Chapter 8

Processor Memory

Bus

I/O device 1 I/O device n

Multiple I/O devices may be connected to the processor and the memory via a b
Bus consists of three sets of lines to carry address, data and control signals.
Each I/O device is assigned an unique address.
To access an I/O device, the processor places the address on the address lines.
The device recognizes the address, and responds to the control signals.
Accessing I/O devices (contd..)
I/O devices and the memory may share the same
address space:
 Memory-mapped I/O.
 Any machine instruction that can access memory can be used to transfer
data to or from an I/O device.
 Simpler software.

I/O devices and the memory may have different

address spaces:
 Special instructions to transfer data to and from I/O devices.
 I/O devices may have to deal with fewer address lines.
 I/O address lines need not be physically separate from memory address
lines.
 In fact, address lines may be shared between I/O devices and memory,
with a control signal to indicate whether it is a memory address or an
I/O address.
4
 Address lines
Bus Data lines
Control lines

Address Control Data and I/O

decoder circuits status registers interface

Input device

O device is connected to the bus using an I/O interface circuit which has:
- Address decoder, control circuit, and data and status registers.
ddress decoder decodes the address placed on the address lines thus enabling t
vice to recognize its address.
ata register holds the data being transferred to or from the processor.
atus register holds information necessary for the operation of the I/O device.
ata and status registers are connected to the data lines, and have unique addre
O interface circuit coordinates I/O transfers.
Accessing I/O devices (contd..)
Recall that the rate of transfer to and from I/O
devices is slower than the speed of the
processor. This creates the need for mechanisms
to synchronize data transfers between them.
Program-controlled I/O:
 Processor repeatedly monitors a status flag to achieve the
necessary synchronization.
 Processor polls the I/O device.

Two other mechanisms used for synchronizing

data transfers between the processor and
memory:
 Interrupts.
 Direct Memory Access.
Interrupts
In program-controlled I/O, when the processor
continuously monitors the status of the device, it
does not perform any useful tasks.
An alternate approach would be for the I/O
device to alert the processor when it becomes
ready.
 Do so by sending a hardware signal called an interrupt to the
processor.
 At least one of the bus control lines, called an interrupt-request line
is dedicated for this purpose.
Processor can perform other useful tasks while
it is waiting for the device to be ready.
 Program 1 Interrupt Service routine

1
2

Interrupt
occurs i
here
i +1

ocessor is executing the instruction located at address i when an interrupt occurs.

outine executed in response to an interrupt request is called the interrupt-service routine.
hen an interrupt occurs, control must be transferred to the interrupt service routine.
ut before transferring control, the current contents of the PC (i+1), must be saved in a kno
ation.
his will enable the return-from-interrupt instruction to resume execution at i+1.
eturn address, or the contents of the PC are usually stored on the processor stack.
Interrupts (contd..)
Treatment of an interrupt-service routine is
very similar to that of a subroutine.
However there are significant differences:
 A subroutine performs a task that is required by the calling
program.
 Interrupt-service routine may not have anything in common
with the program it interrupts.
 Interrupt-service routine and the program that it interrupts
may belong to different users.
 As a result, before branching to the interrupt-service routine,
not only the PC, but other information such as condition code
flags, and processor registers used by both the interrupted
program and the interrupt service routine must be stored.
 This will enable the interrupted program to resume execution
upon return from interrupt service routine.
Interrupts (contd..)
Saving and restoring information can be done
automatically by the processor or explicitly by
program instructions.
Saving and restoring registers involves memory
transfers:
 Increases the total execution time.
 Increases the delay between the time an interrupt request is received,
and the start of execution of the interrupt-service routine. This delay is
called interrupt latency.
In order to reduce the interrupt latency, most
processors save only the minimal amount of
information:
 This minimal amount of information includes Program Counter and
processor status registers.
Any additional information that must be saved, must
be saved explicitly by the program instructions at the
beginning of the interrupt service routine.
Interrupts (contd..)
When a processor receives an interrupt-
request, it must branch to the interrupt
service routine.
It must also inform the device that it has
recognized the interrupt request.
This can be accomplished in two ways:
 Some processors have an explicit interrupt-acknowledge
control signal for this purpose.
 In other cases, the data transfer that takes place between the

device and the processor can be used to inform the device.

