MICROCOMPUTER, MICROPROCESSOR & MICROCONTROLLER
Microcomputer is a small computer (compared to big supercomputers) that has a microprocessor (again,
the term 'micro-' in this word is now eliminated and it is just called processor), central processing unit
(CPU). Your PC is an example of a microcomputer.
Microcontrollers are computer chips that (if you look at its name it becomes obvious) control something.
Microcontrollers usually have a processing unit (which usually runs on a low clock speed), internal
memory and input/output elements. Pretty much every electronic device has a microcontroller - starting
from a game console or electronic clock and ending with personal computers.
Microprocessor is also called the Central Processing Unit (CPU). A microprocessor is currently working in
your PC and it's either from AMD or Intel (or any other processor manufacturer). Basically, a
microprocessor is one of the essential elements of a computer, as it handles all the operations a
computer performs.
MICROPROCESSOR AND ITS ARCHITECTURE
The microprocessor is sometimes referred to as the 'brain' of the personal computer, and is
responsible for the processing of the instructions which make up computer software. It
houses the central processing unit, commonly referred to as the CPU, and as such is a
crucially important part of the home PC. However, how many people really understand how
the chip itself works?
This tutorial aims to provide an introduction to the various parts of the microprocessor, and
to teach the basics of the architecture and workings of the CPU across three specific
sections:
CPU Structure
This section, using a simplified model of a central processing unit as an example, takes you
through the role of each of the major constituent parts of the CPU. It also looks more
closely at each part, and examines how they are constructed and how they perform their
role within the microprocessor.
Instruction Execution
Once you are familiar with the various elements of the processor, this section looks at how
they work together to process and execute a program. It looks at how the various
instructions that form the program are recognised, together with the processes and actions
that are carried out during the instruction execution cycle itself
As there are a great many variations in architecture between the different kinds of CPU, we
shall begin my looking at a simplified model of the structure. The model to be used can be
seen on the right of this page, and is a good basis on which to build your knowledge of the
workings of a microprocessor. The simplified model consists of five parts, which are:
1) Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU)
2)
3)
4)
5)
The part of the central processing unit that deals with operations such as addition,
subtraction, and multiplication of integers and Boolean operations. It receives control
signals from the control unit telling it to carry out these operations. For more, click
the title above.
Control Unit (CU)
This controls the movement of instructions in and out of the processor, and also
controls the operation of the ALU. It consists of a decoder, control logic circuits, and
a clock to ensure everything happens at the correct time. It is also responsible for
performing the instruction execution cycle. More on the control unit can be
discovered by clicking the title above.
Register Array
This is a small amount of internal memory that is used for the quick storage and
retreival of data and instructions. All processors include some common registers used
for specific functions, namely the program counter, instruction register, accumulator,
memory address register and stack pointer. For more, click the title above.
System Bus
This is comprised of the control bus, data bus and address bus. It is used for
connections between the processor, memory and peripherals, and transferal of data
between the various parts. Click the title above for more.
Memory
The memory is not an actual part of the CPU itself, and is instead housed elsewhere
on the motherboard. However, it is here that the program being executed is stored,
and as such is a crucial part of the overall structure involved in program execution.
ALU
The ALU, or the arithmetic and logic unit, is the section of the processor that is involved
with executing operations of an arithmetic or logical nature. It works in conjunction with
the register array for many of these, in particular, the accumulator and flag registers. The
accumulator holds the results of operations, while the flag register contains a number of
individual bits that are used to store information about the last operation carried out by the
ALU. More on these registers can be found in theregister array section.
You can look at the ALU as comprising many subcomponents for each specific task that it is
required to perform. Some of these tasks and their appropriate subcomponents are:
Addition and subtraction
These two tasks are performed by constructs of logic gates, such as half adders and full
adders. While they may be termed 'adders', with the aid of they can also perform
subtraction via use of inverters and 'two's complement' arithmetic.
The topic of logic gates is too expansive and detailed to be covered in full here. Many
resources exist on the internet and elsewhere relating to this topic, however, so it is
recommended that you read further into the areas outlined above to aid with your learning.
Multiplication and division
In most modern processors, the multiplication and division of integer values is handled by
specific floating-point hardware within the CPU. Earlier processors used either additional
chips known as maths co-processors, or used a completely different method to perform the
task.
