CHAPTER 1

THE COMPUTER SYSTEM

 1.1.1 Define computer
architecture and computer
organization.
 Computer Architecture

• It is concerned with structure and behaviour

of computer as seen by the user. It includes
the information formats, the instruction set,
and techniques for addressing modes.

• It is also concerned about specification of a

various functional modules such as processors
and memories and structuring them together
into a computer system.
 Computer Organisation

• It is concerned with the way the hardware

components operate and the way they are
connected together to form the computer
system.

• The various components are assumed to be in

place and the task is to investigate the
organisational structure to verify that the
computer parts operate.
 Computer Architecture vs Computer Organisation

Computer Architecture Computer Organisation

It includes emphasises on logical
design, computer design and the
system design
It is concerned with the structure and Concerned with the way the
behaviour of a computer as seen by
the user
It includes emphasis on the system
components, circuit design, logical
design, structure of instructions,
computer arithmetic, processor
control, assembly language
programming and methods of
performance enhancement
hardware components operate and
the way they are connected together
to form the computer system
 Basic Concepts of Computer Architecture

5 major operations performed by a computer

system:
i.Input
ii.Storage
iii.Processing
iv.Output
v.Control (operation inside the computer)
Basic Concepts of Computer Architecture
 5 major operations of computer system

• The input operation recognizes input from the

keyboard or mouse.
• The processing operation manipulates data
according to the user’s instructions.
• The output operation sends output to the
video screen or printer.
• The storage operation keeps track of files
for use later. Examples of storage devices
include flash memory and hard drives.
 3 Basic Computer Functional Units

• ALU – Arithmetic and Logic Unit

performs all arithmetic and logic calculations on the data it
receives

• CU – Control Unit
interprets the instructions in memory and causes them to be
executed.

• CPU – Central Processing Unit

the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions
of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical,
logical, and input/output operations of the system
Diagram of functional units in computer system
 1.1.2 Describe the concept of
interconnection within a computer
system as follows :
a. Interconnection structures
b. Bus interconnection
 a. Interconnection Structures
• A computer consists of a set of components
(CPU,memory,I/O) that communicate with
each other.
• The collection of paths connecting the various
modules is called the interconnection
structure.
• The design of this structure will depend on the
exchange that must be made between
modules.
 Type of transfers
• Memory to CPU
• CPU to Memory
• I/O to CPU
• CPU to I/O
• I/O to or from Memory
 b. Bus Interconnection
• A bus is a communication pathway connecting
two or more device.
• A key characteristic of a bus is that it is a
shared transmission medium.
• A bus consists of multiple pathways or lines.
• Each line is capable of transmitting signal
representing binary digit (1 or 0)
 Continue…
• A sequence of bits can be transmitted across a
single line.
• Several lines can be used to transmit bits
simultaneously (in parallel).
• A bus that connects major components
(CPU,Memory,I/O) is called System Bus.
• The most common computer interconnection
structures are based on the use of one or
more system buses.
 Bus Structure
• A system bus consists of 50-100 lines.
• Each line is assigned a particular meaning or
function.
• On any bus the lines can be classified into 3
groups:-
a)Data lines
b)Address lines
c) Control lines
 Data Lines
• Provide a path for moving data between system
modules.
• These lines, collectively, are called the data bus
• The data bus typically consists of 8,16 or 32
separate lines, the numbers of lines being
transferred to as the width of the data bus.
• Each line carry only 1 bit at a time, the number of
lines determines how many bits can be
transferred at a time - overall system
performance.
 Address Lines
• Used to designate the source or destination of
the data on the data bus.
• The width of the address bus determines the
maximum possible memory capacity of the
system.
 Control Lines
• Used to control the access to and the use of the data and address
lines.
• Typical control lines include:
-Memory write
-Memory read
-I/O write
-I/O read
-Clock
-Reset
-Bus request
-Bus grant
-Interrupt request
-Interrupt ACK
-Transfer ACK
Figure 12: Bus Interconnection
Scheme
 The operation of the bus
• If one module wishes to send data
-obtain the use of the bus
-transfer data via the bus
• If one module wishes to request data
-obtain the use of the bus
-transfer request to the other module over the
control and address lines, then wait for that
second module to send the data.
 1.2 Understand the
concept of cache memory
 The concept of cache memory

The cache is used for storing segments of

programs currently being executed in the CPU
and temporary data frequently needed in the
present calculation.

