COMPUTER ORGANIZATION

AND
ARCHITECTURE
[CS301]

ASSIGNMENT ON:

Intrasystem communication
And
Input/output
TOPICS:

1. Peripheral Devices
2. Input-Output Controller and I/O driver
3. IDE for hard disk
4. I/O port and Bus concept
5. Bus cycle
6. Synchronous and asynchronous transfer
7. Interrupt handling in PC
8. Parallel Port
9. RS – 232 interface
10. Serial port in PC
11. Serial I/O interface
12. Universal serial bus IEEE 1394
13. Bus Arbitration Techniques
14. Uni-bus and multi-bus architectures EISA Bus
15. VESA Bus
1. Peripheral Devices
Devices that are under the direct control of the computer are said to be connected on-line. These
devices are designed to read information into or out of the memory unit upon command from the
CPU and are considered to be part of the total computer system. Input or output devices attached
to the computer are also called peripherals. Among the most common peripherals are keyboards,
display units, and printers. Peripherals that provide auxiliary storage for the system are magnetic
disks and tapes. Peripherals are electromechanical and electromagnetic devices of some
complexity.

2. Controller and I/O driver

I/O controllers are a series of microchips which help in the communication of data between the
central processing unit and the motherboard. The main purpose of this system is to help in the
interaction of peripheral devices with the control units (CUs). The I/O controller helps in the
connection and control of various peripheral devices, which are input and output devices. I/O
controllers are also known as channel I/O, DMA controllers, peripheral processors or I/O
processors. An input output driver is a particular form of software application that is designed to
enable interaction with hardware devices. Without the required device driver, the corresponding
hardware device fails to work. An input output driver usually communicates with the hardware
by means of the communications subsystem or computer bus to which the hardware is
connected. Device drivers are operating system-specific and hardware-dependent.

3. IDE for hard disk

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) is a standard interface for connecting a motherboard to

storage devices such as hard drives and CD-ROM/DVD drives. The original IDE had a 16-bit
interface that connected two devices to a single-ribbon cable. This cost-effective IDE device
carried its own circuitry and included an integrated disk drive controller. Prior to IDE, controllers
were separate external devices. IDE’s development increased data transfer rate (DTR) speed and
reduced storage device and controller issues. IDE is also known as Advanced Technology
Attachment (ATA) or intelligent drive electronics (IDE).

4. I/O port and Bus concept

I/0 bus consists of data lines, address lines, and control lines. The I/O bus from the processor is
attached to all peripheral interfaces. To communicate with a particular device, the processor
places a device address on the address lines. Each interface attached to the 1/0 bus contains an
address decoder that monitors the address lines. When the interface detects its own address, it
activates the path between the bus lines and the device that it controls. All peripherals whose
address does not correspond to the address in the bus are disabled by their interface.
5. Bus Cycle
The bus cycle is the cycle or time required to make a single read or write transaction between the
CPU and the external memory. It is something to which multiple devices for data
communication, power, control signals, interrupt signals, and possibly others. Those devices
must coordinate with the computer as well as each other to use that bus (if the bus has multiple
devices attached). The bus, and the computer it’s connected to have clocks that control the
communication on the bus. Often the bus’s clock is based off of the computers clock (often some
fraction of the computer clock).

6. Synchronous and asynchronous transfer

In Synchronous Transfer, data is sent in form of blocks or frames. This transmission is the full
duplex type. Between sender and receiver the synchronization is compulsory. In Synchronous
transmission, There is no gap present between data. It is more efficient and more reliable than
asynchronous transmission to transfer the large amount of data. Synchronous transmission is
costly.

In Asynchronous Transmission, data is sent in form of byte or character. This transmission is the
half duplex type transmission. In this transmission start bits and stop bits are added with data. It
does not require synchronization. Asynchronous transmission is slow and economical.

7. Interrupt handling in PC
An interrupt refers to an external event that needs immediate attention from the processor. An
interrupt signals the processor, indicating the need of attention, and requires interruption of the
current code the processor is executing. As a response, the processor suspends its current
activities, saves its state and executes a particular function to service the event that has caused
the interruption. Such function is often called an interrupt handler or an interrupt service routine.
Once the processor has responded to the interrupt, i.e. after the processor has executed the
interrupt handler, the processor resumes its previously saved state and resumes the execution of
the same program it was executing before the interrupt occurred. The interrupts are often caused
by external devices that communicate with the processor (Interrupt-driven I/O).

