UNIT – IV

Basic Processing Unit

Overview
 Instruction Set Processor (ISP)
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)

 A typical computing task consists of a series

of steps specified by a sequence of machine

instructions that constitute a program.
 An instruction is executed by carrying out a

sequence of more rudimentary operations.

Some Fundamental
Concepts
Fundamental Concepts
 Processor fetches one instruction at a time and
perform the operation specified.
 Instructions are fetched from successive memory
locations until a branch or a jump instruction is
encountered.
 Processor keeps track of the address of the memory
location containing the next instruction to be fetched
using Program Counter (PC).
 Instruction Register (IR)
Executing an Instruction
 Fetch the contents of the memory location pointed
to by the PC. The contents of this location are
loaded into the IR (fetch phase).
IR ← [[PC]]
 Assuming that the memory is byte addressable,
increment the contents of the PC by 4 (fetch phase).
PC ← [PC] + 4
 Carry out the actions specified by the instruction in
the IR (execution phase).
Processor Organization Internal processor
bus
Control signals

PC

Instruction
Address
decoder and
lines
MDR HAS MAR control logic
TWO INPUTS Memory
AND TWO bus
OUTPUTS MDR
Data
lines IR

Datapath
Y
Constant 4 R0

Select MUX

Add
A B
ALU Sub R n - 1 
control ALU
lines
Carry-in
XOR TEMP

Z
Textbook Page 413

Figure 7.1. Single-bus organization of the datapath inside a processor.

Internal organization of the
processor
 ALU
 Registers for temporary storage
 Various digital circuits for executing different micro
operations.(gates, MUX,decoders,counters).
 Internal path for movement of data between ALU
and registers.
 Driver circuits for transmitting signals to external
units.
 Receiver circuits for incoming signals from external
units.
 PC:
 Keeps track of execution of a program
 Contains the memory address of the next instruction to be
fetched and executed.
MAR:
 Holds the address of the location to be accessed.
 I/P of MAR is connected to Internal bus and an O/p to external
bus.
MDR:
 Contains data to be written into or read out of the addressed
location.
 It has 2 inputs and 2 Outputs.
 Data can be loaded into MDR either from memory bus or from
internal processor bus.
The data and address lines are connected to the internal bus via
MDR and MAR
Registers:
 The processor registers R0 to Rn-1 vary considerably from
one processor to another.
 Registers are provided for general purpose used by

programmer.
 Special purpose registers-index & stack registers.

 Registers Y,Z &TEMP are temporary registers used by

processor during the execution of some instruction.
Multiplexer:
 Select either the output of the register Y or a constant value 4

to be provided as input A of the ALU.

 Constant 4 is used by the processor to increment the contents

of PC.
ALU:
Used to perform arithmetic and logical
operation.
Data Path:
The registers, ALU and interconnecting bus are
collectively referred to as the data path.
Register Transfers Riin
Internal processor
bus

Ri

Riout

Yin

Constant 4

Select MUX

A B
ALU

Zin

Z out

Figure 7.2. Input and output gating for the registers in Figure 7.1.
 The input and output gates for register Ri are
controlled by signals isRin and Riout .
R Is set to1 – data available on common bus
in
are loaded into Ri.
R
iout Is set to1 – the contents of register are
placed on the bus.
R
iout Is set to 0 – the bus can be used for
transferring data from other registers .
Data transfer between two
registers:
EX:
Transfer the contents of R1 to R4.
1. Enable output of register R1 by setting
R1out=1. This places the contents of R1 on
the processor bus.
2. Enable input of register R4 by setting
R4in=1. This loads the data from the
processor bus into register R4.
Architecture Riin
Internal processor
bus

Ri

Riout

Yin

Constant 4

Select MUX

A B
ALU

Zin

Z out

Figure 7.2. Input and output gating for the registers in Figure 7.1.
Register Transfers
 All operations and data transfers are controlled by the processor clock.
Bus

D Q
1
Q
Riout

Ri in
Clock

Figure 7.3.
Figure 7.3.Input
Inputand
andoutput
output gating
gating for one register
register bit.
bit.
Performing an Arithmetic or
Logic Operation
 The ALU is a combinational circuit that has no
internal storage.
 ALU gets the two operands from MUX and bus.
The result is temporarily stored in register Z.
 What is the sequence of operations to add the
contents of register R1 to those of R2 and store the
result in R3?
1. R1out, Yin
2. R2out, SelectY, Add, Zin
3. Zout, R3in
Step 1: Output of the register R1 and input of
the register Y are enabled, causing the
contents of R1 to be transferred to Y.
Step 2: The multiplexer’s select signal is set to
select Y causing the multiplexer to gate the
contents of register Y to input A of the ALU.
Step 3: The contents of Z are transferred to the
destination register R3.
Fetching a Word from Memory
 Address into MAR; issue Read operation; data into MDR.

