UNIT-1

Computer: A computer can be defined as a fast electronic calculating machine that accepts the (data)
digitized input information process it as per the list of internally stored instructions and produces the
resulting information.

List of instructions are called programs & internal storage is called computer memory.

The different types of computers are

1. Personal computers: - This is the most common type found in homes, schools, Business offices etc., It is
the most common type of desktop computers with processing and storage units along with various input and
output devices.

2. Note book computers: - These are compact and portable versions of PC

3. Work stations: - These have high resolution input/output (I/O) graphics capability, but with same
dimensions as that of desktop computer. These are used in engineering applications of interactive design
work.

4. Enterprise systems: - These are used for business data processing in medium to large corporations that
require much more computing power and storage capacity than work stations. Internet associated with
servers have become a dominant worldwide source of all types of information.

5. Super computers: - These are used for large scale numerical calculations required in the applications like
weather forecasting etc.,

Functional unit: -

A computer consists of five functionally independent main parts input, memory, arithmetic logic unit (ALU),
output and control unit.
Input unit: - The source program/high level language program/coded information/simply data is fed to a
computer through input devices keyboard is a most common type. Whenever a key is pressed, one
corresponding word or number is translated into its equivalent binary code over a cable & fed either to
memory or processor. Joysticks, trackballs, mouse, scanners etc are other input devices.

Memory unit: - Its function into store programs and data. It is basically to two types

1. Primary memory

2. Secondary memory

1. Primary memory: - Is the one exclusively associated with the processor and operates at the electronics
speeds programs must be stored in this memory while they are being executed. The memory contains a large
number of semiconductors storage cells. Each capable of storing one bit of information. These are processed
in a group of fixed site called word. To provide easy access to a word in memory, a distinct address is
associated with each word location. Addresses are numbers that identify memory location. Number of bits in
each word is called word length of the computer. Programs must reside in the memory during execution.
Instructions and data can be written into the memory or read out under the control of processor.

Memory in which any location can be reached in a short and fixed amount of time after specifying its
address is called random-access memory (RAM).

The time required to access one word in called memory access time. Memory which is only readable by the
user and contents of which can’t be altered is called read only memory (ROM) it contains operating
system.
Caches are the small fast RAM units, which are coupled with the processor and are often contained on the
same IC chip to achieve high performance. Although primary storage is essential it tends to be expensive.

2. Secondary memory: - Is used where large amounts of data & programs have to be stored, particularly
information that is accessed infrequently. Examples: - Magnetic disks & tapes, optical disks (ie CD-ROM’s),
floppies etc.,

Arithmetic logic unit (ALU):- Most of the computer operators are executed in ALU of the processor like
addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, etc. the operands are brought into the ALU from memory and
stored in high speed storage elements called register. Then according to the instructions the operation is
performed in the required sequence. The control and the ALU are many times faster than other devices
connected to a computer system. This enables a single processor to control a number of external devices such
as key boards, displays, magnetic and optical disks, sensors and other mechanical controllers.

Output unit:- These actually are the counterparts of input unit. Its basic function is to send the processed
results to the outside world. Examples:- Printer, speakers, monitor etc.

Control unit:- It effectively is the nerve center that sends signals to other units and senses their states. The
actual timing signals that govern the transfer of data between input unit, processor, memory and output unit
are generated by the control unit.

Interconnection structures
The collection of paths connecting the various modules is called the interconnecting structure.
• All the units must be connected
• Different type of connection for different type of unit
o Memory
o Input/Output
o CPU

• Memory Connection
o Receives and sends data
o Receives addresses (of locations)
o Receives control signals
Read
Write
Timing
Fig: Memory Module

I/O Connection
o Similar to memory from computer’s viewpoint
o Output
Receive data from computer
Send data to peripheral
o Input
Receive data from peripheral
Send data to computer
o Receive control signals from computer
o Send control signals to peripherals
e.g. spin disk
o Receive addresses from computer
e.g. port number to identify peripheral
o Send interrupt signals (control)

CPU Connection
o Reads instructions and data
o Writes out data (after processing)
o Sends control signals to other units
o Receives (& acts on) interrupts

BUS

 A bus is a group of wires that connect different components of the computer.

 In other words, it is electronic path between various components.
 A bus consists of multiple communication pathways on lines. Each line is capable of transmitting
signals representing binary 0 or 1.
 For example, an 8 bit unit of data can be transmitted over 8 lines.
 BUS ARCHITECTURE

TYPES OF BUS

 Buses are of 3 types :

1. Address Bus
• Used to carry the address to memory and IO.
• Unidirectional
• Based on the width of the address bus we can determine the capacity of the main memory.
• E.g. Length of Address Bus of 8085 microprocessor is 16 Bit. The microprocessor 8085 can
transfer maximum 16 bit address which means it can address 65, 536 different memory
location.
2. Data Bus
• Used to carry the binary data between the CPU, memory and IO.
• Bi-directional.
• When it is write operation, the processor will put the data (to be written) on the data bus, when it is
read operation, the memory controller will get the data from specific memory block and put it into
the data bus.
• The data bus may consists of 32, 64, 128 or even more separate lines.
• The number of lines being referred to as the width of the data bus. Because each line can carry one
bit at a time, the number of lines determine how many bits can be transferred at a time.
• E.g. A 16 bit data bus can transmit 16 bits (2 byte) of data at a time.