By making the programs and data available at a

rapid rate, it is possible to increase the
performance rate of the computer.

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 The concept of cache memory

cache is a high-speed access

area that can be a reserved
section of main memory or on
a storage device.

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Cache Memory

A special very-high-speed memory called a

cache, is used to increase the speed of processing
by making current programs and data available
to the CPU at a rapid rate.

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Memory Organization in a computer system
Auxiliary Memory

Magnetic
Tapes
I/O Main
Processor Memory
Magnetic
Tapes

Cache
CPU
Memory

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Memory cache is a portion of the high-speed
SRAM (static random access memory) and is
effective because most programs access the same
data or instructions repeatedly.

By keeping as much of this information as possible

in SRAM, the computer avoids accessing the
slower DRAM, making the computer perform faster
and more efficiently.

Today, most computers come with L3 cache or L2

cache, while older computers included only L1
cache.
Level 1 caching is also referred to
as L1 cache, primary cache, internal
cache, or system cache. With
computer processors, L1 cache is cache
 built into the processor that is the
fastest and most expensive cache in the
computer.

The L1 cache stores the most critical

files that need to be executed and is the
first thing the processor looks when
performing an instruction.
Short for Level 2 cache, L2 cache, secondary
cache, or external cache, L2 is specialized,
high-performance computer memory located on
the die of the CPU. Unlike Layer 1 cache, L2
cache was located on the motherboard on earlier
computers, although with newer processors it is
found on the processor chip. It is located closer
to the CPU, and therefore has lower latency, than
the L3 cache.
 The die or processor die is a rectangular
pattern on a wafer that contains circuitry to
perform a specific function. For example,
the picture to the right shows hundreds of
dies on the silicon wafer. After the dies
have been finished, the wafer is cut and
made into chips.
L2 cache was first introduced with the Intel
 Pentium and Pentium Pro computers and
included with every subsequent processor,
except some versions of the Celeron
 processor.

This cache is not as fast as the L1 cache, but

is only slightly slower since it is still located
on the same processor chip, and is still
faster than the computers memory.

The L2 cache is the second thing the

computer looks at when performing
instructions.
L3 cache is cache memory located on the die of
the CPU. The picture of the Intel Core i7-3960X
processor die is an example of a processor chip
containing six CPU cores and shared L3 cache. As
depicted, the L3 cache is shared between all CPU
cores and is very large in comparison to what an L1
or L2 cache would be on the same chip because it is
less expensive, albeit slower.
1.3: Input / Output
in computer system
 Definition
• The input/output is a subsystem of the
computer, referred to as I/O, provides
an efficient mode of communication
between the central system and the
outside environment.
• Input devices are usually but not always
character input devices such as the
mouse or keyboard. They can also
include stream devices like a disk. 35
 Input/Output (I/O) Devices
INPUT OUTPUT
Keyboard Monitor
Mouse Printer
Trackballs Audio Card
Touchpads Plotters
Pointing Sticks LCD Projection Panels
Joysticks Computer Output Microfilm
Pen Input Facsimile (FAX)
Touch Screen Speakers
Light Pen
Scanner
Video Cards
Graphics Tablet
Microphone
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Serial & parallel I/O

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 I/O bus
• I/O buses connect the CPU to all other components,
except RAM. Data are moved on the buses from one
component to another, and data from other
components to the CPU and RAM.
• The I/O buses differ from the system bus in speed.
Their speed will always be lower than the system bus
speed. Over the years, different I/O buses have been
developed.
• As mentioned earlier, I/O buses are really extensions
to the system bus. On the motherboard, the system
bus ends in a controller chip, which forms a bridge to
the I/O buses. 38
Examples of I/O Bus

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 I/O Interface
• Input-output interface provides a method for
transferring information between internal
storage and external I/O devices.
• Peripherals connected to a computer need
special communication links for interfacing
them with the central processing unit.
• The purpose of the communication link is to
resolve the differences that exist between the
central computer and each peripheral.