Figure: Connection and control signals for register MDR.

3.Fetching a Word from
Memory
 The response time of each memory access varies
(cache miss, memory-mapped I/O,…).
 To accommodate this, the processor waits until it
receives an indication that the requested operation
has been completed (Memory-Function-Completed,
MFC).
 Move (R1), R2
 MAR ← [R1]
 Start a Read operation on the memory bus
 Wait for the MFC response from the memory
 Load MDR from the memory bus
 R2 ← [MDR]
 Step 1 2 3

Timing Clock

MARin

Assume MAR Address

is always available
on the address lines
Read
of the memory bus.
MR

MDRinE
 Move (R1), R2
1. R1out, MARin, Read Data

2. MDRinE, WMFC
MFC
3. MDRout, R2in
MDR out

Figure 7.5. Timing of a memory Read operation.

4.Storing a word in memory
 Address is loaded into MAR
 Data to be written loaded into MDR.

 Write command is issued.

 Example:Move R2,(R1)

R1out,MARin
R2out,MDRin,Write
MDRoutE, WMFC
Execution of a Complete
Instruction
 Add (R3), R1
 Fetch the instruction

 Fetch the first operand (the contents of the

memory location pointed to by R3)

 Perform the addition

 Load the result into R1

 Execution of a Complete
Instruction Internal processor
bus

Add (R3), R1 Control signals

PC
Step Action
Instruction
Address
decoder and
lines
1 PC out , MAR in , Read, Select4,Add, Zin MAR control logic

Memory
2 Zout , PC in , Y in , WMF C bus

3 MDRout , IR in Data
MDR
lines IR
4 R3out , MAR in , Read
5 R1out , Y in , WMF C Y
Constant 4 R0
6 MDRout , SelectY,Add, Zin
7 Zout , R1in , End Select MUX

Add
A B
ALU Sub R n - 1 
control ALU
lines
Figure7.6. Control sequence
forexecutionof theinstructionAdd (R3),R1.
XOR
Carry-in
TEMP

Figure 7.1. Single-bus organization of the datapath inside a processor.

Execution of Branch
Instructions
A branch instruction replaces the contents of
PC with the branch target address, which is
usually obtained by adding an offset X given
in the branch instruction.
 The offset X is usually the difference between

the branch target address and the address

immediately following the branch instruction.
 UnConditional branch
Execution of Branch
Instructions

StepAction

1 PCout , MAR in , Read,Select4,Add, Zin

2 Zout, PCin , Yin, WMF C
3 MDRout , IR in
4 Offset-field-of-IR
out, Add, Zin

5 Zout, PCin , End

Figure 7.7. Control sequence for an unconditional branch instruction.

Exercise Internal processor
bus
Control signals

 What is the control PC

sequence for
Instruction
Address
decoder and
lines
MAR control logic

execution of the Memory

bus

instruction Data
lines
MDR
IR

Add R1, R2 Constant 4

Y
R0

including the Select MUX

instruction fetch Add

A B

phase? (Assume ALU Sub R n - 1 

control ALU
lines
Carry-in

single bus XOR TEMP

architecture)
Z

Figure 7.1. Single-bus organization of the datapath inside a processor.

Hardwired Control
Overview
 To execute instructions, the processor must
have some means of generating the control
signals needed in the proper sequence.
 Two categories: hardwired control and

microprogrammed control
 Hardwired system can operate at high speed;

but with little flexibility.

Control Unit Organization
CLK Control step
Clock counter

External
inputs
Decoder/
IR
encoder
Condition
codes

Control signals

Figure 7.10. Control unit organization.

Detailed Block Description
CLK
Clock Control step Reset
counter

Step decoder

T 1 T2 Tn

INS 1
External
INS 2 inputs
Instruction
IR Encoder
decoder
Condition
codes
INSm

Run End

Control signals

Figure 7.11. Separation of the decoding and encoding functions.

Generating Zin
 Zin = T1 + T6 • ADD + T4 • BR + …
Branch Add

T4 T6

T1

Figure 7.12. Generation of the Zin control signal for the processor in Figure 7.1.
Generating End
 End = T7 • ADD + T5 • BR + (T5 • N + T4 • N) • BRN +…
Branch<0
Add Branch
N N

T7 T5 T4 T5

End

Figure 7.13. Generation of the End control signal.