8. Parallel Port

A parallel port transfers data in the form of a number of bits (8 or 16) simultaneously to or from
the device. In parallel port, the connection between the device and the computer uses a multiple-
pin connector and a cable with as many wires. This arrangement is suitable for devices that are
physically close to the computer. A socket on a computer used to connect a printer or other
device via a parallel interface.

9. RS – 232 interface

RS-232C is the interface that your computer uses to talk to and exchange data with your modem
and other serial devices. RS-232C is the interface between your Communication networks and
other communication networks. RS-232 devices are both data terminal equipment (DTE)
and data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE). Computer terminals are usually equipped with
male connectors with DTE pin functions, while modems have female connectors with DCE pin
functions. Although the standard specifies twenty different signal connections, most devices use
only a few of these signals, enabling the smaller 9-pin (DB9) connectors to be used.

10. Serial port in PC,

A serial port is used to connect the processor to I/O devices that require transmission of data one
bit at a time. The key feature of an interface circuit for a serial port is that it is capable of
communicating in a bit-serial fashion on the device side and in a bit parallel fashion on the bus
side. The transformation between the parallel and serial formats is achieved with shift registers
that have parallel access capability. These communication links are used to resolve the
differences between CPU and peripheral.

11. Serial I/O interface

The method that is used to transfer information between internal storage and external I/O devices
is known as I/O interface. Serial communication may be asynchronous, where the data characters
include start and stop bits to delimit the data, or synchronous, where such additional bits are
omitted and the delimiting of the data depends purely on timing. SIO was a relatively slow mode,
but advances in silicon technology means that very fast SIO (hundreds of megabits per second)
now make SIO a very cost-effective alternative to parallel interfaces.

12. Universal serial bus IEEE 1394

The USB has been designed to meet several key objectives. Provide a simple, low-cost, and easy
to use interconnection system that overcomes the difficulties due to the limited number of I/O
ports available on a computer. Accommodate a wide range of data transfer characteristics for I/O
devices, including telephone and Internet connections. Enhance user convenience through a
“plug-and-play” mode of operation.
To accommodate a large number of devices that can be added or removed at any time, the USB
has the tree structure. Each node of the tree has a device called a hub, which acts as an
intermediate control point between the host and the I/O device. At the root of the tree, a root hub
connects the entire tree to the host computer.

13. Bus Arbitration Techniques

A conflict may arise if both the processor and a DMA controller or two DMA controllers try to
use the bus at the same time to access the main memory. To resolve this problem, an arbitration
procedure on bus is needed. The device that is allowed to initiate data transfer on the bus at any
given time is called the bus master. When the current master relinquishes control of the bus,
another device can acquire this status. Bus arbitration is the process by which the next device to
become the bus master take into account the needs of various devices by establishing a priority
system for gaining access to the bus. There are two approaches to bus arbitration: Centralized
and distributed. In centralized arbitration, a single bus arbiter performs the required arbitration.
In distributed arbitration, all devices participate in the selection of the next bus master.

14. Uni-bus and multi-bus architectures EISA Bus

Uni-bus architecture, all components including the central processing unit, memory and
peripherals share a common bus. When many devices need the bus at the same time, this creates
a state of conflict called bus contention; some wait for the bus while another has control of it.
The waiting wastes time, slowing the computer down.
Multiple buses permit several devices to work simultaneously, reducing time spent waiting and
improving the computer's speed. Performance improvements are the main reason for having
multiple buses in a computer design. Multibus is an asynchronous bus that accommodates
devices with various transfer rates while maintaining maximum throughput. It had 20 address
lines so it could address up to 1 Mb of Multibus memory and 1 Mb of I/O locations. Most
Multibus I/O devices only decoded the first 64 Kb of address space.

15. VESA Bus.

VESA Local Bus (Video Electronics Standards Association) is a standard interface between your
computer and its expansion slot that provides faster data flow between the devices controlled by
the expansion cards and your computer's microprocessor. A "local bus" is a physical path on
which data flows at almost the speed of the microprocessor, increasing total system performance.
VESA Local Bus is particularly effective in systems with advanced video cards and supports 32-
bit data flow at 50 MHz .A VESA Local Bus is implemented by adding a supplemental slot and
card that aligns with and augments an Industry Standard Architecture expansion card.