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 There are 2 types of interfaces:

• Parallel interface
• Serial interface

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 Parallel interface
• there are multiple lines connecting
the I/O module and the peripheral,
and multiple bits are transferred
simultaneously that is all the bits of a
word are transferred simultaneously
over the data bus.
• A parallel Interface is commonly
used for higher-speed peripherals.
Like tape and disk where as serial is
used for printer and terminals 42
 Serial interface
• In serial interface there is only one
line used to transmit data and bits
are transmitted one at a time.

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Examples of I/O Interface

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 I/O Module Diagram
Data
Processor Address
Control

Interface Interface Interface Interface

Keyboard Magnetic disk Magnetic

and display Printer tape
terminal

• The I/O bus from the processor is attached to all peripheral

interfaces. To communicate with a particular device, the
processor place a device address to the address line. Each
Interface attached to the I/O bus contains an address
decoder that monitors the address line.
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1.4: Input/Output (I/O) data
transfer

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 Asynchronous Serial Transfer

• The transfer of data between 2 units may be

done in parallel or serial. 
• In parallel data transmission, total message is
transmitted at the same time.
• In serial data transmission, each bit in the
message is sent in sequence one at a time.
• In asynchronous transmission, binary
information is sent only when it is available
and the line remains idle when there is no
information to be transmitted.
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• Asynchronous serial transmission is
character oriented.
• Each character transmitter consists of a start
bit, character bits, and stop bits.
• The first bit is called the start bit. It is always
a 0 and is used to indicate the beginning of a
character.
• The last bit called the stop bit is always a 1.
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Motivational Quote

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Isolated I/O versus Memory Mapped
I/O
• The isolated I/O method isolates memory and
I/O address so that memory address values
are not affected by interface address
assignment since each has its own address
space. 
• The memory-mapped I/O configuration is to
use the same address space for both memory
and I/O. This is the case computer employ
only one set of read and write signal and do
not distinguish between and I/O address.
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2. Isolated I/O versus Memory
Mapped I/O (Cont.)
Enter

Issue read or write request to disk

Do other processing, until disk

issues an interrupt
Interrupt causes current processing to stop.

Transfer data between disk and

memory.
Return from interrupt, normal processing resumes.

NO
Done?

YES

Continue
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 I/O Data Transfer Modes
• There are THREE (3) method for
managing input and output:
–Programmed I/O (also known as
polling)
–Interrupt-driven I/O
–Direct Memory Access (DMA)
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 1. Programmed I/O
• In programmed I/O, the CPU polls each device
to see if it needs servicing. Enter

Check status of disk

NO
Disk ready?

YES

Sent data from memory to disk (when

writing) or from disk to memory (when
reading).

NO
Done?

YES

Continue 53
 2. Interrupt-Driven I/O
• Interrupt
- unexpected command that require
immediate attention from the CPU when it is
ready to exchange data(input) or to produce
output.
• Interrupt Request Line(IRQ).
The hardware line use to send the interrupt
signal to cpu.

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 3. Direct Memory Access (DMA)
 A direct memory access (DMA) device can transfer
data directly to and from memory rather than using
the CPU as an intermediary, and can thus relieve
congestion on the system bus.

CPU Memory Disk

without with
DMA DMA

Bus
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Differentiation between synchronous
& asynchronous.

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END OF CHAPTER 1

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