Interrupts (contd..)
Interrupt-requests interrupt the execution of a
program, and may alter the intended sequence of
events:
 Sometimes such alterations may be undesirable, and must not be
allowed.
 For example, the processor may not want to be interrupted by the
same device while executing its interrupt-service routine.
Processors generally provide the ability to enable
and disable such interruptions as desired.
One simple way is to provide machine instructions
such as Interrupt-enable and Interrupt-disable for this
purpose.
To avoid interruption by the same device during the
execution of an interrupt service routine:
 First instruction of an interrupt service routine can be Interrupt-
disable.
 Last instruction of an interrupt service routine can be Interrupt-
enable.
Interrupts (contd..)
Multiple I/O devices may be connected to the
processor and the memory via a bus. Some or all
of these devices may be capable of generating
interrupt requests.
 Each device operates independently, and hence no definite order
can be imposed on how the devices generate interrupt requests?
How does the processor know which device has
generated an interrupt?
How does the processor know which interrupt
service routine needs to be executed?
When the processor is executing an interrupt
service routine for one device, can other device
interrupt the processor?
If two interrupt-requests are received
simultaneously, then how to break the tie?
Interrupts (contd..)
Consider a simple arrangement where all devices send
their interrupt-requests over a single control line in
the bus.
When the processor receives an interrupt request over
this control line, how does it know which device is
requesting an interrupt?
This information is available in the status register of
the device requesting an interrupt:
 The status register of each device has an IRQ bit which it sets to 1 when it
requests an interrupt.
Interrupt service routine can poll the I/O devices
connected to the bus. The first device with IRQ equal to
1 is the one that is serviced.
Polling mechanism is easy, but time consuming to
query the status bits of all the I/O devices connected to
the bus.
Interrupts (contd..)
The device requesting an interrupt may
identify itself directly to the processor.
 Device can do so by sending a special code (4 to 8 bits) the
processor over the bus.
 Code supplied by the device may represent a part of the starting
address of the interrupt-service routine.
 The remainder of the starting address is obtained by the
processor based on other information such as the range of
memory addresses where interrupt service routines are located.
Usually the location pointed to by the
interrupting device is used to store the starting
address of the interrupt-service routine.
Interrupts (contd..)
Multiple I/O devices may be connected to the
processor and the memory via a bus. Some or all
of these devices may be capable of generating
interrupt requests.
 Each device operates independently, and hence no definite order
can be imposed on how the devices generate interrupt requests?
How does the processor know which device has
generated an interrupt?
How does the processor know which interrupt
service routine needs to be executed?
When the processor is executing an interrupt
service routine for one device, can other device
interrupt the processor?
If two interrupt-requests are received
simultaneously, then how to break the tie?
Interrupts (contd..)
Consider a simple arrangement where all devices send
their interrupt-requests over a single control line in
the bus.
When the processor receives an interrupt request over
this control line, how does it know which device is
requesting an interrupt?
This information is available in the status register of
the device requesting an interrupt:
 The status register of each device has an IRQ bit which it sets to 1 when it
requests an interrupt.
Interrupt service routine can poll the I/O devices
connected to the bus. The first device with IRQ equal to
1 is the one that is serviced.
Polling mechanism is easy, but time consuming to
query the status bits of all the I/O devices connected to
the bus.
Interrupts (contd..)
The device requesting an interrupt may
identify itself directly to the processor.
 Device can do so by sending a special code (4 to 8 bits) the
processor over the bus.
 Code supplied by the device may represent a part of the starting
address of the interrupt-service routine.
 The remainder of the starting address is obtained by the
processor based on other information such as the range of
memory addresses where interrupt service routines are located.
Usually the location pointed to by the
interrupting device is used to store the starting
address of the interrupt-service routine.
Interrupts (contd..)
Previously, before the processor started executing
the interrupt service routine for a device, it
disabled the interrupts from the device.
In general, same arrangement is used when
multiple devices can send interrupt requests to
the processor.
 During the execution of an interrupt service routine of device, the
processor does not accept interrupt requests from any other device.
 Since the interrupt service routines are usually short, the delay that
this causes is generally acceptable.
However, for certain devices this delay may not
be acceptable.
 Which devices can be allowed to interrupt a processor when it is
executing an interrupt service routine of another device?
Interrupts (contd..)
I/O devices are organized in a priority
structure:
 An interrupt request from a high-priority device is accepted
while the processor is executing the interrupt service routine of
a low priority device.
A priority level is assigned to a processor that
can be changed under program control.
 Priority level of a processor is the priority of the program that is
currently being executed.
 When the processor starts executing the interrupt service
routine of a device, its priority is raised to that of the device.
 If the device sending an interrupt request has a higher priority
than the processor, the processor accepts the interrupt request.
Interrupts (contd..)
Processor’s priority is encoded in a few bits of
the processor status register.
 Priority can be changed by instructions that write into the
processor status register.
 Usually, these are privileged instructions, or instructions that can
be executed only in the supervisor mode.
 Privileged instructions cannot be executed in the user mode.
 Prevents a user program from accidentally or intentionally
changing the priority of the processor.
If there is an attempt to execute a privileged
instruction in the user mode, it causes a special
type of interrupt called as privilege exception.
 INTR 1 I NTR p
Processor

Device 1 Device 2 Device p

INTA1 INTAp

Priority arbitration

ach device has a separate interrupt-request and interrupt-acknowledge line.

ach interrupt-request line is assigned a different priority level.
terrupt requests received over these lines are sent to a priority arbitration circu
the processor.
the interrupt request has a higher priority level than the priority of the process
en the request is accepted.
Interrupts (contd..)
Which interrupt request does the processor
accept if it receives interrupt requests from
two or more devices simultaneously?.
If the I/O devices are organized in a priority
structure, the processor accepts the interrupt
request from a device with higher priority.
 Each device has its own interrupt request and interrupt
acknowledge line.
 A different priority level is assigned to the interrupt request line
of each device.
However, if the devices share an interrupt
request line, then how does the processor
decide which interrupt request to accept?
lling scheme:
the processor uses a polling mechanism to poll the status registers of I/O devic
determine which device is requesting an interrupt.
n this case the priority is determined by the order in which the devices are polle
he first device with status bit set to 1 is the device whose interrupt request is
cepted.
Daisy chain scheme:
I NTR
Processor

Device 1 Device 2 Device n

INTA

evices are connected to form a daisy chain.

evices share the interrupt-request line, and interrupt-acknowledge line is conne
form a daisy chain.
hen devices raise an interrupt request, the interrupt-request line is activated.
he processor in response activates interrupt-acknowledge.
eceived by device 1, if device 1 does not need service, it passes the signal to dev
evice that is electrically closest to the processor has the highest priority.
hen I/O devices were organized into a priority structure, each device had its ow
errupt-request and interrupt-acknowledge line.
hen I/O devices were organized in a daisy chain fashion, the devices shared an
errupt-request line, and the interrupt-acknowledge propagated through the dev
combination of priority structure and daisy chain scheme can also used.
I NTR1