Logical tests
Further logic gates are used within the ALU to perform a number of different logical tests,
including seeing if an operation produces a result of zero. Most of these logical tests are
used to then change the values stored in the flag register, so that they may be checked
later by seperate operations or instructions. Others produce a result which is then stored,
and used later in further processing.
Comparison
Comparison operations compare values in order to determine such things as whether one
number is greater than, less than or equal to another. These operations can be performed
by subtraction of one of the numbers from the other, and as such can be handled by the
aforementioned logic gates. However, it is not strictly necessary for the result of the
calculation to be stored in this instance.. the amount by which the values differ is not
required. Instead, the appropriate status flags in the flag register are set and checked to
detemine the result of the operation.
Bit shifting
Shifting operations move bits left or right within a word, with different operations filling the
gaps created in different ways. This is accomplished via the use of a shift register, which
uses pulses from the clock within the control unit to trigger a chain reaction of movement
across the bits that make up the word. Again, this is a quite complicated logical procedure,
and further reading may aid your understanding.
CONTROL UNIT
The control unit is arguably the most complicated part of this model CPU, and is responsible
for controlling much of the operation of the rest of the processor. It does this by issuing
control signals to the other areas of the processor, instructing them on what should be
performed next.
Similarly to the arithmetic and logic unit, the control unit can be broken down further for
easier understanding. As such, the three main elements of the control unit are as follows:
Decoder
This is used to decode the instructions that make up a program when they are being
processed, and to determine in what actions must be taken in order to process them. These
decisions are normally taken by looking at the opcode of the instruction, together with the
addressing mode used. This is covered in greater detail in the instruction execution section
of this tutorial.
Timer or clock
The timer or clock ensures that all processes and instructions are carried out and completed
at the right time. Pulses are sent to the other areas of the CPU at regular intervals (related
to the processor clock speed), and actions only occur when a pulse is detected. This ensures
that the actions themselves also occur at these same regular intervals, meaning that the
operations of the CPU are synchronised.
Control logic circuits
The control logic circuits are used to create the control signals themselves, which are then
sent around the processor. These signals inform the arithmetic and logic unit and
the register array what they actions and steps they should be performing, what data they
should be using to perform said actions, and what should be done with the results.
REGISTERS
A register is a memory location within the CPU itself, designed to be quickly accessed for
purposes of fast data retrieval. Processors normally contain a register array, which houses
many such registers. These contain instructions, data and other values that may need to be
quickly accessed during the execution of a program.
Many different types of registers are common between most microprocessor designs. These
are:
Program Counter (PC)
This register is used to hold the memory address of the next instruction that has to
executed in a program. This is to ensure the CPU knows at all times where it has reached,
that is able to resume following an execution at the correct point, and that the program is
executed correctly.
Instruction Register (IR)
This is used to hold the current instruction in the processor while it is being decoded and
executed, in order for the speed of the whole execution process to be reduced. This is
because the time needed to access the instruction register is much less than continual
checking of the memory location itself.
Accumulator (A, or ACC)
The accumulator is used to hold the result of operations performed by the arithmetic and
logic unit, as covered in the section on the ALU.
Memory Address Register (MAR)
Used for storage of memory addresses, usually the addresses involved in the instructions
held in the instruction register. The control unit then checks this register when needing to
know which memory address to check or obtain data from.
Memory Buffer Register (MBR)
When an instruction or data is obtained from the memory or elsewhere, it is first placed in
the memory buffer register. The next action to take is then determined and carried out, and
the data is moved on to the desired location.
Flag register / status flags
The flag register is specially designed to contain all the appropriate 1-bit status flags, which
are changed as a result of operations involving the arithmetic and logic unit. Further
information can be found in the section on the ALU.
Other general purpose registers
These registers have no specific purpose, but are generally used for the quick storage of
pieces of data that are required later in the program execution. In the model used here
these are assigned the names A and B, with suffixes of L and U indicating the lower and
upper sections of the register respectively.
The system bus is a cable which carries data communication between the major
components of the computer, including the microprocessor. Not all of the communication
that uses the bus involves the CPU, although naturally the examples used in this tutorial will
centre on such instances.
SYSTEM BUS
The system bus consists of three different groups of wiring, called the data bus, control bus
and address bus. These all have seperate responsibilities and characteristics, which can be
outlined as follows:
Control Bus
The control bus carries the signals relating to the control and co-ordination of the various
activities across the computer, which can be sent from the control unit within the CPU.
