Horia Cucu

Speech & Dialogue Research Laboratory

Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest

1.1 Definitions

Block Diagram of a Microcomputer

A microcomputer is a general purpose device that can be programmed
to carry out a set of arithmetic and/or logical operations.

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Functional Components
CPU: the hardware block which processes data and

controls the system

Memory: the hardware block which stores data in a

sequence of memory locations

I/O devices: hardware blocks that form the interface

between the microcomputer and the external world

Busses: the connections between the above blocks
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The von Neumann Principles

Both data and instructions are stored in the memory
The contents of the memory is accessed by location
The microprocessor is the CPU of the microcomputer; its role is

to process data and control the system

The instructions are fetched from the memory and executed

sequentially by the CPU

I/O ports are used to communicate with other devices

The three hardware blocks are interconnected by the system bus

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The Memory Basic Principles

Memory sequence of memory locations used to store info

Each memory location:

stores an 8-bit number, a byte of data
is identified by a unique number, called address
The memory is accessed and organized by the CPU only
The CPU can choose to create logical subdivisions within the
memory (called pages or segments)

The memory map all memory locations that can be

addressed by the CPU (not necessarily implemented)

The size of the memory map performance criterion
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The Memory A Closer Look

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The Memory A Closer Look

The size of the memory is directly linked with the address

size through the following equation:

memorySize 2addressSize[bits ]
Example 1:
using an address of 2 bits, one can form 4 different addresses:

00, 01, 10, and 11, for up to 4 different memory locations

consequently, a memory with an address of 2 bits will
comprise 4 memory locations (4 bytes).

Example 2:
using a 20-bit address, one can form 220 different addresses,
corresponding to 220 different memory locations
consequently, a memory with a 20-bit address will comprise
220 memory locations (1 MB).
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The Memory Contents Significance

This could be a 16-bit result

This could be an instruction

These could be the first two elements in

an array of 8-bit numbers
The significance of the information is given by the programmer.
The memory doesnt know the significance of the information it stores!
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Input/Output Devices
I/O Devices hardware blocks that form the interface

between the microcomputer and the external world

I/O Devices can be regarded as a set of I/O Ports
Each I/O port can be used to:
send an 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit number to an external device
receive an 8-bit/16-bit/32-bit number from an external device
is identified by a unique number, called port address

The ports map all ports that can be addressed by the CPU

(not necessarily implemented)

The size of the ports map performance criterion
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The System Bus

Bus set of physical connections that link several hardware

blocks; these connections are used for information transfer

The CPU, Memory and I/O Devices are connected through

a unique System Bus with three components:

A bidirectional Data Bus

Transfers data (operands, results, etc.) and instructions

An unidirectional Address Bus

Through this bus the CPU sends addresses to the Memory and
I/O Devices

A bidirectional Control Bus

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Transfers command and control signals from/to the CPU

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The Software Component

The microcomputer is executing instructions organized in

computer programs, namely the software

Two main categories:
The Operating System: set of programs which facilitate the
users access to the systems resources
User Software: set of programs specifically created by the user
to achieve a certain task

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Summary

The CPU: executes instructions (processes data) and controls the system
The Memory: stores both the data and the instructions
The I/O Devices: interconnect the microcomputer with the outside world

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1.2 Information Representation in Computer Systems

Information Representation in
Computer Systems
Information is stored using electronic circuits, called flip-

flops (or bistables), that have two stable states: on/off

The state of a bistable can be used to represent a bit (i.e.

binary digit: 0, 1) or a boolean value (true, false)

Data types with more than two possible values are stored

using sequences of bits:

Byte (B) a sequence of 8 bits: can store max 28 (256) values
Word (w) a sequence of 16 bits: can store max 216 values

Double word (dw) 32 bits: can store max 232 values

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The binary, decimal

and hexadecimal bases
Any sequence of bits can also be represented as:
a decimal number (number in base 10)

can be written as a sequence of decimal digits (0, 1, , 9)

a hexadecimal number (number in base 16)

can be written as a sequence of hexadecimal digits (0, 1, , 9, A,

B, C, D, E and F)

Hexadecimal numbers representation conventions:

the h suffix: 1A44h
the 0x prefix: 0x1A44
binary

decimal

Conversion algorithms
hex
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Numbers representation
Unsigned (positive) integer numbers
Natural binary representation
Signed integer numbers
Sign & magnitude representation
1s complement representation
2s complement representation
Signed real numbers
Fixed point representation
Floating point representation
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Integer numbers representation

Decimal
value

Sign and magnitude

1s complement

2s complement

natural binary: 00000101

natural binary: 00000101

natural binary: 00000101

-5

natural binary: 00000101

flip the sign bit: 10000101

natural binary: 00000101

flip all bits: 11111010

natural binary: 00000101

flip all bits: 11111010
add 1: 11111011

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natural binary: 00001100

natural binary: 00001100

natural binary: 00001100

-12

natural binary: 00001100

flip the sign bit: 10001100

natural binary: 00001100

flip all bits: 11110011

natural binary: 00001100

flip all bits: 11110011
add 1: 11110100

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Real numbers representation

Fixed point representation
A fixed sequence of bits is used to represent decimal part

Twos complement representation

A fixed sequence of bits is used to represent the fractional part

Natural binary representation

Floating point representation

A fixed sequence of bits is used to represent the mantissa

Twos complement representation

A fixed sequence of bits is used to represent the exponent

Natural binary representation

Example: real number = mantissa 2exponent

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Characters representation
Coding

conventions:
ASCII

UTF-8
UTF-16

Unicode

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Programs representation
Instructions are represented using sequences of bytes;
Some processors have fixed-size instructions
8086 has variable-size instructions (1-6 bytes)
The instruction codes
are formed of several fields:

one field representing the instruction type

none, one or several fields representing data
none, one or several fields representing addresses

are associated with mnemonics (to be used in programming)

Example: add AX, 8017h

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Microprocessor Architectures

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