Device Device
INTA1
Processor

INTR p

Device Device
INTAp
Priority arbitration
circuit
Devices are organized into groups.
Each group is assigned a different priority level.
All the devices within a single group share an interrupt-request line, and are
onnected to form a daisy chain.
Interrupts (contd..)
Only those devices that are being used in a
program should be allowed to generate interrupt
requests.
To control which devices are allowed to generate
interrupt requests, the interface circuit of each
I/O device has an interrupt-enable bit.
 If the interrupt-enable bit in the device interface is set to 1, then
the device is allowed to generate an interrupt-request.
Interrupt-enable bit in the device’s interface
circuit determines whether the device is allowed
to generate an interrupt request.
Interrupt-enable bit in the processor status
register or the priority structure of the interrupts
determines whether a given interrupt will be
accepted.
Exceptions
Interrupts caused by interrupt-requests sent by
I/O devices.
Interrupts could be used in many other situations
where the execution of one program needs to be
suspended and execution of another program
needs to be started.
In general, the term exception is used to refer to
any event that causes an interruption.
 Interrupt-requests from I/O devices is one type of an exception.

Other types of exceptions are:

 Recovery from errors
 Debugging
 Privilege exception
Exceptions (contd..)
Many sources of errors in a processor. For
example:
 Error in the data stored.
 Error during the execution of an instruction.

When such errors are detected, exception

processing is initiated.
 Processor takes the same steps as in the case of I/O interrupt-
request.
 It suspends the execution of the current program, and starts
executing an exception-service routine.
Difference between handling I/O interrupt-
request and handling exceptions due to errors:
 In case of I/O interrupt-request, the processor usually completes
the execution of an instruction in progress before branching to
the interrupt-service routine.
 In case of exception processing however, the execution of an
instruction in progress usually cannot be completed.
Exceptions (contd..)
Debugger uses exceptions to provide
important features:
 Trace,
 Breakpoints.

Trace mode:
 Exception occurs after the execution of every instruction.
 Debugging program is used as the exception-service routine.

Breakpoints:
 Exception occurs only at specific points selected by the user.
 Debugging program is used as the exception-service routine.
Exceptions (contd..)
Certain instructions can be executed only
when the processor is in the supervisor mode.
These are called privileged instructions.
If an attempt is made to execute a privileged
instruction in the user mode, a privilege
exception occurs.
Privilege exception causes:
 Processor to switch to the supervisor mode,
 Execution of an appropriate exception-servicing routine.
Direct Memory Access (contd..)
Direct Memory Access (DMA):
 A special control unit may be provided to transfer a block of
data directly between an I/O device and the main memory,
without continuous intervention by the processor.
Control unit which performs these transfers is
a part of the I/O device’s interface circuit. This
control unit is called as a DMA controller.
DMA controller performs functions that would
be normally carried out by the processor:
 For each word, it provides the memory address and all the
control signals.
 To transfer a block of data, it increments the memory addresses
and keeps track of the number of transfers.
Direct Memory Access (contd..)
DMA controller can transfer a block of data from an
external device to the processor, without any
intervention from the processor.
 However, the operation of the DMA controller must be under the control
of a program executed by the processor. That is, the processor must
initiate the DMA transfer.
To initiate the DMA transfer, the processor informs
the DMA controller of:
 Starting address,
 Number of words in the block.
 Direction of transfer (I/O device to the memory, or memory to the I/O
device).
Once the DMA controller completes the DMA
transfer, it informs the processor by raising an
interrupt signal.
 Main
Processor
memory

System bus

Disk/DMA DMA Keyboard

controller controller Printer

Disk Disk Network

Interface

DMA controller connects a high-speed network to the computer bus.

Disk controller, which controls two disks also has DMA capability. It provides tw
DMA channels.
It can perform two independent DMA operations, as if each disk has its own DM
ontroller. The registers to store the memory address, word count and status an
ontrol information are duplicated.
Direct Memory Access (contd..)
Processor and DMA controllers have to use the bus in
an interwoven fashion to access the memory.
 DMA devices are given higher priority than the processor to access the
bus.
 Among different DMA devices, high priority is given to high-speed
peripherals such as a disk or a graphics display device.
Processor originates most memory access cycles on
the bus.
 DMA controller can be said to “steal” memory access cycles from the bus.
This interweaving technique is called as “cycle stealing”.
An alternate approach is the provide a DMA controller
an exclusive capability to initiate transfers on the bus,
and hence exclusive access to the main memory. This
is known as the block or burst mode.
Bus arbitration
Processor and DMA controllers both need to initiate
data transfers on the bus and access main memory.
The device that is allowed to initiate transfers on
the bus at any given time is called the bus master.
When the current bus master relinquishes its status
as the bus master, another device can acquire this
status.
 The process by which the next device to become the bus master is
selected and bus mastership is transferred to it is called bus
arbitration.
Centralized arbitration:
 A single bus arbiter performs the arbitration.

Distributed arbitration:
 All devices participate in the selection of the next bus master.
Centralized Bus Arbitration
B BS Y

BR

Processor

DMA DMA
controller controller
BG1 1 BG2 2
Centralized Bus Arbitration(cont.,)
• Bus arbiter may be the processor or a separate unit
connected to the bus.
• Normally, the processor is the bus master, unless it
grants bus membership to one of the DMA controllers.
• DMA controller requests the control of the bus by
asserting the Bus Request (BR) line.
• In response, the processor activates the Bus-Grant1 (BG1)
line, indicating that the controller may use the bus when
it is free.
• BG1 signal is connected to all DMA controllers in a daisy
chain fashion.
• BBSY signal is 0, it indicates that the bus is busy. When
BBSY becomes 1, the DMA controller which asserted BR
can acquire control of the bus.
 DMA controller 2
asserts the BR signal. Time
Processor asserts
BR
the BG1 signal

