The MC1401A is a 2-IC general purpose motion control chipset available in one, two, or four axis configurations. It provides trajectory generation and closed-loop digital servo control for a large variety of servo motors. It uses incremental or absolute encoder position feedback signals, and a DAC or PWM compatible output drive. Axes can be programmed either independently or in synchrony to allow advanced multi-axis motion such as circular and continuous-path profiles. The MC1401A is functionally similar to other members of PMD's 1st generation chipset family, providing software and architectural compatibility with these chipsets. All of these products support advanced features such as S-curve profile generation, bi-directional motion-travel limit switches, and separate home and index position capture signals. The chipset is controlled by a host processor which interfaces with the chipset via an 8-bit, bi-directional port. Communications to/from the chipset consist of packet-oriented messages. A host interrupt line is provided so that the chipset can signal the host when special conditions occur such as encoder index pulse received.