segment e is present in alphabetsA, b, C, d and E. The Boolean expression for segment e is:
e  H3 H2 H1 H0  H3 H2 H1H0  H3H2 H1H0  H3H2 H1H0  H3H2 H1 H0
Minimization of the expressions for segment e is shown in Figure 8:

Figure 8: K-map simplification of segment e

e  H 2 H1H 0
Segment f: Segment f is present in alphabets A, b, C and E.. The Boolean expression for segment f is:
f  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0
Minimization of the expressions for segment f is shown in Figure 9:

Figure 9: K-map simplification of segment f

f  H2 H0
Segment g: Segment g is found in alphabets A, b, d and E. The Boolean expression for segment g is
g  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0  H 3 H 2 H1 H 0
Minimization of the expressions for segment g is shown in Figure 10:

Figure 10: K-map simplification of segment g

g  H 2 H1 H 0  H1 H 0

3.3. The Logic Circuits

From the minimum expressions, the logic circuits for each segment can be implemented. The logic diagram
of segment a, b and c is shown in Figure 11

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

Figure 11: Logic diagram of segment a, b and c

For segment d, the logic diagram is shown in Figure 12:

Figure 12: Logic diagram of segment d

For segment e, the logic diagram is shown in Figure 13:

Figure 13: Logic diagram of segment e

For segment f, the logic diagram is shown in Figure 14:

Figure 14: Logic diagram of segment f

For segment g, the logic diagram is shown in Figure 15:

Figure 15: Logic diagram of segment g

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

VHDL implementation of the 7-segment decoding logicin a programmable logic device (PLD) is described
using the following code.

Segment ais implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0: in bit; SEGa: out bit);

SEGa <= H0;

Segment bis implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H1, H2: in bit; SEGb: out bit);

SEGb <= (not H1 and not H0) or (H1 and H0) or (H2 and H1);

Segment cis implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H1, H2: in bit; SEGc: out bit);

SEGc <= (not H1 and not H0) or (H2 and H1);

Segment dis implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H1, H2: in bit; SEGd: out bit);

SEGd <= (H2 and H1 and H0) or (not H2 and H1 and not H0);

Segment ais implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H1, H2: in bit; SEGe: out bit);

SEGe <= (H2 and H1 and H0);

Segment ais implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H2: in bit; SEGf: out bit);

SEGf <= (H2 and H0));

Segment ais implemented with the VHDL code:

port (H0, H1, H2: in bit; SEGg: out bit);

SEGg <= (H2 and H1 and H0) or (not H1 and not H0);

4. Results and Discussion

The digital indicator system with a 7-segment display was physically implemented using a BBC Microbit
microcontroller and a single digit 7-segment display to produce numbers 0 – 9 as well as letters A, b, C, d
and E. These numbers and letters give a visual indication for the digital drug bottling system in an assembly
process. The results are presented in the following sections.

4.1 Simulation
The decoder simulation is shown in Figure 4 with the letter C selected. The purpose of simulation is to
verify proper operation of the circuit.

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

Figure 16: Decoder Simulation for letter C

4.2 Microcontroller Implementation

The implementation of the digital system that displays the count from 0 to 9 as well as the letters A, b, C, d
and E was carried out on a BBC Mibrobit microcontroller as shown in Figure 17.

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

Figure 17: A blue 7 segment display displays number 0 – 9, A – F

4.3 Multi-digit displays

Multi-digit displays do not have pins equal to 8 ×number of digits, instead, their number of pins equals 8 +
number of digits as shown in Figure 18.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 18: Multi-digit 7 segment displays; (a) 2-digit, 7-segment display (b) 4-digit, 7-segment display (c) 6-
digit, 7-segment display and (d) 8-digit, 7-segment display

7 segment displays can be connected directly to a microcontroller. 74HC573 Latch IC can likewise be used
to drive 7 segment displays, the advantage of using a latch is that only 8 digital pins of a microcontroller can
be used for multi-digit displays. If a latch is not used, the number of pins that is equal to the number of pins
the LED display has will be used by the microcontroller.
4-digit 7-segment displays

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

The internal structure of a 4-digit 7-segment common cathode display is shown in Figure 19. The cathode of
each digit are connected together, a LOW voltage on the cathode will light up the corresponding LED if its
anode is HIGH while a HIGH voltage on the cathode will turn off the LEDs.

Figure 19: Internal structure of 4-digit 7 segment display common cathode display

The internal structure of a 4-digit 7-segment common anode display is shown in Figure 20. The anode of
each digit are connected together, a HIGH voltage on the anode will light up the corresponding LED if its
cathode is LOW while a LOW voltage on the anode will turn off the LEDs of the corresponding digit.

Figure 20: Internal structure of 4-digit 7 segment display common anode display

The pinout for 1-digit and 4-digit 7-segment displays is shown in Figure 21a. For 1-digit displays
(Figure21b), pin 3 and 8 are the power pins: in common anode, these pins should be connected to Vcc while
for common cathode, they should be connected to GND.

1-digit display 4-digit display

Figure 21: Pinout for 1-digit and 4-digit displays

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1299 (2019) 012139 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1299/1/012139

5. Conclusion
This work provided a proper understanding of seven segment displays. A digital implementation to display
letters and numbers on a single digit seven segment display has been implemented using logic expressions,
logic gates, VHDL implementation and a physical implementation on a microcontroller. The application of
this system is to a drug tablet bottling which displays the count number as well as the Vitamin type being
bottled. The application was also extended to a multi-digit seven segment display in order to increase the
count range. Further work will involve the design and implementation of a four-digit display as a clock to
give an indication and update of the hour, minute and second. The clock will have alarm capability so as to
beep when the alarm goes off as well as set and reset inputs.

Acknowledgment

We appreciate Covenant University for their support.

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