BG1 BG1 signal propagates

to DMA#2.
BG2

BBSY

Bus
master
Processor DMA controller 2 Processor

Processor relinquishes control

of the bus by setting BBSY to 1.
Distributed arbitration
All devices waiting to use the bus share the
responsibility of carrying out the arbitration
process.
 Arbitration process does not depend on a central arbiter and hence
distributed arbitration has higher reliability.
Each device is assigned a 4-bit ID number.
All the devices are connected using 5 lines, 4
arbitration lines to transmit the ID, and one line
for the Start-Arbitration signal.
To request the bus a device:
 Asserts the Start-Arbitration signal.
 Places its 4-bit ID number on the arbitration lines.
The pattern that appears on the arbitration lines is
the logical-OR of all the 4-bit device IDs placed on
the arbitration lines.
Distributed arbitration
Distributed arbitration(Contd.,)
Arbitration process:
Each device compares the pattern that appears
on the arbitration lines to its own ID, starting
with MSB.
If it detects a difference, it transmits 0s on the
arbitration lines for that and all lower bit
positions.
The pattern that appears on the arbitration
lines is the logical-OR of all the 4-bit device IDs
placed on the arbitration lines.
Device A has the ID 5 and wants to request the bus:
- Transmits the pattern 0101 on the arbitration lines.
Device B has the ID 6 and wants to request the bus:
- Transmits the pattern 0110 on the arbitration lines.
Pattern that appears on the arbitration lines is the logical OR of the patterns:
- Pattern 0111 appears on the arbitration lines.

bitration process:
ach device compares the pattern that appears on the arbitration lines to its own
, starting with MSB.
it detects a difference, it transmits 0s on the arbitration lines for that and all lo
positions.
evice A compares its ID 5 with a pattern 0101 to pattern 0111.
detects a difference at bit position 0, as a result, it transmits a pattern 0100 on
bitration lines.
he pattern that appears on the arbitration lines is the logical-OR of 0100 and 01
hich is 0110.
his pattern is the same as the device ID of B, and hence B has won the arbitratio
Buses
Processor, main memory, and I/O devices are
interconnected by means of a bus.
Bus provides a communication path for the
transfer of data.
 Bus also includes lines to support interrupts and arbitration.

A bus protocol is the set of rules that govern

the behavior of various devices connected to
the bus, as to when to place information on
the bus, when to assert control signals, etc.
Buses (contd..)
Bus lines may be grouped into three types:
 Data
 Address
 Control

Control signals specify:

 Whether it is a read or a write operation.
 Required size of the data, when several operand sizes (byte, word,
long word) are possible.
 Timing information to indicate when the processor and I/O devices
may place data or receive data from the bus.
Schemes for timing of data transfers over a bus
can be classified into:
 Synchronous,
 Asynchronous.
Synchronous bus

Bus clock

Bus cycle
 Time
Bus clock

Address and
command

Data

t0 t1 t2

Bus cycle
Master places the
device address and Addressed slave places
command on the bus, data on the data lines Master “strobes” the data
and indicates that on the data lines into its
it is a Read operation. input buffer, for a Read
operation.
n case of a Write operation, the master places the data on the bus along with th
ddress and commands at time t0.
he slave strobes the data into its input buffer at time t 2.
Synchronous bus (contd..)
Once the master places the device address and
command on the bus, it takes time for this
information to propagate to the devices:
 This time depends on the physical and electrical characteristics of the
bus.
Also, all the devices have to be given enough time
to decode the address and control signals, so that
the addressed slave can place data on the bus.
Width of the pulse t1 - t0 depends on:
 Maximum propagation delay between two devices connected to the
bus.
 Time taken by all the devices to decode the address and control
signals, so that the addressed slave can respond at time t1.
Synchronous bus (contd..)
At the end of the clock cycle, at time t2, the
master strobes the data on the data lines into its
input buffer if it’s a Read operation.
 “Strobe” means to capture the values of the data and store them
into a buffer.
When data are to be loaded into a storage buffer
register, the data should be available for a
period longer than the setup time of the device.
Width of the pulse t2 - t1 should be longer than:
 Maximum propagation time of the bus plus
 Set up time of the input buffer register of the master.
 Time
Address & Bus clock
command Data reaches
Seen by
appear on the master t AM the master.
bus. Address and
command

Data
Address & t DM
command reach
Seen by slave
the slave. tAS
Address and Data appears
command on the bus.

Data
tDS

t0 t1 t
2
nals do not appear on the bus as soon as they are placed on the bus, due to the
pagation delay in the interface circuits.
nals reach the devices after a propagation delay which depends on the
racteristics of the bus.
a must remain on the bus for some time after t2 equal to the hold time of the bu
Synchronous bus (contd..)
Data transfer has to be completed within one
clock cycle.
 Clock period t2 - t0 must be such that the longest propagation
delay on the bus and the slowest device interface must be
accommodated.
 Forces all the devices to operate at the speed of the slowest
device.
Processor just assumes that the data are
available at t2 in case of a Read operation, or
are read by the device in case of a Write
operation.
 What if the device is actually failed, and never really responded?
Synchronous bus (contd..)
Most buses have control signals to represent
a response from the slave.
Control signals serve two purposes:
 Inform the master that the slave has recognized the address,
and is ready to participate in a data transfer operation.
 Enable to adjust the duration of the data transfer operation
based on the speed of the participating slaves.
High-frequency bus clock is used:
 Data transfer spans several clock cycles instead of just one
clock cycle as in the earlier case.
 Address & command Time
requesting a Read
operation appear on 1 2 3 4
the bus.
Clock

Address

Command
Master strobes data
into the input buffer.
Data

Slave-ready

Slave places the data on the bus, Clock changes are seen by all the devices
and asserts Slave-ready signal. at the same time.
Asynchronous bus
Data transfers on the bus is controlled by a
handshake between the master and the slave.
Common clock in the synchronous bus case is
replaced by two timing control lines:
 Master-ready,
 Slave-ready.

