I/O Organization

MUST 2017
Contents
 I/O Organization
 Input-Output Interface
 Asynchronous Data Transfer
 Asynchronous Serial Transmission
 Modes of Data Transfer
 Programmed I/O
 Interrupt-Initiated I/O
 Direct Memory Access (DMA)
I/O Organization

The Input / output organization of computer depends

upon the size of computer and the peripherals
connected to it. The I/O Subsystem of the computer,
provides an efficient mode of communication between
the central system and the outside environment.
I/O Organization
The most common input output devices are:
i) Monitor
ii) Keyboard
iii) Mouse
iv) Printer
v) Magnetic tapes
The devices that are under the direct control of the computer are said
to be connected online.
Input - Output Interface

Input Output Interface provides a method for

transferring information between internal storage and
external I/O devices. Peripherals connected to a
computer need special communication links for
interfacing them with the central processing unit.
Input - Output Interface

The purpose of communication link is to

resolve the differences that exist between the
central computer and each peripheral.
 The Major Differences are:-
1. Peripherals are electromechnical and electromagnetic
devices and their manner of operation of the CPU and
memory, which are electronic devices. Therefore, a
conversion of signal values may be needed.
2. The data transfer rate of peripherals is usually slower than
the transfer rate of CPU and consequently, a
synchronization mechanism may be needed.
The Major Differences are:-

3. Data codes and formats in the peripherals differ

from the word format in the CPU and memory.
4. The operating modes of peripherals are different
from each other and must be controlled so as not to
disturb the operation of other peripherals connected
to the CPU.
Input - Output Interface

To Resolve these differences, computer systems include

special hardware components between the CPU and
Peripherals to supervises and synchronizes all input and
out transfers. These components are called Interface
Units because they interface between the processor bus
and the peripheral devices.
I/O BUS and Interface Module

It defines the typical link between the processor and several

peripherals. The I/O Bus consists of data lines, address lines
and control lines. The I/O bus from the processor is attached
to all peripherals interface. To communicate with a particular
device, the processor places a device address on address lines.
I/O BUS and Interface Module

Each Interface decodes the address and control received from

the I/O bus, interprets them for peripherals and provides signals
for the peripheral controller. It is also synchronizes the data
flow and supervises the transfer between peripheral and
processor. Each peripheral has its own controller. For example,
the printer controller controls the paper motion, the print
timing.
I/O BUS and Interface Module
The control lines are referred as an I/O command. The
commands are as following:
Control command- A control command is issued to
activate the peripheral and to inform it what to do.
Status command- A status command is used to test
various status conditions in the interface and the
peripheral.
I/O BUS and Interface Module
Output data command- A data output command
causes the interface to respond by transferring
data from the bus into one of its registers.
Input data command- The data input command is the
opposite of the data output. In this case the
interface receives on item of data from the
peripheral and places it in its buffer register.
I/O BUS and Interface Module
Data
Processor Address

Control

Interface Interface Interface

Keyboard
and Printer Magnetic
display disk
terminal

Connection of I/O bus to input-output devices

I/O Versus Memory Bus
To communicate with I/O, the processor must communicate with the memory
unit. Like the I/O bus, the memory bus contains data, address and read/write
control lines. There are 3 ways that computer buses can be used to
communicate with memory and I/O:
i. Use two Separate buses , one for memory and other for I/O.
ii. Use one common bus for both memory and I/O but separate
control lines for each.
iii. Use one common bus for memory and I/O with common control lines.
I/O Processor
In the first method, the computer has independent sets of data,
address and control buses one for accessing memory and other
for I/O. This is done in computers that provides a separate I/O
processor (IOP). The purpose of IOP is to provide an
independent pathway for the transfer of information between
external device and internal memory.
Asynchronous Data Transfer
This Scheme is used when speed of I/O devices do not match with
microprocessor, and timing characteristics of I/O devices is not predictable.
In this method, process initiates the device and check its status. As a result,
CPU has to wait till I/O device is ready to transfer data. When device is
ready CPU issues instruction for I/O transfer. In this method two types of
techniques are used based on signals before data transfer.

i. Strobe Control

ii. Handshaking
Strobe Signal

The strobe control method of Asynchronous data

transfer employs a single control line to time each
transfer. The strobe may be activated by either the
source or the destination unit.
Data Transfer Initiated by Source Unit

Data Bus
Source Destination
Strobe Unit
Unit

(a) Block Diagram

Data
Valid data

Strobe

(b) Timing Diagram

Source-Initiated strobe for Data Transfer

Data Transfer Initiated by Source Unit
In the block diagram fig. (a), the data bus carries the binary information from
source to destination unit. Typically, the bus has multiple lines to transfer an entire
byte or word. The strobe is a single line that informs the destination unit when a
valid data word is available.

