How can Arduino know Wire.available() is true or false?

Question

In this part of code

void readFrom(byte device, byte fromAddress, int num, byte result[]) {
  Wire.beginTransmission(device);
  Wire.write(fromAddress);
  Wire.endTransmission();
  Wire.requestFrom((int)device, num);
  int i = 0;
  while(Wire.available()) {
    result[i] = Wire.read();
    i++;
  }
}

How can Arduino know that Wire.availble() is true or false?

I thought that when the microcontroller "reads" the value from the sensor, in pieces of 8 bits, he reads from 0 (n) to 5 (n+5) at the I2C address of the MPU-6050, and when he increments 6 it finds nothing, but this is my conclusion, i am not sure about it.

I am studying how Serial.available works and how the circular buffer works for the data comunication, because available() inherits from the Stream utility class.

The entire code is the following taken from this question

  #include <Wire.h> //The I2C library

int gyroResult[3], accelResult[3];

//Function for writing a byte to an address on an I2C device
void writeTo(byte device, byte toAddress, byte val) {
  Wire.beginTransmission(device);  
  Wire.write(toAddress);        
  Wire.write(val);        
  Wire.endTransmission();
}

//Function for reading num bytes from addresses on an I2C device
void readFrom(byte device, byte fromAddress, int num, byte result[]) {
  Wire.beginTransmission(device);
  Wire.write(fromAddress);
  Wire.endTransmission();
  Wire.requestFrom((int)device, num);
  int i = 0;
  while(Wire.available()) {
    result[i] = Wire.read();
    i++;
  }
}

//Function for reading the gyros.
void getGyroscopeReadings(int gyroResult[]) {
  byte buffer[6];
  readFrom(0x68,0x1D,6,buffer);
  gyroResult[0] = (((int)buffer[0]) << 8 ) | buffer[1]; //Combine two bytes into one int
  gyroResult[1] = (((int)buffer[2]) << 8 ) | buffer[3];
  gyroResult[2] = (((int)buffer[4]) << 8 ) | buffer[5];
} 

//Function for reading the accelerometers
void getAccelerometerReadings(int accelResult[]) {
  byte buffer[6];
  readFrom(0x53,0x32,6,buffer);
  accelResult[0] = (((int)buffer[1]) << 8 ) | buffer[0]; //Yes, byte order different from gyros'
  accelResult[1] = (((int)buffer[3]) << 8 ) | buffer[2];
  accelResult[2] = (((int)buffer[5]) << 8 ) | buffer[4];
}

void setup() {
  Wire.begin();            //Open I2C communications as master
  Serial.begin(9600);    //Open serial communications to the PC to see what's happening

  writeTo(0x53,0x31,0x09); //Set accelerometer to 11bit, +/-4g
  writeTo(0x53,0x2D,0x08); //Set accelerometer to measure mode
  writeTo(0x68,0x16,0x1A); //Set gyro to +/-2000deg/sec and 98Hz low pass filter
  writeTo(0x68,0x15,0x09); //Set gyro to 100Hz sample rate
}

void loop() {
  getGyroscopeReadings(gyroResult);
  getAccelerometerReadings(accelResult);

  Serial.print(gyroResult[0]);
  Serial.print("\t");
  Serial.print(gyroResult[1]);
  Serial.print("\t"); 
  Serial.print(gyroResult[2]);
  Serial.print("\t\t");
  Serial.print(accelResult[0]);
  Serial.print("\t");
  Serial.print(accelResult[1]);
  Serial.print("\t");
  Serial.print(accelResult[2]);
  Serial.print("\n");

  delay(50);
}

Minor Question

I am trying to undestand the difference between the register and the device address, but i did find anything on my book.

Answer 1

The simple answer is that the Arduino Wire library has an internal buffer, and it can bring in characters and have them sitting there ready for you to pick them up.

It can also sense a total disconnect because of the way it uses both data pins to establish communications. It is more like a current loop than a simple one-is-transmit-and-the-other-is-receive. If it disconnects the Arduino knows it is not available.

Kudos on going to the documentation, by the way.