Master-ready signal is asserted by the master to

indicate to the slave that it is ready to participate
in a data transfer.
Slave-ready signal is asserted by the slave in
response to the master-ready from the master,
and it indicates to the master that the slave is
ready to participate in a data transfer.
Asynchronous bus (contd..)
Data transfer using the handshake protocol:
 Master places the address and command information on the
bus.
 Asserts the Master-ready signal to indicate to the slaves that
the address and command information has been placed on the
bus.
 All devices on the bus decode the address.
 Address slave performs the required operation, and informs
the processor it has done so by asserting the Slave-ready
signal.
 Master removes all the signals from the bus, once Slave-ready
is asserted.
 If the operation is a Read operation, Master also strobes the
data into its input buffer.
 Time
Address
and command

Master-ready

Slave-ready

Data

t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5

Bus cycle
t0 - Master places the address and command information on the bus.
t1 - Master asserts the Master-ready signal. Master-ready signal is asserted
at t1 instead of t0
t2 - Addressed slave places the data on the bus and asserts the Slave-ready
signal.
t3 - Slave-ready signal arrives at the master.
t4 - Master removes the address and command information.
Asynchronous vs. Synchronous bus
Advantages of asynchronous bus:
 Eliminates the need for synchronization between the sender
and the receiver.
 Can accommodate varying delays automatically, using the

Slave-ready signal.
Disadvantages of asynchronous bus:
 Data transfer rate with full handshake is limited by two-round
trip delays.
 Data transfers using a synchronous bus involves only one
round trip delay, and hence a synchronous bus can achieve
faster rates.
Interface circuits
I/O interface consists of the circuitry required to
connect an I/O device to a computer bus.
Side of the interface which connects to the
computer has bus signals for:
 Address,
 Data
 Control
Side of the interface which connects to the I/O
device has:
 Datapath and associated controls to transfer data between the
interface and the I/O device.
 This side is called as a “port”.
Ports can be classified into two:
 Parallel port,
 Serial port.
Interface circuits (contd..)
Parallel port transfers data in the form of a
number of bits, normally 8 or 16 to or from
the device.
Serial port transfers and receives data one
bit at a time.
Processor communicates with the bus in the
same way, whether it is a parallel port or a
serial port.
 Conversion from the parallel to serial and vice versa takes
place inside the interface circuit.
 Data

Address
DATAIN Data
Encoder
R /W and Keyboard
Processor SIN
debouncing switches
Master-ready circuit
Valid
Input
Slave-ready
interface

•Keyboard is connected to a processor using a parallel port.

•Processor is 32-bits and uses memory-mapped I/O and the asynchronous bus
protocol.
•On the processor side of the interface we have:
- Data lines.
- Address lines
- Control or R/W line.
- Master-ready signal and
- Slave-ready signal.
 Data

Address
DATAIN Data
Encoder
R /W and Keyboard
Processor SIN
debouncing switches
Master-ready circuit
Valid
Input
Slave-ready
interface

On the keyboard side of the interface:

- Encoder circuit which generates a code for the key pressed.
- Debouncing circuit which eliminates the effect of a key bounce (a single key
stroke may appear as multiple events to a processor).
- Data lines contain the code for the key.
- Valid line changes from 0 to 1 when the key is pressed. This causes the code
be loaded into DATAIN and SIN to be set to 1.
 •Output lines of DATAIN are
are connected to the data lines of
the bus by means of 3 state drivers
•Drivers are turned on when the
processor issues a read signal and
the address selects this register.

•SIN signal is generated using a status flag circuit

•It is connected to line D0 of the processor bus
using a three-state driver.
•Address decoder selects the input interface based
on bits A1 through A31.
•Bit A0 determines whether the status or data
register is to be read, when Master-ready is
active.
•In response, the processor activates the Slave-rea
signal, when either the Read-status or Read-data
is equal to 1, which depends on line A0.
 Data

Address DATAOUT Data

Processor
CPU R /W SOUT Printer
Valid
Master-ready
Output Idle
Slave-ready interface

•Printer is connected to a processor using a parallel port.

•Processor is 32 bits, uses memory-mapped I/O and asynchronous bus protocol.
•On the processor side:
- Data lines.
- Address lines
- Control or R/W line.
- Master-ready signal and
- Slave-ready signal.
 Data

Address DATAOUT Data

Processor
CPU R /W SOUT Printer
Valid
Master-ready
Output Idle
Slave-ready interface

n the printer side:

- Idle signal line which the printer asserts when it is ready to accept a charac
This causes the SOUT flag to be set to 1.
- Processor places a new character into a DATAOUT register.
- Valid signal, asserted by the interface circuit when it places a new characte
on the data lines.
•Data lines of the processor bus
are connected to the DATAOUT
register of the interface.
•The status flag SOUT is connected
to the data line D1 using a three-stat
driver.
•The three-state driver is turned on,
when the control Read-status line is
1.
•Address decoder selects the output
interface using address lines A1
through A31.
•Address line A0 determines whethe
the data is to be loaded into the
DATAOUT register or status flag is
to be read.
•If the Load-data line is 1, then the
Valid line is set to 1.
•If the Idle line is 1, then the status
flag SOUT is set to 1.
 Bus
D7 PA7

