Serial Communication Problem

[leemin]

ok. thanks for you all previous help. i can work with the USART interrupt with my code already but now i encounter with a new problem.
im using 16f877a.
i need to receive a string of command from computer. then execute some function after received a valid command. now i need to execute the blinking effect by toggling the enable pin to let the led on and off continuosly untill another set string of command come in and either stop blinking or continue blinking.
but now i found out that the blinking sub-routine is a dead loop. when i continuosly execute the blink function and a new string command come in from computer my firmware will hang there.
any solution for this?
i need you all suggestion.
thanks

[BobK]

Hi Leemin,

It's a great idea to have the micro do as much as possible but sometimes it's necessary to have external hardware do some work to free up the micro to do other things more important. Add a gated pulsing circuit that you only need the micro to turn on and off. This can be a single chip circuit like using a CD4093 or even a CD4060. A CD4060 lets you choose flash rates juct by selecting the appropriate output. These are simple circuits and only require a few discretes to finish the job. Let the micro do the more serious stuff.

BobK