Lottery Number Predictor

A Project by

Perry Andrews

Based on the PIC16F84A Microcontroller.

28 March 2005
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 2
Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 2
Design and Development ............................................................................................... 3
Construction................................................................................................................... 9
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 12
References.................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 1 - Flow Diagram................................................................................................ 3
Figure 2 - Circuit Diagram............................................................................................. 8
Figure 3 - Prototype ....................................................................................................... 9
Figure 4 Finished Project .......................................................................................... 10
Figure 5 - Copper Track Breaks................................................................................... 11

Table 1 - Option Register Values................................................................................... 4
Table 2 - Parts List ....................................................................................................... 10

Introduction

This project has been developed at the request of a family member. They wanted a
device that could be used to generate random numbers to be used with the UK
national lottery.

A 2 digit LED display is used to display a number between 1 and 49. A button is used
to generate a new random number which is then shown on the display.

Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 3
Design and Development

The design is simple. Some of the program we have used before in the dice projects.
The new part is driving a 2 digit display using only 9 outputs. Seven outputs are used
for the 7 segments plus one output for each digit. The trick is to put the number on the
first digit then turn it on briefly before putting the second number on the second digit
and then turning that on briefly. Only one digit is on at a time so you can have a
different number on each digit. The digits are turned on and off alternately very fast
so that the eye cannot see the digits being turned on and off.

The flow diagram below shows the program logic:

Start
Set Hardware
Registers
Set Displays to 0
Has button been
pressed?
Has button been
released?
Display variable
Increment variable
Has variable reached
50?
Reset variable to 1
NO
YES YES
YES
NO NO

Figure 1 - Flow Diagram

The display code using the interrupts has been borrowed from Rob Miles who wrote
the C for PIC Micros course. When the code is already there and working why re-
invent the wheel? This is not shown in the flow diagram above.

Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 4
The timer pre-scaler is set as follows:

Four clock pulses are used to execute an instruction so the clock updates at of the
crystal frequency. The crystal we are using is 4MHz so the clock is updated at 1MHz.

The pre-scaler is set to divide by 32 which gives 1000000 / 32 = 31,250Hz.

The interrupt is generated each time the clock reaches 256 so we divide the number
above by 256 which gives us 31,250 / 256 = 122Hz. The interrupt occurs 122 times
every second. As we are not timing anything this is accurate enough.

To set the pre-scaler to divide by 32 we set the Option Register to 196.

The table below gives the Option Register values:

PS2 PS1 PS0 Divide by Value
0 0 0 2 192
0 0 1 4 193
0 1 0 8 194
0 1 1 16 195
1 0 0 32 196
1 0 1 64 197
1 1 0 128 198
1 1 1 256 199
Table 1 - Option Register Values
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The C program based on the flow diagram is shown below:

/* Lottery Number Predictor */
/* (c) Perry Andrews Jan. 2005 */
/* 1st Revision */

const unsigned char enable [2] = { 1, 2 } ;
const unsigned char patterns [10] =
/* 0 1 2 3 4 5 */
{ 0xc0, 0xf9, 0xa4, 0xb0, 0x99, 0x99,
/* 6 7 8 9 */
0x83, 0xf8, 0x80, 0x98 } ;

/* number of LEDs in our display */

#define DISPLAY_SIZE 2

/* segment patterns for our LEDs */
unsigned char segments [DISPLAY_SIZE] ;

/* counter used by our refresh */
unsigned char led_counter = 0 ;

/* each time refresh is called it */
/* sets the display for a led and */
/* moves on to the next */
void refresh ( void ) {
/* turn off all the LEDS */
PORTA = 0 ;
/* set segments for the led */
PORTB = segments [led_counter] ;
/* turn the led on */
PORTA = enable [led_counter ] ;
/* move on to the next led */
led_counter = led_counter + 1 ;
/* see if we fell off the end */
if ( led_counter == DISPLAY_SIZE ) {
led_counter = 0 ;
}
}
/* display just loads the pattern */
/* into the segment. refresh will */
/* read it later */
void display ( unsigned char digit,
unsigned char pos ) {
segments [pos] = patterns [digit] ;
}
void interrupt( void ) {
/* if the timer has overflowed */
/* bit 2 of INTCON is set high */

if( INTCON & 4 ) {
/* clear the bit to turn */
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 6
/* off this interrupt */
clear_bit( INTCON, 2 );

/* refresh display */
refresh();
}
}
unsigned char get_button ( void ) {
unsigned char i;
unsigned char oldv, newv ;

oldv = input_pin_port_a (4 ) ;

i = 0 ;
while ( i < 20 ) {
newv = input_pin_port_a (4 ) ;
if ( oldv == newv ) {
i++ ;
}
else {
i = 0 ;
oldv = newv ;
}
}
/* we have a steady value */
return oldv ;
}
void main (void)
{
unsigned int i ;
unsigned int j ;
unsigned char r;
unsigned char r1;
unsigned char r2;

/* Select the Register bank 1 */
set_bit ( STATUS, RP0 ) ;
/* set all of PORTB for output */
TRISB = 0x00 ;
/* set 0 & 1 of PORTA for output */
TRISA = 0x1c ;

/* Configure the OPTION register */
/* to produce timer interrupts */
/* and set the pre-scaler */