DATAIN
D1
D0 PA0

SIN
•Combined I/O interface circuit.
Input
status
•Address
CA bits A2 through A31, that is
30 bits are used to select the overall
PB7
interface.
DATAOUT •Address bits A1 through A0, that is, 2
bits
PB0 select one of the three registers,
SOUT
namely,
CB1
DATAIN, DATAOUT, and
Handshake
control
theCB2status register.
Slave-
Ready 1
•Status register contains the flags SIN an
SOUT in bits 0 and 1.
•Data lines PA0 through PA7 connect the
Master- input device to the DATAIN register.
Ready
R/ W
•DATAOUT register connects the data
A31 lines on the processor bus to lines PB0
Address
decoder
My-address
through PB7 which connect to the output
A2 device.
A1
RS1 •Separate input and output data lines for
connection to an I/O device.
RS0
A0
 D7 P7
•Data lines to I/O device are bidirectional.
DATAIN •Data lines P7 through P0 can be used for
D0 bothP0
input, and output.
•In fact, some lines can be used for input &
some for output depending on the pattern
in the Data Direction Register (DDR).
DATAOUT •Processor places an 8-bit pattern into a D
•If a given bit position in the DDR is 1, the
corresponding data line acts as an output
line, otherwise it acts as an input line.
Data
•C1 and C2 control the interaction betwee
Direction the interface circuit and the I/O devices.
Register
•Ready and Accept lines are the handshak
control lines on the processor bus side, an
My-address
are connected to Master-ready & Slave-re
RS2 •Input signal My-address is connected to t
C1
RS1
Register Status output of an address decoder.
RS0 and
R/W
select control •Three register select lines that allow up t
Ready registers
C2 to be selected.
Accept

INTR
Serial port
Serial port is used to connect the processor
to I/O devices that require transmission of
data one bit at a time.
Serial port communicates in a bit-serial
fashion on the device side and bit parallel
fashion on the bus side.
 Transformation between the parallel and serial formats is
achieved with shift registers that have parallel access
capability.
 Input shift register Serial
input
•Input shift register accepts input one
at a time from the I/O device.
DATAIN •Once all the 8 bits are received, the
contents of the input shift register are
loaded in parallel into DATAIN register
•Output data in the DATAOUT register
are loaded into the output shift registe
D7 •Bits are shifted out of the output shift
register and sent out to the I/O device
D0 bit at a time.
•As soon as data from the input shift re
My-address DATAOUT are loaded into DATAIN, it can start
RS1 accepting another 8 bits of data.
RS0 •Input shift register and DATAIN regis
Chip and
R /W register Output shift re gister
are
Serialboth used at input so that the inpu

Ready select shift register can start receiving anoth

Accept set of 8 bits from the input device after
loading the contents to DATAIN, before
Receiving clock
Status
the processor reads the contents of
I NTR
and
control
DATAIN. This is called as double-
ransmission clock
T
buffering.
Serial port (contd..)
Serial interfaces require fewer wires, and hence
serial transmission is convenient for connecting
devices that are physically distant from the computer.
Speed of transmission of the data over a serial
interface is known as the “bit rate”.
 Bit rate depends on the nature of the devices connected.

In order to accommodate devices with a range of

speeds, a serial interface must be able to use a range
of clock speeds.
Several standard serial interfaces have been
developed:
 Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) for low-speed
serial devices.
 RS-232-C for connection to communication links.
Standard I/O interfaces
I/O device is connected to a computer using an
interface circuit.
Do we have to design a different interface for
every combination of an I/O device and a
computer?
A practical approach is to develop standard
interfaces and protocols.
A personal computer has:
 A motherboard which houses the processor chip, main memory
and some I/O interfaces.
 A few connectors into which additional interfaces can be plugged.
Processor bus is defined by the signals on the
processor chip.
 Devices which require high-speed connection to the processor are
connected directly to this bus.
Standard I/O interfaces (contd..)
Because of electrical reasons only a few devices
can be connected directly to the processor bus.
Motherboard usually provides another bus that
can support more devices.
 Processor bus and the other bus (called as expansion bus) are
interconnected by a circuit called “bridge”.
 Devices connected to the expansion bus experience a small delay
in data transfers.
Design of a processor bus is closely tied to the
architecture of the processor.
 No uniform standard can be defined.

Expansion bus however can have uniform

standard defined.
Standard I/O interfaces (contd..)
A number of standards have been developed
for the expansion bus.
 Some have evolved by default.
 For example, IBM’s Industry Standard Architecture.

Three widely used bus standards:

 PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)
 SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
 USB (Universal Serial Bus)

76
 Main
Processor
memory
Bridge circuit translates
signals and protocols from
Processor bus
processor bus to PCI bus.

Bridge

PCI bus
Expansion bus on
the motherboard
Additional SCSI Ethernet USB ISA
memory controller Interface controller Interface

SCSI bus
IDE
disk
Video
Disk CD-ROM
controller controller

CD-
Disk 1 Disk 2 ROM K eyboard Game
PCI Bus
 Peripheral Component Interconnect
 Introduced in 1992
 Low-cost bus
 Processor independent
 Plug-and-play capability
 In today’s computers, most memory transfers involve a burst of data
rather than just one word. The PCI is designed primarily to support
this mode of operation.
 The bus supports three independent address spaces: memory, I/O,
and configuration.
 we assumed that the master maintains the address information on
the bus until data transfer is completed. But, the address is needed
only long enough for the slave to be selected. Thus, the address is
needed on the bus for one clock cycle only, freeing the address lines
to be used for sending data in subsequent clock cycles. The result is
a significant cost reduction.
 A master is called an initiator in PCI terminology. The addressed
device that responds to read and write commands is called a target.
Data transfer signals on the PCI bus.

Name F
unction

CLK A 33-MHz or 66-MHz clock.

FRAME# Sent by the initiator to indicate the duration of a

transaction.

AD 32address/data lines, which may beoptionally

increased to 64.

