Microcontrollers [3 1 0 4]
(ICE 2222)
Computer Architecture
Bipin Krishna
Assistant Professor (Sr.)
ICE Department
Manipal Institute of Technology
MAHE, Karnataka, India
Computer Architecture
The unit of data size:
Bit : a binary digit that can have the value 0 or 1
Byte : 8 bits
Nibble : half of a bye, or 4 bits
Word : two bytes, or 16 bits
The terms used to describe amounts of memory are:
Kilobyte (K): 2^10 bytes
Megabyte (M) : 2^20 bytes, over 1 million
Gigabyte (G) : 2^30 bytes, over 1 billion
Terabyte (T) : 2^40 bytes, over 1 trillion
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
The CPU is connected to memory and I/O through strips of wire called
a bus
Carries information from place to place
• Address bus
• Data bus
• Control bus
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
More about Data bus:
The more data buses available, the better the CPU
Think of data buses as highway lanes
More data buses mean a more expensive CPU and computer
The average size of data buses in CPUs varies between 8 and
64
Data buses are bidirectional - To receive or send data
The processing power of a computer is related to the size of
its buses.
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
More about Address bus:
The more address buses available, the larger the number of devices that
can be addressed
The number of locations with which a CPU can communicate is always
equal to 2^x, where x is the address lines, regardless of the size of the data
bus
ex. a CPU with 24 address lines and 16 data lines can provide a total of
224 or 16M bytes of addressable memory
Each location can have a maximum of 1 byte of data, since all general-
purpose CPUs are byte addressable
The address bus is unidirectional
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
CPU’s Relation to RAM and ROM:
For the CPU to process information, the data must be stored in RAM or
ROM, which are referred to as primary memory
ROM provides information that is fixed and permanent
Tables or initialization program
RAM stores information that is not permanent and can change with
time
Various versions of OS and application packages
CPU gets information to be processed
first form RAM (or ROM)
if it is not there, then seeks it from a mass storage device, called
secondary memory, and transfers the information to RAM
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Inside CPU:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Inside CPU:
ALU (arithmetic/logic unit):
Performs arithmetic functions such as add, subtract, multiply, and divide,
and logic functions such as AND, OR, and NOT
Registers:
The CPU uses registers to store information temporarily
Values to be processed
Address of value to be fetched from memory
In general, the more and bigger the registers, the better the CPU
Registers can be 8-, 16-, 32-, or 64-bit
The disadvantage of more and bigger registers is the increased cost of
such a CPU
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Inside CPU:
Program counter (PC):
Points to the address of the next instruction to be executed
As each instruction is executed, the program counter is incremented to
point to the address of the next instruction to be executed
Instruction decoder:
Interprets the instruction fetched into the CPU
A CPU capable of understanding more instructions requires more
transistors to design
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
A CPU has registers A, B, C, and D and it has an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit
address bus.
The CPU can access memory from addresses 0000 to FFFFH
Assume that the code for the CPU to move a value to register A is B0H and
the code for adding a value to register A is 04H
The action to be performed by the CPU is to put 21H into register A, and
then add to register A values 42H and 12H
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
The actions performed by CPU are as follows:
1. The program counter is set to the value 1400H, indicating the address of
the first instruction code to be executed
2. Following steps happens
The CPU puts 1400H on address bus and sends it out
The memory circuitry finds the location
The CPU activates the READ signal, indicating to memory that it wants the
byte at location 1400H
This causes the contents of memory location 1400H, which is B0, to
be put on the data bus and brought into the CPU
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
3.
The CPU decodes the instruction B0
The CPU commands its controller circuitry to bring into register A of the
CPU the byte in the next memory location
The value 21H goes into register A
The program counter points to the address of the next instruction to be
executed, which is 1402H
Address 1402 is sent out on the address bus to fetch the next
instruction
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
4.
From memory location 1402H it fetches code 04H
After decoding, the CPU knows that it must add to the contents of register
A the byte sitting at the next address (1403)
After the CPU brings the value (42H), it provides the contents of register A
along with this value to the ALU to perform the addition
It then takes the result of the addition from the ALU’s output and
puts it in register A
The program counter becomes 1404, the address of the next
instruction
Computer Architecture
Internal Organization of Computers:
Internal Working of Computers:
Example:
5.
Address 1404H is put on the address bus and the code is fetched into the
CPU, decoded, and executed
This code is again adding a value to register A
The program counter is updated to 1406H
6.
The contents of address 1406 are fetched in and executed
This HALT instruction tells the CPU to stop incrementing the program
counter and asking for the next instruction
References:
• Muhammad Ali Mazidi, Janice Gillispie Mazidi, Rolin McKinlay, The
8051 Microcontroller and Embedded Systems Using Assembly and C,
Pearson Education, (2e), 2007.
• Kenneth J. Ayala, The 8051 Microcontroller, Cengage Learning, (3e),
2004.
