Von-Neumann Model

Von-Neumann proposed his computer architecture design in 1945 which was later
known as Von-Neumann Architecture. It consisted of a Control Unit, Arithmetic, and
Logical Memory Unit (ALU), Registers and Inputs/Outputs.

Von Neumann architecture is based on the stored-program computer concept, where

instruction data and program data are stored in the same memory. This design is still
used in most computers produced today.

A Von Neumann-based computer:

o Uses a single processor

o Uses one memory for both instructions and data.
o Executes programs following the fetch-decode-execute cycle

Components of Von-Neumann Model:

o Central Processing Unit

o Buses
o Memory Unit

Central Processing Unit

The part of the Computer that performs the bulk of data processing operations is called
the Central Processing Unit and is referred to as the CPU.

The Central Processing Unit can also be defined as an electric circuit responsible for
executing the instructions of a computer program.

The CPU performs a variety of functions dictated by the type of instructions that are
incorporated in the computer.
 The major components of CPU are Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU), Control Unit (CU)
and a variety of registers.

Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

The Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU) performs the required micro-operations for
executing the instructions. In simple words, ALU allows arithmetic (add, subtract, etc.)
and logic (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) operations to be carried out.

Control Unit

The Control Unit of a computer system controls the operations of components like ALU,
memory and input/output devices.

The Control Unit consists of a program counter that contains the address of the
instructions to be fetched and an instruction register into which instructions are fetched
from memory for execution.

Registers

Registers refer to high-speed storage areas in the CPU. The data processed by the CPU
are fetched from the registers.

What Is A System Bus?

 A bus is a set of electrical wires (lines) that connects the various hardware
components of a computer system.
 It works as a communication pathway through which information flows from one
hardware component to the other hardware component.

A bus that connects major components (CPU, memory

and I/O devices) of a computer system is called as
a System Bus.
 Why Do We Need Bus?

 A computer system is made of different components such as memory, ALU, registers

etc.
 Each component should be able to communicate with other for proper execution of
instructions and information flow.
 If we try to implement a mesh topology among different components, it would be really
expensive.
 So, we use a common component to connect each necessary component i.e. BUS.

Components Of A System Bus-

The system bus consists of three major components-

1. Data Bus
2. Address Bus
3. Control Bus

1) Data Bus-

 As the name suggests, data bus is used for transmitting the data / instruction from
CPU to memory/IO and vice-versa.
 It is bi-directional.

Data Bus Width

 The width of a data bus refers to the number of bits

(electrical wires) that the bus can carry at a time.
 Each line carries 1 bit at a time. So, the number of lines
in data bus determine how many bits can be
transferred parallely.
 The width of data bus is an important parameter
because it determines how much data can be
transmitted at one time.
 The wider the bus width, faster would be the data flow
on the data bus and thus better would be the system
performance.

Examples-
  A 32-bit bus has thirty two (32) wires and thus can
transmit 32 bits of data at a time.
 A 64-bit bus has sixty four (64) wires and thus can
transmit 64 bits of data at a time.


Control Bus-

 As the name suggests, control bus is used to transfer the control and timing signals
from one component to the other component.
 The CPU uses control bus to communicate with the devices that are connected to the
computer system.
 The CPU transmits different types of control signals to the system components.
 It is bi-directional.

What Are Control & Timing Signals?

Control signals are generated in the control unit of CPU.

Timing signals are used to synchronize the memory and I/O operations with a CPU
clock.

Typical control signals hold by control bus-

 Memory read – Data from memory address location to be placed on data bus.
 Memory write – Data from data bus to be placed on memory address location.
 I/O Read – Data from I/O address location to be placed on data bus.
 I/O Write – Data from data bus to be placed on I/O address location.

Other control signals hold by control bus are interrupt, interrupt acknowledge, bus
request, bus grant and several others.
The type of action taking place on the system bus is indicated by these control signals.

Example-

When CPU wants to read or write data, it sends the memory read or memory write
control signal on the control bus to perform the memory read or write operation from the
main memory. Similarly, when the processor wants to read from an I/O device, it
generates the I/O read signal.

3) Address Bus-
 As the name suggests, address bus is used to carry address from CPU to memory/IO
devices.
 It is used to identify the particular location in memory.
 It carries the source or destination address of data i.e. where to store or from where to
retrieve the data.
 It is uni-directional.

Example-

When CPU wants to read or write data, it sends the memory read or memory write
control signal on the control bus to perform the memory read or write operation from the
main memory and the address of the memory location is sent on the address bus.
If CPU wants to read data stored at the memory location (address) 4, the CPU send the
value 4 in binary on the address bus.

Address Bus Width

 The width of address bus determines the amount of

physical memory addressable by the processor.
 In other words, it determines the size of the memory
that the computer can use.
 The wider is the address bus, the more memory a
computer will be able to use.
 The addressing capacity of the system can be
increased by adding more address lines.

Examples-
 An address bus that consists of 16 wires can convey

216 (= 64K) different addresses.

 An address bus that consists of 32 wires can convey

232 (= 4G) different addresse