C/BE# command/byte-enable
4 lines (8 for a 64-bit bus).

IRD Y#, TRD Y# Initiator-ready and Target-readysignals.

DEVSEL# A response from the device indicating that it has

recognized its address and is ready for a data
transfertransaction.

IDSEL# Initialization Device Select.

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

CLK

Frame#

AD Adress #1 #2 #3 #4

C/BE# Cmnd Byte enable

IRDY#

TRD Y#

DEVSEL#

A read operation on the PCI bus

Device Configuration
 When an I/O device is connected to a computer, several actions
are needed to configure both the device and the software that
communicates with it.
 PCI incorporates in each I/O device interface a small
configuration ROM memory that stores information about that
device.
 The configuration ROMs of all devices are accessible in the
configuration address space. The PCI initialization software
reads these ROMs and determines whether the device is a
printer, a keyboard, an Ethernet interface, or a disk controller.
It can further learn bout various device options and
characteristics.
 Devices are assigned addresses during the initialization process.
 This means that during the bus configuration operation, devices
cannot be accessed based on their address, as they have not yet
been assigned one.
 Hence, the configuration address space uses a different
mechanism. Each device has an input signal called Initialization
Device Select, IDSEL#
 Electrical characteristics:
 PCI bus has been defined for operation with either a 5 or 3.3 V
power supply
SCSI Bus
 The acronym SCSI stands for Small Computer System
Interface.
 It refers to a standard bus defined by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) under the
designation X3.131 .
 In the original specifications of the standard, devices
such as disks are connected to a computer via a 50-
wire cable, which can be up to 25 meters in length and
can transfer data at rates up to 5 megabytes/s.
 The SCSI bus standard has undergone many revisions,
and its data transfer capability has increased very
rapidly, almost doubling every two years.
 SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 have been defined, and each has
several options.
 Because of various options SCSI connector may have 50,
68 or 80 pins.
 SCSI Bus (Contd.,)
 Devices connected to the SCSI bus are not part of the address space of
the processor
 The SCSI bus is connected to the processor bus through a SCSI
controller. This controller uses DMA to transfer data packets from the
main memory to the device, or vice versa.
 A packet may contain a block of data, commands from the processor to
the device, or status information about the device.
 A controller connected to a SCSI bus is one of two types – an initiator or
a target.
 An initiator has the ability to select a particular target and to send
commands specifying the operations to be performed. The disk controller
operates as a target. It carries out the commands it receives from the
initiator.
 The initiator establishes a logical connection with the intended target.
 Once this connection has been established, it can be suspended and
restored as needed to transfer commands and bursts of data.
 While a particular connection is suspended, other device can use the bus
to transfer information.
 This ability to overlap data transfer requests is one of the key features of
the SCSI bus that leads to its high performance.
SCSI Bus (Contd.,)
Data transfers on the SCSI bus are always
controlled by the target controller.
To send a command to a target, an initiator
requests control of the bus and, after winning
arbitration, selects the controller it wants to
communicate with and hands control of the
bus over to it.
Then the controller starts a data transfer
operation to receive a command from the
initiator.
SCSI Bus (Contd.,)
 Assume that processor needs to read block of data from a disk
drive and that data are stored in disk sectors that are not
contiguous.
 The processor sends a command to the SCSI controller, which
causes the following sequence of events to take place:
1. The SCSI controller, acting as an initiator, contends for control
of the bus.
2. When the initiator wins the arbitration process, it selects the
target controller and hands over control of the bus to it.
3. The target starts an output operation (from initiator to target);
in response to this, the initiator sends a command specifying the
required read operation.
4. The target, realizing that it first needs to perform a disk seek
operation, sends a message to the initiator indicating that it will
temporarily suspend the connection between them. Then it
releases the bus.
5. The target controller sends a command to the disk drive to move
the read head to the first sector involved in the requested read
operation. Then, it reads the data stored in that sector and
stores them in a data buffer. When it is ready to begin
transferring data to the initiator, the target requests control of
the bus. After it wins arbitration, it reselects the initiator
controller, thus restoring the suspended connection.
SCSI Bus (Contd.,)
6. The target transfers the contents of the data buffer to
the initiator and then suspends the connection again
7. The target controller sends a command to the disk
drive to perform another seek operation. Then, it
transfers the contents of the second disk sector to the
initiator as before. At the end of this transfers, the
logical connection between the two controllers is
terminated.
8. As the initiator controller receives the data, it stores
them into the main memory using the DMA approach.
9. The SCSI controller sends as interrupt to the
processor to inform it that the requested operation
has been completed
Operation of SCSI bus from H/W point of
view
Category Name u
Fnction

Data – DB(0)to Datalines:Carry onebyte ofinformation

– DB(7) duringtheinformationtransferphase and
identify deviceduringarbitration,
selectionand
reselection phases
– DB(P) Paritybitforthedatabus
Phase – BSY Busy:Asserted whenthebus isnotfree

– SEL Selection:Assertedduringselectionand
reselection

Information – C/D Con

trol/Data:Asserted duringtransfer of
type controlinformation(command, status or
message)

– MSG Message:indicates thattheinformation being

transferred is amessage

Table 4. The SCSI bus signals.

 Table 4. The SCSI bus signals.(cont.)