3. Control Bus
➢ The control bus carries signals that report the status of various devices.
➢ Used to carry the control signals. Control signals indicates type of operation. Some control signals
are:
• Memory read: Place data from address location on the data bus.
• Memory write: causes data on the address bus to be written into the addressed location.
• I/O read: causes data on the bus to be output to the addressed I/O port.
• I/O Write: causes data from the addressed I/O port to be placed on the bus.
 BUS ARBRITRATION:

• The device that is allowed to initiate data transfers on the bus at any given time is called the bus
master. In a computer system there may be more than one bus master such as processor, DMA
controller etc.
• They share the system bus. When current master relinquishes control of the bus, another bus master
can acquire the control of the bus.
• Bus arbitration is the process by which the next device to become the bus master is selected and bus
mastership is transferred to it. The selection of bus master is usually done on the priority basis.
• There are two approaches to bus arbitration: Centralized and distributed.
1. Centralized Arbitration

o In centralized bus arbitration, a single bus arbiter performs the required arbitration. The bus
arbiter may be the processor or a separate controller connected to the bus.
o There are three different arbitration schemes that use the centralized bus arbitration
approach. There schemes are:
a. Daisy chaining
b. Polling method
c. Independent request
Daisy Chaining

The system connections for Daisy chaining method are shown in fig below.

• It is simple and cheaper method. All masters make use of the same line for bus request.
• In response to the bus request the controller sends a bus grant if the bus is free.
• The bus grant signal serially propagates through each master until it encounters the first one that is
requesting access to the bus. This master blocks the propagation of the bus grant signal, activities the
busy line and gains control of the bus.
• Therefore any other requesting module will not receive the grant signal and hence cannot get the bus
access.

Advantages –
• Simplicity and Scalability.
• The user can add more devices anywhere along the chain, up to a certain maximum value.
Disadvantages –
• The value of priority assigned to a device is depends on the position of master bus.
• Propagation delay is arises in this method.
• If one device fails then entire system will stop working.
b) Polling method
• Also called as Rotating Priority method
• The system connections for polling method are shown in figure above.
• In this the controller is used to generate the addresses for the master. Number of address line
required depends on the number of master connected in the system.
• For example, if there are 8 masters connected in the system, at least three address lines are required.
• In response to the bus request controller generates a sequence of master address. When the
requesting master recognizes its address, it activated the busy line ad begins to use the bus.

Advantages –
• This method does not favor any particular device and processor.
• The method is also quite simple.
• If one device fails then entire system will not stop working.
Disadvantages –
• Adding bus masters is difficult as increases the number of address lines of the circuit.

c) Independent request

• Also called as Fixed priority method

• The figure below shows the system connections for the independent request scheme.
• In this scheme each master has a separate pair of bus request and bus grant lines and each pair has a
priority assigned to it.
• The built in priority decoder within the controller selects the highest priority request and asserts the
corresponding bus grant signal.

Advantages –
• This method generates fast response.
Disadvantages –
• Hardware cost is high as large no. of control lines are required
Distributed BUS Arbitration:
• All devices participate in the selection of the next bus master.

• Each device on the bus is assigned a 4bit identification number. The priority of the device will be
determined by the generated ID.

 When one or more devices request control of the bus, they assert the start arbitration signal and place
their 4-bit identification numbers on arbitration lines through ARB3.
 Each device compares the code and changes its bit position accordingly.
 It does so by placing a 0 at the input of their drive.
 The distributed arbitration is highly reliable because the bus operations are not dependent on
devices.

Register Transfer Language(RTL)

A digital computer system exhibits an interconnection of digital modules such as registers, decoders,
arithmetic elements, and Control logic.

These digital modules are interconnected with some common data and control paths to form a complete
digital system.

Moreover, digital modules are best defined by the registers and the operations that are performed on the data
stored in them.

The operations performed on the data stored in registers are called Micro-operations.

The internal hardware organization of a digital system is best defined by specifying:

o The set of registers and the flow of data between them.

o The sequence of micro-operations performed on the data which are stored in the registers.
 o The control paths that initiates the sequence of micro-operation

The Register Transfer Language is the symbolic representation of notations used to specify the
sequence of micro-operations.(RTL)

In a computer system, data transfer takes place between processor registers and memory and between
processor registers and input-output systems. These data transfer can be represented by standard notations
given below:

o Notations R0, R1, R2..., and so on represent processor registers.

o The addresses of memory locations are represented by names such as LOC, PLACE, MEM, etc.
o Input-output registers are represented by names such as Rin DATA IN, DATA OUT and so on.
o The content of register or memory location is denoted by placing square brackets around the name of
the register or memory location. Eg….R3, R3(IN)=0110

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Register Transfer

The term Register Transfer refers to the availability of hardware logic circuits that can perform a given
micro-operation and transfer the result of the operation to the same or another register.

Most of the standard notations used for specifying operations on various registers are stated below.

o The memory address register is designated by MAR. (MDR- memory data register)
o Program Counter PC holds the next instruction's address.
o Instruction Register IR holds the instruction being executed.
o R1 (Processor Register).
o We can also indicate individual bits by placing them in parenthesis. For instance, PC (8-15),
R2 (5), etc.
o Data Transfer from one register to another register is represented in symbolic form by means of
replacement operator. For instance, the following statement denotes a transfer of the data of register
R1 into register R2.

R2 ← R1
o Typically, most of the users want the transfer to occur only in a predetermined control condition.
This can be shown by following if-then statement:
If (P=1) then (R2 ← R1); Here P is a control signal generated in the control section.
o It is more convenient to specify a control function (P) by separating the control variables from the
register transfer operation. For instance, the following statement defines the data transfer operation
under a specific control function (P).

P: R2 ← R1
Eg….R1 ←R2+R1

The following image shows the block diagram that depicts the transfer of data from R1 to R2.
Here, the letter 'n' indicates the number of bits for the register. The 'n' outputs of the register R1 are
connected to the 'n' inputs of register R2.

A load input is activated by the control variable 'P' which is transferred to the register R2.