For an MCU to act as a Master MCU, it can use a 9-bit character frame format (UCSZ = 7). The ninth bit (TXB8) must be set when an address frame (TXB8 = 1) or cleared when a data frame (TXB = 0) is being transmitted. The Slave MCUs must in this case be set to use a 9-bit character frame format.
The following procedure should be used to exchange data in Multi-Processor Communication Mode:
Using any of the 5- to 8-bit character frame formats is possible, but impractical since the Receiver must change between using n and n+1 character frame formats. This makes full-duplex operation difficult since the Transmitter and Receiver uses the same character size setting. If 5- to 8-bit character frames are used, the Transmitter must be set to use two stop bit (USBS = 1) since the first stop bit is used for indicating the frame type.
Do not use Read-Modify-Write instructions (SBI and CBI) to set or clear the MPCM bit. The MPCM bit shares the same I/O location as the TXC Flag and this might accidentally be cleared when using SBI or CBI instructions.