Category Name u
Fnction

Handshake – REQ Request:Assertedby atargettorequestadata

transfercycle

– ACK Ackno
wledge:Assertedbytheinitiatorwhenit
hascompletedadatatransfer operation

Direction of – I/O Input/Output:

Assertedtoindicateaninput
transfer op e to theinitiator)
eration(relativ

Other – ATN Attention:Assertedby aninitiatorwhenit

wishestosendamessageto atarget

– RST Reset:Causesalldevicecontrols todisconnect

fromthebusandassumetheirstart-up
state
Main Phases involved
 Arbitration
 A controller requests the bus by asserting BSY and by
asserting it’s associated data line
 When BSY becomes active, all controllers that are
requesting bus examine data lines
 Selection
 Controller that won arbitration selects target by asserting
SEL and data line of target. After that initiator releases
BSY line.
 Target responds by asserting BSY line
 Target controller will have control on the bus from then
 Information Transfer
 Handshaking signals are used between initiator and target
 At the end target releases BSY line
 Reselection
 Targets examine ID

DB 2

DB 5

DB 6

BS Y

S EL

Free Arbitration Selection

Figure 42. Arbitration and selection on the SCSI bus.

Device 6 wins arbitration and selects device 2.
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry
standard developed through a collaborative
effort of several computer and communication
companies, including Compaq, Hewlett-
Packard, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, Nortel
Networks, and Philips.
Speed
 Low-speed(1.5 Mb/s)
 Full-speed(12 Mb/s)
 High-speed(480 Mb/s)

Port Limitation
Device Characteristics
Plug-and-play
Universal Serial Bus tree structure

Host computer

Root
hub

Hub Hub

Hub I/O I/O I/O I/O

de vice de vice de vice de vice

I/O I/O
de vice de vice
Universal Serial Bus tree structure
 To accommodate a large number of devices that can be added
or removed at any time, the USB has the tree structure as
shown in the figure.
 Each node of the tree has a device called a hub, which acts as
an intermediate control point between the host and the I/O
devices. At the root of the tree, a root hub connects the entire
tree to the host computer. The leaves of the tree are the I/O
devices being served (for example, keyboard, Internet
connection, speaker, or digital TV)
 In normal operation, a hub copies a message that it receives
from its upstream connection to all its downstream ports. As a
result, a message sent by the host computer is broadcast to all
I/O devices, but only the addressed device will respond to that
message. However, a message from an I/O device is sent only
upstream towards the root of the tree and is not seen by other
devices. Hence, the USB enables the host to communicate
with the I/O devices, but it does not enable these devices to
communicate with each other.
 Addressing
 When a USB is connected to a host computer, its root hub is attached
to the processor bus, where it appears as a single device. The host
software communicates with individual devices attached to the USB
by sending packets of information, which the root hub forwards to
the appropriate device in the USB tree.
 Each device on the USB, whether it is a hub or an I/O device, is
assigned a 7-bit address. This address is local to the USB tree and is
not related in any way to the addresses used on the processor bus.
 A hub may have any number of devices or other hubs connected to it,
and addresses are assigned arbitrarily. When a device is first
connected to a hub, or when it is powered on, it has the address 0.
The hardware of the hub to which this device is connected is capable
of detecting that the device has been connected, and it records this
fact as part of its own status information. Periodically, the host polls
each hub to collect status information and learn about new devices
that may have been added or disconnected.
 When the host is informed that a new device has been connected, it
uses a sequence of commands to send a reset signal on the
corresponding hub port, read information from the device about its
capabilities, send configuration information to the device, and assign
the device a unique USB address. Once this sequence is completed
the device begins normal operation and responds only to the new
address.
USB Protocols
 All information transferred over the USB is organized in
packets, where a packet consists of one or more bytes of
information. There are many types of packets that perform a
variety of control functions.
 The information transferred on the USB can be divided into two
broad categories: control and data.
 Control packets perform such tasks as addressing a device to
initiate data transfer, acknowledging that data have been
received correctly, or indicating an error.
 Data packets carry information that is delivered to a device.
 A packet consists of one or more fields containing different
kinds of information. The first field of any packet is called the
packet identifier, PID, which identifies the type of that packet.
 They are transmitted twice. The first time they are sent with
their true values, and the second time with each bit
complemented
 The four PID bits identify one of 16 different packet types.
Some control packets, such as ACK (Acknowledge), consist only
of the PID byte.
 PID0 PID1 PID2 PID3 PID0 PID1 PID2 PID3

(a) Packet identifier field

Bits 8 7 4 5
Control packets used for
PID ADDR ENDP CRC16 controlling data transfer
operations are called
token packets.
(b) Token packet, IN or OUT

Bits 8 0 to 8192 16

PID DATA CRC16

(c) Data packet

Figure 45. USB packet format.

 Host Hub I/O Device

Token
Data0

ACK
Time
Token
Data0

ACK

Token
Data1
Figure: An output
transfer
ACK

Token
Data1

ACK
Isochronous Traffic on USB
 One of the key objectives of the USB is to support the transfer
of isochronous data.
 Devices that generates or receives isochronous data require a
time reference to control the sampling process.
 To provide this reference. Transmission over the USB is divided
into frames of equal length.
 A frame is 1ms long for low-and full-speed data.
 The root hub generates a Start of Frame control packet (SOF)
precisely once every 1 ms to mark the beginning of a new
frame.
 The arrival of an SOF packet at any device constitutes a regular
clock signal that the device can use for its own purposes.
 To assist devices that may need longer periods of time, the SOF
packet carries an 11-bit frame number.
 Following each SOF packet, the host carries out input and
output transfers for isochronous devices.
 This means that each device will have an opportunity for an
input or output transfer once every 1 ms.
Electrical Characteristics
The cables used for USB connections consist of four
wires.
Two are used to carry power, +5V and Ground.
 Thus, a hub or an I/O device may be powered directly
from the bus, or it may have its own external power
connection.
The other two wires are used to carry data.
Different signaling schemes are used for different
speeds of transmission.
 At low speed, 1s and 0s are transmitted by sending a
high voltage state (5V) on one or the other o the two
signal wires. For high-speed links, differential
transmission is used.