The timing diagram fig. (b) the source unit first places the data on the data bus.
The information on the data bus and strobe signal remain in the active state to
allow the destination unit to receive the data.
Data Transfer Initiated by Destination Unit

Data Bus
Source Destination
Strobe Unit
Unit

(a) Block Diagram

Data
Valid data

Strobe

(b) Timing Diagram

Destination-Initiated strobe for Data Transfer

Data Transfer Initiated by Destination Unit

In this method, the destination unit activates the strobe pulse, to

informing the source to provide the data. The source will respond by
placing the requested binary information on the data bus.

The data must be valid and remain in the bus long enough for the
destination unit to accept it. When accepted the destination unit then
disables the strobe and the source unit removes the data from the bus.
Disadvantage of Strobe Signal
The disadvantage of the strobe method is that, the source unit
initiates the transfer has no way of knowing whether the
destination unit has actually received the data item that was
places in the bus. Similarly, a destination unit that initiates the
transfer has no way of knowing whether the source unit has
actually placed the data on bus. The Handshaking method
solves this problem.
Handshaking

The handshaking method solves the problem of strobe

method by introducing a second control signal that
provides a reply to the unit that initiates the transfer.
 Principle of Handshaking
The basic principle of the two-wire handshaking method of data
transfer is as follow:

One control line is in the same direction as the data flows in the bus
from the source to destination. It is used by source unit to inform the
destination unit whether there a valid data in the bus. The other control
line is in the other direction from the destination to the source. It is
used by the destination unit to inform the source whether it can accept
the data. The sequence of control during the transfer depends on the
unit that initiates the transfer.
Source Initiated Transfer using Handshaking
The sequence of events shows four possible states that the
system can be at any given time. The source unit initiates
the transfer by placing the data on the bus and enabling
its data valid signal. The data accepted signal is activated
by the destination unit after it accepts the data from the
bus. The source unit then disables its data accepted
signal and the system goes into its initial state.
 Handshaking
Data Bus

Source Unit Data Valid Destination

Unit
Data accepted

(a) Block Diagram

Source unit Destination Unit
Place the data on bus.
Enable data Valid. Accept data from bus.
Enable data accepted.
Disable data valid.
Invalidate data on bus. Disable data accepted.
Ready to accept data.

(b) Sequence of events

Destination Initiated Transfer Using Handshaking
The name of the signal generated by the destination unit has been
changed to ready for data to reflects its new meaning. The source
unit in this case does not place data on the bus until after it
receives the ready for data signal from the destination unit. From
there on, the handshaking procedure follows the same pattern as in
the source initiated case.

The only difference between the Source Initiated and the

Destination Initiated transfer is in their choice of Initial sate.
 Data Bus

Source Data Valid Destination

Unit Unit
Ready for data

(a) Block Diagram

Destination Unit
Source unit
Ready to accept data.
Place the data on bus. Enable ready for data.
Enable data Valid.

Disable data valid. Accept data from bus.

Disable ready for data.
Invalidate data on bus.

(b) Sequence of events

Destination-Initiated transfer using Handshaking
Advantage of the Handshaking method
 The Handshaking scheme provides degree of flexibility and
reliability because the successful completion of data transfer relies
on active participation by both units.

 If any of one unit is faulty, the data transfer will not be completed.
Such an error can be detected by means of a Timeout mechanism
which provides an alarm if the data is not completed within time.
Asynchronous Serial Transmission
The transfer of data between two units is serial or
parallel. In parallel data transmission, n bit in the
message must be transmitted through n separate
conductor path. In serial transmission, each bit in the
message is sent in sequence one at a time.
Parallel transmission is faster but it requires many wires.
It is used for short distances and where speed is
important. Serial transmission is slower but is less
expensive.
Asynchronous Serial Transmission
In Asynchronous serial transfer, each bit of message is sent a
sequence at a time, and binary information is transferred only
when it is available. When there is no information to be
transferred, line remains idle.
In this technique each character consists of three points :

i. Start bit

ii. Character bit

iii. Stop bit

 Asynchronous Serial Transmission
i. Start Bit- First bit, called start bit is always zero and used to
indicate the beginning character.

ii. Stop Bit- Last bit, called stop bit is always one and used to
indicate end of characters. Stop bit is always in the 1- state and
frame the end of the characters to signify the idle or wait state.

iii. Character Bit- Bits in between the start bit and the stop bit
are known as character bits. The character bits always follow
the start bit.
Asynchronous Serial Transmission

0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1

Start Stop
bit Character bits bits

Asynchronous Serial Transmission

Asynchronous Serial Transmission
Serial Transmission of Asynchronous is done by two ways:

a) Asynchronous Communication Interface

b) First In First out Buffer

 Asynchronous Communication Interface
It works as both a receiver and a transmitter. Its operation is initialized
by CPU by sending a byte to the control register.

