Hello friends, in this article you will know about microprocessors, their basic concepts and discuss components of a Microprocessor.
Contents
Basic Concepts
A microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable, clock-driven, register-based electronic component, fabricated on a single IC (Integrated Circuit) chip capable of performing Arithmetic and Logical Unit (ALU) operations and communicating with the other component connected to it. It is a general-purpose device, which may be applied to a wide range of applications. It reads binary instructions from an input device or primary memory, accepts binary data as input, and processes data according to those instructions, and provides results as output.
In large computer systems such as supercomputers and mainframe computers, processing may be handled by multiple numbers of processors. In the average microcomputer, the entire CPU is a single unit, called a microprocessor.
The first microprocessor called Intel 4004 was developed by American Intel Corporation in 1971.
A microprocessor controls all functions of the CPU of a computer or other digital device. The microprocessor functions as an artificial brain. The system can control everything from small devices such as calculations, electronic door systems of the building, and mobile phones, to large automobiles.
Functions of the Microprocessor
- The microprocessor is responsible to carry out processing instructions in and out (fetch) from the main memory.
- It gives commands to all parts of the computer system.
- It controls the storage of data or instructions.
- It also performs arithmetic calculations such as addition, subtraction.
- Later, the fetched instruction is decoded to determine the type of action that should be performed.
- It will also supervise and control the I/ O devices in addition to execution.
Components of microprocessor
The microprocessor consists of mainly three components:
- Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
- Control Unit (CU)
- Register Array (Set of registers)
Arithmetic and Logic Unit
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication,, division.
- Logical AND, logical OR, logical Exclusive-OR, logical NOT (complement).
- Increment (i.e. addition of 1), decrement (i.e. subtraction of 1).
- Left or right shift (the content of the accumulator can be shifted left or right by one bit).
- Clear (the content of the accumulator or carry flag can be made zero).
- It acts as a gateway between primary memory and secondary storage pass through the ALU.
Control Unit
- It controls and coordinates the sequence of data movements around ALU, registers, memories, input and output devices.
- It analyses and interprets each instruction in the program and sends the relevant control signal to all other devices like an input device, Memory, ALU, and output devices too.
- It fetches an instruction from the memory, decodes and interprets the instruction, and executes the task.
- It issues control signals that control hardware components within the CPU.
- It gives the order to ALU and directs the operation of the whole computer system.
- It provides the status of each and every device connected to a computer to know about its functionality.
- It receives external instructions or commands and generates the sequence of control signals.
Register Array
- Program Counter (PC)
- Memory Address Register (MAR)
- Memory Data Register (MDR)
- Current Instruction Register (CIR)
- Accumulator (ACC)