OPTION_REG = 196;

/* now use Register bank 0 */
clear_bit ( STATUS, RP0 ) ;

/* Configure the INTCON register */
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 7
/* to enable timer interrupts */
INTCON = 160;

// set all digits to zero
display (0,0);
display (0,1);
r = 1;
// Main program loop
while (1) {
// Wait for Switch A4
while ( get_button () == 0 ) ;
while ( get_button () == 1 ) {
// generate a random number
r = r + 1;
if ( r == 50 )
r = 1;
}
// Display number
r2 = r % 10;
r1 = r / 10;
display (r1,0);
display (r2,1);

}
}
The program has five sub programs including main which all C programs must
have. main is the first program to start and this is where the main program logic
resides. The other sub programs are:

refresh this is called from the interrupt sub program to refresh the displays.
display used to load the display with the required numbers.
interrupt this is called every time the interrupt is triggered.
get_button gets the button pressed on port RA4 after de-bouncing first.

The main program first sets the required number of outputs and sets up the timer to
generate an interrupt about 100 times every second. Each digit is refreshed at about 50
times a second (as there are two digits) which is more than enough to avoid flicker.
It then sets the displays to 0 and waits for the button. After the button is pressed a
loop continuously updates a variable by adding 1 to its previous value. When the
variable reaches 50 it is reset to 1. This is done as fast as the program can run so a
number of iterations can be completed in the briefest of button presses. When the
button is released the number in the variable is displayed. The number is random
because you are not able to press the button for exactly the same amount of time on
each press.

The program uses about 218 blocks of the 1024 blocks allowed.
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 8
The circuit below uses two transistors to switch the display digits. Outputs RA0 and
RA1 are switched on alternately by the interrupt routine. The rest of the circuit is
similar to the 7-segment dice project:

100
22pf
IN
3
OUT
1
GND
2
78L05
9V
4MHz
100
100
100
100
100
100
22K
22pf
1K
100
10n 100n
S1 = Select Number
S1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Q1
BC337
Q2
BC337
1K
1K
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Dual Common Anode Display
OSC1
16
OSC2
15
RB0
RB1
RB2
RB3
6
7
8
9
Vcc1
14
MCLR
4
RA4
3
RB4
RB5
RB6
RB7
10
11
12
13
PIC16F84A
RA3
2
RA2
1
18
RA1
17
RA0 GND
5
Figure 2 - Circuit Diagram

SW1 is used to pick a random number.

Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 9
Construction

After testing the program on the PIC development board I collected together all the
required components and built the test circuit on breadboard. This is an easy way to
test all the components and to give an idea of layout in the final permanent
construction. The breadboard is shown below:

Figure 3 - Prototype

The transistors can be any general purpose NPN type transistor such as BC108 or BC
548. I used BC337 because I had them spare.

This project will be constructed using Vero strip board, as it is quick to work with. I
intend putting the final PCB into a box so the project can be used by other family
members. A parts list is shown on the next page:
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 10
Description Quantity Maplin Code
Vero Strip Board 1 pc 100mm x 60mm JP49D
PIC16F84A 1 VS87U
2 Digit Common Anode Display 1 BY66W
BC337 NPN Transistors 2 QB68Y
4MHz Crystal 1 RR83E
22pf Capacitors 2 RA34M
100nf Capacitor 1 RA49D
10nf Capacitor 1 RA44X
1K0 Resistor 3 M1K
100R Resistor 8 M100R
22K Resistor 1 M22K
78L05 5v Regulator 1 QL26D
PCB Switch 1 KR88V
18Pin DIL Socket 1 HQ76H
Table 2 - Parts List

The final project is shown below:

Figure 4 Finished Project

You can use the picture above to help locate the components on the Vero board. You
only need to know where the breaks in the copper tracks are. The board as pictured
above and below have the copper tracks running from top to bottom (vertically). The
breaks are shown by red dots in the picture on the following page:

Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 11
Figure 5 - Copper Track Breaks

The breaks are made on the under side (the copper side obvious really).

Solder the components in the following order:

1. Links
2. Resistors
3. IC socket
4. Display
5. Switch
6. Capacitors & Crystal
7. Transistors and Regulator
8. Battery connections

Check for solder splashes and the breaks are in the correct place. Test the regulator
output voltage is 5V before plugging in the PIC microcontroller. If everything is ok
plug in the PIC and connect the battery
Lottery Number Predictor Perry Andrews Page 12
Conclusion

This is a basic design that just allows a random number to be displayed on a 2 digit
display. The number will be between 1 and 49. A number of enhancements could be
made to this basic design such as:

Animate the display while the button is pressed
Use sleep to put the circuit into a low power mode to save the battery.
Make the number range configurable

These will be subject to future projects.

References

Matrix Multimedia Ltd - http://www.matrixmultimedia.co.uk/
C for PICmicro microcontrollers by Rob Miles
PIC Tutor development board

Maplin Electronic Supplies - http://www.maplin.co.uk/
Supplier of all components including the PIC development board.

Crownhill Associates - https://www.crownhill.co.uk/index.php
Supplier of PIC developer boards and PIC Micros.

Pelnet http://www.pelnet.co.uk/elect/index.html
My electronics page where this project and others can be downloaded.