27.3.2 START and STOP Conditions

The Master initiates and terminates a data transmission. The transmission is initiated when the Master issues a START condition on the bus, and it is terminated when the Master issues a STOP condition. Between a START and a STOP condition, the bus is considered busy, and no other master should try to seize control of the bus. A special case occurs when a new START condition is issued between a START and STOP condition. This is referred to as a REPEATED START condition, and is used when the Master wishes to initiate a new transfer without relinquishing control of the bus. After a REPEATED START, the bus is considered busy until the next STOP. This is identical to the START behavior, and therefore START is used to describe both START and REPEATED START for the remainder of this datasheet, unless otherwise noted. As depicted below, START and STOP conditions are signaled by changing the level of the SDA line when the SCL line is high.