*04 Electronics (160-187).

qxd 2/2/07 12:23 pm Page 177

Counting circuits 1
Key words
1 Binary up-counter
binary code
D C B A bistable
clocked logic

S Q S Q S Q S Q

Clock Clock Clock Clock Counting circuits

● Electronic counters consist of bistables
R Q R Q R Q R Q connected so that they toggle when
pulses to be counted are applied to
their clock input.
● Counting is done in binary code using
2 Counting table for binary-up counter
only 0 and 1. 0 and 1 correspond to
Pulse number D C B A Pulse number D C B A the low and high states of binary
output.
0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 9 1 0 0 1 1 Binary up-counter
● In an up counter the count increases
2 0 0 1 0 10 1 0 1 0
by one for each clock pulse.
3 0 0 1 1 11 1 0 1 1 ● The Q output of each clocked bistable

4 0 1 0 0 12 1 1 0 0 becomes the clock input of the next.

5 0 1 0 1 13 1 1 0 1 2 Counting table for

6 0 1 1 0 14 1 1 1 0 binary-up counter
● The total count at any time is given by
7 0 1 1 1 15 1 1 1 1 the states of:
D C B A
23 22 21 20
3 Binary-down counter
8 4 2 1
D C B A
●A counter with four clocked bistables
S Q S Q S Q S Q can count up to 1111 in binary (15 in
base 10).
Clock Clock Clock Clock
3 Binary-down counter
R Q R Q R Q R Q ● In a down counter the count
decreases by one for each clock pulse.

4 Dual decade counter

● The output of a binary counter is a
4 Dual decade counter sequence of 0s and 1s representing a
binary counter seven segment decoder and display number. This is decoded and different
combinations of segments are turned
A A A A on and off to represent each number.

B B B B
Clock Clock
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C C C C
D D D D
Reset Reset