A Complete Processor
Instruction Integer Floating-point
unit unit unit

Instruction Data
cache cache

Bus interface
Processor

System bus

Main Input/
memory Output

Figure 7.14. Block diagram of a complete processor.

Microprogrammed
Control
Microprogrammed Control
 Control signals are generated by a program similar to machine
language programs.
 Control Word (CW); microroutine; microinstruction : Textbook page430

MDRout

WMFC
MAR in

Select
PCout

R1out

R3out
Micro -

Read
PCin

R1 in
Z out
Add

End
IRin
Yin
instruction

Zin
1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1

Figure 7.15 An example of microinstructions for Figure 7.6.

Overview
Textbook page 421
Step Action

1 PC out , MAR in , Read, Select4,Add, Zin

2 Zout , PC in , Y in , WMF C
3 MDRout , IR in
4 R3out , MAR in , Read
5 R1out , Y in , WMF C
6 MDRout , SelectY,Add, Zin
7 Zout , R1in , End

Figure7.6. Control sequence

forexecutionof theinstructionAdd (R3),R1.
Basic organization of a
microprogrammed control unit
 Control store
Starting
IR address
generator One function
cannot be carried
out by this simple
organization.

Clock P C

Control
store CW

Figure 7.16. Basic organization of a microprogrammed control unit.

Conditional branch
 The previous organization cannot handle the situation when the control
unit is required to check the status of the condition codes or external
inputs to choose between alternative courses of action.
 Use conditional branch microinstruction.
Address
Microinstruction

0 PCout , MAR in , Read,Select4,Add, Zin

1 Zout , PCin , Yin , WMF C
2 MDRout , IRin
3 Branchtostartingaddress ofappropriate microroutine
. ... .. ... ... .. ... .. ... ... .. ... ... .. ... .. ... ... .. ... .. ... ... .. ... ..
25 If N=0, thenbranchtomicroinstruction
0
26 Offset-field-of-IR
out , SelectY,Add, Zin

27 Zout , PCin , End

Figure 7.17. Microroutine for the instruction Branch<0.

Microprogrammed Control
External
inputs

Starting and
branch address Condition
IR codes
generator

Clock  PC

Control
store CW

Figure 7.18. Organization of the control unit to allow

conditional branching in the microprogram.
Microinstructions
A straightforward way to structure
microinstructions is to assign one bit position
to each control signal.
 However, this is very inefficient.
 The length can be reduced: most signals are
not needed simultaneously, and many
signals are mutually exclusive.
 All mutually exclusive signals are placed in
the same group in binary coding.
Partial Format for the
Microinstructions
Microinstruction

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5

F1 (4 bits) F2 (3 bits) F3 (3 bits) F4 (4 bits) F5 (2 bits)

0000: No transfer 000: No transfer 000: No transfer 0000: Add 00: No action
0001: PCout 001: PCin 001: MARin 0001: Sub 01: Read
0010: MDRout 010: IRin 010: MDRin 10: Write
0011: Zout 011: Zin 011: TEMPin
0100: R0out 100: R0in 100: Yin 1111: XOR
0101: R1out 101: R1in
0110: R2out 110: R2in 16 ALU
functions
0111: R3out 111: R3 in
1010: TEMPout
1011: Offsetout

F6 F7 F8
What is the price paid for
this scheme?
F6 (1 bit) F7 (1 bit) F8 (1 bit)
Require a little more hardware
0: SelectY 0: No action 0: Continue
1: Select4 1: WMFC 1: End

Figure 7.19. An example of a partial format for field-encoded microinstructions.

Further Improvement
 Enumerate the patterns of required signals in
all possible microinstructions. Each
meaningful combination of active control
signals can then be assigned a distinct code.
 Vertical organization
Textbook page 434
 Horizontal organization
Microprogram Sequencing
 If all microprograms require only straightforward
sequential execution of microinstructions except for
branches, letting a μPC governs the sequencing
would be efficient.
 However, two disadvantages:
 Having a separate microroutine for each machine instruction results
in a large total number of microinstructions and a large control store.
 Longer execution time because it takes more time to carry out the
required branches.
 Example: Add src, Rdst
 Four addressing modes: register, autoincrement,
autodecrement, and indexed (with indirect forms).
Refrences
 Computer Organization By Carl Hamacher,
Zvonko Vranesic, Safwat Zaky, fifth Edition,
McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007-120411-3