Ch 4: Processor fundamentals

CPU Architecture

Key terms

Von Neumann architecture – computer architecture which introduced the concept of the stored program in
the 1940s.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) – component in the processor which carries out all arithmetic and logical
operations.
Control unit – ensures synchronisation of data flow and programs throughout the computer by sending out
control signals along the control bus.
System clock – produces timing signals on the control bus to ensure synchronisation takes place.
Immediate access store (IAS) – holds all data and programs needed to be accessed by the control unit.
Accumulator – temporary general purpose register which stores numerical values at any part of a given
operation.
Register – temporary component in the processor which can be general or specific in its use that holds
data or instructions as part of the fetch-execute cycle.
Status register – used when an instruction requires some form of arithmetic or logical processing. Flag –
indicates the status of a bit in the status register, for example, N = 1 indicates the result of an addition gives
a negative value.
Address bus – carries the addresses throughout the computer system.
Data bus – allows data to be carried from processor to memory (and vice versa) or to and from input/output
devices.
Control bus – carries signals from control unit to all other computer components. Unidirectional – used to
describe a bus in which bits can travel in one direction only.
Clock cycle – clock speeds are measured in terms of GHz; this is the vibrational frequency of the clock
which sends out pulses along the control bus – a 3.5GHZ clock cycle means 3.5 billion clock cycles a
second.
Overclocking – changing the clock speed of a system clock to a value higher than the
factory/recommended setting.
BIOS – basic input/output system.
Cache memory – a high speed auxiliary memory which permits high speed data transfer and retrieval.
Core – a unit made up of ALU, control unit and registers which is part of a CPU. A CPU may contain a
number of cores.
Dual core – a CPU containing two cores. Quad core – a CPU containing four cores. Port – external
connection to a computer which allows it to communicate with various peripheral devices. A number of
different port technologies exist.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) – a type of port connecting devices to a computer.
Asynchronous serial data transmission – serial refers to a single wire being used to transmit bits of data
one after the other. Asynchronous refers to a sender using its own clock/timer device rather sharing the
same clock/timer with the recipient device.
High-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) – type of port connecting devices to a computer.
Video Graphics Array (VGA) – type of port connecting devices to a computer.
High-bandwidth digital copy protection (HDCP) – part of HDMI technology which reduces risk of piracy
of software and multimedia.
Fetch-execute cycle – a cycle in which instructions and data are fetched from memory and then decoded
and finally executed.
Program counter (PC) – a register used in a computer to store the address of the instruction which is
currently being executed. Current instruction register – a register used to contain the instruction which is
currently being executed or decoded.
Register Transfer Notation (RTN) – short hand notation to show movement of data and instructions in a
processor, can be used to represent the operation of the fetch-execute cycle.
Interrupt – signal sent from a device or software to a processor requesting its attention; the processor
suspends all operations until the interrupt has been serviced.
Interrupt priority – all interrupts are given a priority so that the processor knows which need to be serviced
first and which interrupts are to be dealt with quickly.
Interrupt service routine (ISR) or interrupt handler – software which handles interrupt requests (such as
‘printer out of paper’) and sends the request to the CPU for processing.

Features of the Von Neumann architecture

● a central processing unit (CPU or processor)
● a processor able to access the memory directly
● computer memories that could store programs as well as data
● stored programs made up of instructions that could be executed in sequential order.

Digram: Simple representation of Von Neumann architecture

Components of the processor (CPU)

Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

The ALU allows the required arithmetic or logic operations to be carried out while a program is being run. It
is possible for a computer to have more than one ALU – one will perform fixed point operations and the
other floating-point operations.

Control unit (CU)

The CU reads an instruction from memory (the address of the location where the instruction can be found is
stored in the program counter (PC)). This instruction is then interpreted. During that process, signals are
generated along the control bus to tell the other components in the computer what to do. The CU ensures
synchronisation of data flow and program instructions throughout the computer.

System clock
A system clock is used to produce timing signals on the control bus to ensure this vital synchronisation
takes place – without the clock the computer would simply crash.

Immediate access store (IAS)

The IAS holds all the data and programs that the processor (CPU) needs to access. The CPU takes data
and programs held in backing store and puts them into the IAS temporarily. This is done because read/write
operations carried out using the IAS are considerably faster than read/write operations to the backing store.
Registers

Register holds information during execution. Registers can be general purpose or special purpose. General
purpose registers hold data that is frequently used by the CPU or can be used by the programmer when
addressing the CPU directly.

Status Register
A status register is used when an instruction requires some form of arithmetic or logic processing. Each bit
is known as a flag. Most systems have the following four flags.
● Carry flag (C) is set to 1 if there is a CARRY following an addition operation
● Negative flag (N) is set to 1 if the result of a calculation yields a NEGATIVE value.
● Overflow flag (V) is set to 1 if an arithmetic operation results in an OVERFLOW being produced.
● Zero flag (Z) is set to 1 if the result of an arithmetic or logic operation is ZERO.

System buses
System buses are used in computers as a parallel transmission component; each wire in the bus transmits
one bit of data. There are three common buses used in the Von Neumann architecture known as address
bus, data bus and control bus.

Address bus
As the name suggests, the address bus carries addresses throughout the computer system. Between the
CPU and memory the address bus is unidirectional.
Data bus
The data bus is bidirectional. It allows data to be sent in both directions along the bus. This means data can
be carried from CPU to memory (and vice versa) as well as to and from input/output devices.
Control bus
The control bus is also bidirectional. It carries signals from the CU to all the other computer components. It
is usually 8-bits wide since it only carries control signals.

Factors affecting computer’s performance

1. Clock speed
2. Width of the address bus and data bus
3. The use of cache memory
4. The use of a different number of cores

Fetch-execute cycle
The fetch-execute cycle is the process by which the CPU executes instructions. This cycle begins when the
Program Counter (PC), which holds the address of the next instruction, sends this address to the Memory
Address Register (MAR). The instruction is then fetched from memory and stored in the Current Instruction
Register (CIR). The instruction is decoded by the control unit to determine the operation that needs to be
performed. If the instruction involves data stored in memory, the address of the data is sent to the MAR,
and the data is retrieved into the MDR. The instruction is then executed by the ALU or another part of the
CPU. Once executed, the result is either stored in a register or sent back to memory. The Status Register is
updated if necessary, for example, to reflect whether the result of an operation is positive, negative, or zero.
After each instruction is completed, the program counter is updated to point to the next instruction, and the
cycle repeats.
Register Transfer Notation (RTN)

Use of interrupts in the fetch-execute cycle

Interrupts
An interrupt is a signal sent from a device or from software to the processor. This will cause the processor
to temporarily stop what it is doing and service the interrupt.

Causes
Interrupts can be caused by, for example
● a timing signal
● input/output processes (a disk drive is ready to receive more data, for example)
● a hardware fault (an error has occurred such as a paper jam in a printer, for example)
● user interaction (the user pressed a key to interrupt the current process, such as , for example)
● a software error that cannot be ignored