TOD consists of a 24-bit binary counter. Positive edge transitions on this pin cause the binary counter to increment. The TOD pin has a passive pull-up on it. A programmable alarm is provided for generating an interrupt at a desired time. The alarm registers are located at the same addresses as the corresponding TOD registers. Access to the alarm is governed by a control register bit (CRB7). The alarm is write-only; any read of a TOD address will read time regardless of the state of the ALARM access bit. A specific sequence of events must be followed for proper setting and reading of TOD. TOD is automatically stopped whenever a write to the register occurs. The clock will not start again until after a write to the LSB event register. This assures that TOD will always start at the desired time. Since a carry from one stage to the next can occur at any time with respect to a read operation, a latching function is included to keep all TOD information constant during a read sequence. All TOD registers latch on a read of MSB event and remain latched until after a read of LSB event . The TOD clock continues to count when the output registers are latched. If only one register is to be read, there is no carry problem and the register can be read "on the fly" provided that any read of MSB event is followed by a read of LSB Event to disable the latching. Bit Names for Write Time/Alarm or Read Time