Lecture No 3

Combinational Systems
Today’s Topics
In this lecture we will cover the following:
Combinational Systems
Design Process for Combinational Systems
Don’t Care Conditions
Development of Truth Tables
Examples

2
Design Process for
Combinational Systems
Definition of Combinational System:
In a combinational system, the output of any gate can be
determined at any stage in terms of its inputs.
A typical design process for a combinational system
contains the following steps:
◦ Problem statement - a verbal description of the intended
system.
◦ Develop a block diagram of that system, utilizing
available components and meeting the design objectives
and constraints.

3
 Design Process for
Combinational Systems
The design process of combinational systems can be further
broken down into the following detailed steps:
a)Represent each of the inputs and outputs in binary and if
necessary, break the larger problem into smaller
subproblems.

 For example, represent On with 1, Off with 0. Moreover, determine

the BCD code to be used for the input as well as for the output.
 We may also use the subsystems that have already been
implemented e.g. we can buy a 4-bit adder.

4
Design Process for Combinational
Systems (Contd…)
b) Formalize the design specification either in the form of a
truth table or of an algebraic expression.
c) Simplify the description e.g. using K-Maps.
d) Implement the system with available components,
subject to the design objectives and constraints.

5
 Don’t Care Conditions
In some systems, the value of the output is
specified for only some of the input conditions.
(Such functions are sometimes referred to as
incompletely specified functions.)

For the remaining input combinations, it does not

matter what the output is, that is, we don’t care.

In a truth table, don’t cares are indicated by an X.

Table 2.2 is such a truth table.

6
Don’t Care Conditions
(Contd...)
 This table states that the f must be 0 when a and b

are 0, that it must be 1 when a = 0 and b = 1 or

when a = 1 and b = 0, and that it does not matter
what f is, when a and b are both 1.

When we design a system with don’t cares, we

may make the output either 0 or 1 for each don’t
care input combination.

7
Real System Example
In real systems, don’t cares occur in several ways.
There may be some input combinations that never occur. For
example, if input is written in binary code for a decimal digit;
there are only 10 possible input combinations (i.e. for digits
from 0 to 9).
If a 4-bit code is used, then six of the input combinations
never occur (i.e. 1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110 and 1111).

When we build a system, we can design it such that the

outputs would be either 0 or 1 for each of these don’t care
combinations, since that input never happens.

8
Development of Truth Tables
We know that in a digital system, each of the inputs only
takes on one of two values (0 or 1). Thus, if we have n
inputs, there are 2n input combinations and thus the truth
table has 2n rows.
These rows are normally written in the binary order of the
inputs (if, for no other reason, than to make sure that we do
not leave any out).
The truth table has two sets of columns: n input columns,
one for each input variable, and m output columns, one for
each of the m outputs.

9
 Development of Truth Tables
Example 1:
Truth table for a system with three inputs, A, B, and C, and one output, Z,
such that Z = 1 iff (if and only if) two of the inputs are 1, is as follows:

A B C Z1 Z2 Z3
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 1 1 1
1 1 1 0 1 X

10
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)
•The given problem statement requires that we should have only one
output but the above table contains three outputs.
•The reason is that we can have three different interpretations of the
problem statement.
•There is no controversy on the behavior of the system for the first 7 rows
of the table. The only question in completing the table is in relation to
the last row.
•Does “two of the inputs are 1” mean exactly two or does it mean at least
two?
•If the former is true, then the last line of the truth table is 0, as shown for
Z1. If the latter is true, then the last line of the table is 1, as shown in Z2.
•Two other options, both shown as Z3, are that we know that all three
inputs will not be 1 simultaneously, and that we do not care what the
output is if all three inputs are 1. In those cases, the last entry is don’t
care, X.
11
Development of Truth Tables
(Contd...)
Example 2:
Consider a system in which a single light (that can be on or
off) can be controlled by any one of three switches. One
switch is the master on/off switch. If it is down, the light is
off. When the master switch is up, a change in the position
of one of the other switches (from up to down or from
down to up) will cause the light to change state. Truth table
for such a system is as follows:

12
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)
We have labeled the switches a, b, and c (where a is the master switch) and use a 1
to represent up (and a 0 for down). The light output is labeled f (where a 1 on f
means that the light is on). When a = 0, the light is off (0), no matter what the value
of b and c are.

13
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

The problem statement does not specify the output when a = 1. It

only specifies what effect a change in the other inputs will have.
We still have two possible solutions to this problem.
If we assume that switches b and c in the down position cause the
light to be off, then the fifth row of the table (100) will have an
output of 0, as shown in Table 2.5a.
When one of these switches is up (101, 110), then the light must be
on.
From either of these states, changing b or c will either return the
system to the 100 input state or move it to state 111; for this, the
output is 0.

14
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

Example 3:
The truth table for 1-bit binary full adder
is as follows:
This system has three inputs (the 2 bits to
be added plus the carry from the next
lower order bit) and produces two
outputs: a sum bit and a carry to the next
higher order position.

15
Development of Truth Tables
Example 4:
A display driver; a system that has as its input the code for a decimal
digit and produces as its output the signals to drive a seven-segment
display, such as those on most digital watches and numeric displays.
The truth table for such system is as follows:

16
Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

17
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)
The truth table for seven segment display driver is as follows:

18
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

A block diagram of the system is shown in Figure 2.3a.

The inputs are a BCD code (i.e. 8421 Code) for the decimal digit and
are labeled W, X, Y, and Z. The display driver must provide the seven
inputs to the display, a, b, c, d, e, f, and g.
The layout of the display is shown in Figure 2.3b.
How each digit is displayed is shown in Figure 2.3c, where a solid line
indicates that the segment is lit, and a dashed line that it is not lit.
The first 10 combinations of the input variables are used for BCD
codes of digits from 0 to 9, whereas the last 6 bit combinations (i.e.
1010, 1011, 1100, 1101, 1110 and 1111) are used as don’t care
conditions, as we do not care what the display driver produces for
those input combinations.

19
 Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

Example 5:
• Consider a system with three inputs, a, b, and c, and
four outputs, w, x, y, z.

• The output is a binary number equal to the largest integer that

meets the input conditions:
a = 0 means odd ; a = 1 means even
b = 0 means prime ; b = 1 means not prime
c = 0 means less than 8 ; c = 1 means greater than or equal to 8.

• Some inputs may never occur; the output is never all 0’s.

• The truth table of such system is as follows:

20
Development of Truth Tables (Contd...)

a = 0 means odd ; a = 1 means even

b = 0 means prime ; b = 1 means not prime
c = 0 means less than 8 ; c = 1 means greater than or equal to 8.

21