The transmitter register accepts a data byte from CPU through the
data bus and transferred to a shift register for serial transmission.

The receive portion receives information into another shift register, and
when a complete data byte is received it is transferred to receiver
register.

CPU can select the receiver register to read the byte through the data
bus. Data in the status register is used for input and output flags.
 First In First Out Buffer (FIFO)

A First In First Out (FIFO) Buffer is a memory unit

that stores information in such a manner that the first
item is in the item first out. A FIFO buffer comes
with separate input and output terminals. The
important feature of this buffer is that it can input
data and output data at two different rates.
First In First Out Buffer (FIFO)
When placed between two units, the FIFO can accept data from
the source unit at one rate, rate of transfer and deliver the data
to the destination unit at another rate.

If the source is faster than the destination, the FIFO is useful

for source data arrive in bursts that fills out the buffer. FIFO is
useful in some applications when data are transferred
asynchronously.
Modes of Data Transfer
Transfer of data is required between CPU and peripherals or
memory or sometimes between any two devices or units of
your computer system. To transfer a data from one unit to
another one should be sure that both units have proper
connection and at the time of data transfer the receiving unit is
not busy. This data transfer with the computer is Internal
Operation.
Modes of Data Transfer
All the internal operations in a digital system are
synchronized by means of clock pulses supplied by a
common clock pulse Generator. The data transfer can
be
i. Synchronous or
ii. Asynchronous
Modes of Data Transfer
When both the transmitting and receiving units use
same clock pulse then such a data transfer is called
Synchronous process. On the other hand, if the there
is not concept of clock pulses and the sender operates
at different moment than the receiver then such a data
transfer is called Asynchronous data transfer.
Modes of Data Transfer
The data transfer can be handled by various modes. some of the
modes use CPU as an intermediate path, others transfer the data
directly to and from the memory unit and this can be handled by 3
following ways:

i. Programmed I/O

ii. Interrupt-Initiated I/O

iii. Direct Memory Access (DMA)

Programmed I/O Mode
In this mode of data transfer the operations are the results in
I/O instructions which is a part of computer program. Each
data transfer is initiated by a instruction in the program.
Normally the transfer is from a CPU register to peripheral
device or vice-versa.
Programmed I/O Mode
Once the data is initiated the CPU starts monitoring the
interface to see when next transfer can made. The instructions
of the program keep close tabs on everything that takes place
in the interface unit and the I/O devices.

In this technique CPU is responsible for executing data

from the memory for output and storing data in memory for
executing of Programmed I/O as shown in Flowchart-:
 Programmed I/O
CPU issues the read or write
command to I/O module

I/O module informs about its

status to CPU

Status Error
Busy

Ready
CPU reads word from I/O module & writes it to memory or
CPU reads word from memory & writes it to I/O module

Is
transfer

NO complete

yes
Execute next instruction
Drawback of the Programmed I/O
The main drawback of the Program Initiated I/O was that the
CPU has to monitor the units all the times when the program is
executing. Thus the CPU stays in a program loop until the I/O
unit indicates that it is ready for data transfer. This is a time
consuming process and the CPU time is wasted a lot in
keeping an eye to the executing of program.

To remove this problem an Interrupt facility and special

commands are used.
Interrupt-Initiated I/O
In this method an interrupt facility an interrupt command is
used to inform the device about the start and end of transfer.
In the meantime the CPU executes other program. When the
interface determines that the device is ready for data transfer it
generates an Interrupt Request and sends it to the computer.
Interrupt-Initiated I/O
When the CPU receives such an signal, it temporarily stops the
execution of the program and branches to a service program to
process the I/O transfer and after completing it returns back to
task, what it was originally performing.

