24.7.5 Parity Checker
The Parity Checker is active when the high USART Parity mode (UPM1) bit is set. Type of parity check to be performed (odd or even) is selected by the UPM0 bit. When enabled, the Parity Checker calculates the parity of the data bits in incoming frames and compares the result with the parity bit from the serial frame. The result of the check is stored in the receive buffer together with the received data and stop bits. The Parity Error (PE) Flag can then be read by software to check if the frame had a parity error.
The PE bit is set if the next character that can be read from the receive buffer had a parity error when received and the parity checking was enabled at that point (UPM1 = 1). This bit is valid until the receive buffer (UDR) is read.