Different architectures result in differing number of lines of wire within the control bus, as
each line is used to perform a specific task. For instance, different, specific lines are used for
each of read, write and reset requests.
Data Bus
This is used for the exchange of data between the processor, memory and peripherals, and
is bi-directional so that it allows data flow in both directions along the wires. Again, the
number of wires used in the data bus (sometimes known as the 'width') can differ. Each
wire is used for the transfer of signals corresponding to a single bit of binary data. As such,
a greater width allows greater amounts of data to be transferred at the same time.
Address Bus
The address bus contains the connections between the microprocessor and memory that
carry the signals relating to the addresses which the CPU is processing at that time, such as
the locations that the CPU is reading from or writing to. The width of the address bus
corresponds to the maximum addressing capacity of the bus, or the largest address within
memory that the bus can work with. The addresses are transferred in binary format, with
each line of the address bus carrying a single binary digit. Therefore the maximum address
capacity is equal to two to the power of the number of lines present (2^lines).
INSTRUCTION EXECUTION CYCLE
The instruction execution cycle can be clearly divided into three different parts, which will
now be looked at in more detail. For more on each part of the cycle click the relevant
heading, or use the next arrow as before to proceed though each stage in order.
Fetch Cycle
The fetch cycle takes the address required from memory, stores it in the instruction
register, and moves the program counter on one so that it points to the next instruction.
Decode Cycle
Here, the control unit checks the instruction that is now stored within the instruction
register. It determines which opcode and addressing mode have been used, and as such
what actions need to be carried out in order to execute the instruction in question.
Execute Cycle
The actual actions which occur during the execute cycle of an instruction depend on both
the instruction itself, and the addressing mode specified to be used to access the data that
may be required. However, four main groups of actions do exist, which are discussed in full
later on.
A program is a set of instructions for performing a particular task. These instructions are
just like English words. The computer interprets the instructions as 1's and 0's. A program
can be written in assembly language as well as in high-level language. This written program
is called the source program. The source program is to be converted to the machine
language, which is called an object program. A translator is required for such a translation.
Program translator translates source code of programming language into machine languageinstruction code. Generally, computer programs are written in languages like COBOL, C,
BASIC and ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE, which should be translated into machine language before
execution. Programming language translators are classified as follows. A list of translators is
given in Figure 1.8.
Translators are as follows.
i.
Assembler
ii.
Compiler
iii.
Interpreter
Assembler: An assembler translates the symbolic codes of programs of an assembly
language into machine language instructions . The symbolic language is translated to the
machine code in the ratio of one is to one symbolic instructions to one machine code
instructions. Such types of languages are called low-level languages. The assembler
programs translate the low-level language to the machine code. The translation job is
performed either manually or with a program called assembler. In hand assembly, the
programmer uses the set of instructions supplied by the manufacturer. In this case, the
hexadecimal code for the mnemonic instruction is searched from the code sheet. This
procedure is tedious and time-consuming. Alternate solution to this is the use of
assemblers. The program called assembler provides the codes of the mnemonics. This
process is fast and facilitates the user in developing the program speedily.
Compiler: Compilers are the translators, which translate all the instructions of the
program into machine codes, which can be used again and again. The program, which is to
be translated, is called the source program and after translation the object code is
generated. The source program is input to the compiler. The object code is output for the
secondary storage device. The entire program will be read by the compiler first and
generates the object code. However, in interpreter each line is executed and object code is
provided. M-BASIC is an example of an interpreter. High-level languages such as C, C++
and Java compilers are employed. The compiler displays the list of errors and warnings for
the statements violating the syntax rules of the language. Compilers also have the ability of
linking subroutines of the program.
Interpreter: Interpreters also come in the group of translators. It helps the user to
execute the source program with a few differences as compared to compilers. The source
program is just like English statements in both interpreters and compilers. The interpreter
generates object codes for the source program. Interpreter reads the program line by line,
whereas in compiler the entire program is read by the compiler, which then generates the
object codes. Interpreter directly executes the program from its source code. Due to this,
every time the source code should be inputted to the interpreter. In other words, each line
is converted into the object codes. It takes very less time for execution because no
intermediate object code is generated.
.