The Execution process of Interrupt–Initiated I/O is

represented in the flowchart:
 Interrupt –Initiated I/O
CPU issues the read or write
command to I/O module

I/O module informs about its

status to CPU

Status Error

Ready

CPU reads word from I/O module & writes it to memory or

CPU reads word from memory & writes it to I/O module

Is
transfer

NO complete

yes
Execute next instruction
Direct Memory Access (DMA)

In the Direct Memory Access (DMA) the interface transfer the data
into and out of the memory unit through the memory bus. The
transfer of data between a fast storage device such as magnetic disk
and memory is often limited by the speed of the CPU. Removing
the CPU from the path and letting the peripheral device manage the
memory buses directly would improve the speed of transfer. This
transfer technique is called Direct Memory Access (DMA).
Direct Memory Access (DMA)

During the DMA transfer, the CPU is idle and has

no control of the memory buses. A DMA Controller
takes over the buses to manage the transfer directly
between the I/O device and memory.
 Direct Memory Access (DMA)
The CPU may be placed in an idle state in a variety of ways. One
common method extensively used in microprocessor is to disable the
buses through special control signals such as:
 Bus Request (BR)
 Bus Grant (BG)
These two control signals in the CPU that facilitates the DMA
transfer. The Bus Request (BR) input is used by the DMA controller
to request the CPU. When this input is active, the CPU terminates the
execution of the current instruction and places the address bus, data
bus and read write lines into a high Impedance state. High
Impedance state means that the output is disconnected.
 Direct Memory Access (DMA)
ABUS Address Bus
Bus Request BR

DBUS Data Bus

High Impedance
(disable) when BG
is enable
RD Read

Bus Grant BG
WR Write

CPU bus Signals for DMA Transfer

Direct Memory Access (DMA)

The CPU activates the Bus Grant (BG) output to

inform the external DMA that the Bus Request (BR)
can now take control of the buses to conduct memory
transfer without processor.
Direct Memory Access (DMA)

When the DMA terminates the transfer, it disables the

Bus Request (BR) line. The CPU disables the Bus
Grant (BG), takes control of the buses and return to
its normal operation.
Direct Memory Access (DMA)

The transfer can be made in several ways that are:

i. DMA Burst

ii. Cycle Stealing

Direct Memory Access (DMA)
i) DMA Burst :- In DMA Burst transfer, a block sequence
consisting of a number of memory words is transferred in
continuous burst while the DMA controller is master of the
memory buses.

ii) Cycle Stealing :- Cycle stealing allows the DMA controller

to transfer one data word at a time, after which it must
returns control of the buses to the CPU.
DMA Controller

The DMA controller needs the usual circuits of an interface to

communicate with the CPU and I/O device. The DMA
controller has three registers:

i. Address Register

ii. Word Count Register

iii. Control Register

DMA Controller
i. Address Register :- Address Register contains an address to specify
the desired location in memory.

ii. Word Count Register :- WC holds the number of words to be

transferred. The register is incre/decre by one after each word
transfer and internally tested for zero.

iii. Control Register :- Control Register specifies the mode of transfer.

DMA Controller
The unit communicates with the CPU via the data bus and control
lines. The registers in the DMA are selected by the CPU through the
address bus by enabling the DS (DMA select) and RS (Register
select) inputs. The RD (read) and WR (write) inputs are
bidirectional.
When the BG (Bus Grant) input is 0, the CPU can
communicate with the DMA registers through the data bus to read
from or write to the DMA registers. When BG =1, the DMA can
communicate directly with the memory by specifying an address in
the address bus and activating the RD or WR control.
Address Bus

Data bus Address bus buffers

Data bus
buffers
I
N
T
DMA Select DS E
Address Register
R
Register Select RS N
A Word Count Register
Read RD L
B
Write WR U
S Control Register
Bus Request BR

Bus Grant BG DMA Request

Interrupt Interrupt to I/O devices
DMA Acknowledgment

Block Diagram of DMA Controller

 DMA Transfer
The CPU communicates with the DMA through the address and data buses as with
any interface unit. The DMA has its own address, which activates the DS and RS
lines. The CPU initializes the DMA through the data bus. Once the DMA receives
the start control command, it can transfer between the peripheral and the memory.

When BG = 0 the RD and WR are input lines allowing the CPU to

communicate with the internal DMA registers. When BG=1, the RD and WR
are output lines from the DMA controller to the random access memory to
specify the read or write operation of data.
 Brief Summary
 Interface is the point where a connection is made between two different parts
of a system.
 The strobe control method of Asynchronous data transfer employs a single
control line to time each transfer.
 The handshaking method solves the problem of strobe method by introducing
a second control signal that provides a reply to the unit that initiates the
transfer.
 Brief Summary
 Programmed I/O mode of data transfer the operations are the results in
I/O instructions which is a part of computer program.
 In the Interrupt Initiated I/O method an interrupt facility an interrupt
command is used to inform the device about the start and end of transfer.
 In the Direct Memory Access (DMA) the interface transfer the data into
and out of the memory unit through the memory bus.