The SN65DP141 uses a 2-wire serial interface for digital control. The two circuit inputs, SDA and SCL, are driven, respectively, by the serial data and serial clock from a microcontroller, for example. The SDA and SCK pins require external 10 kΩ pull-ups to VCC.

The 2-wire interface allows write access to the internal memory map to modify control registers and read access to read out control and status signals. The SN65DP141 is a slave device only which means that it cannot initiate a transmission itself; it always relies on the availability of the SCK signal for the duration of the transmission. The master device provides the clock signal as well as the START and STOP commands. The protocol for a data transmission is as follows:

1. START command
2. 7 bit slave address (0000ADD [2:0]) followed by an eighth bit which is the data direction bit (R/W). A zero indicates a WRITE and a 1 indicates a READ. The ADD [2:0] address bits change with the status of the ADD2, ADD1, and ADD0 device pins, respectively. If the pins are left floating or pulled down, the 7 bit slave address is 0000000.
3. 8-bit register address
4. 8-bit register data word
5. STOP command

Regarding timing, the SN65DP141 is I²C compatible. The typical timing is shown in Figure 7-11 and a complete data transfer is shown in Figure 7-10. Parameters for these figures are defined in the I²C Interface section of the Switching Characteristics.