Control unit

The control unit (CU) is a component of a

computer's central processing unit (CPU)
that directs the operation of the processor.
It tells the computer's memory, arithmetic
and logic unit and input and output
devices how to respond to the instructions
that have been sent to the processor.[1]
It directs the operation of the other units
by providing timing and control signals.
Most computer resources are managed by
the CU. It directs the flow of data between
the CPU and the other devices. John von
Neumann included the control unit as part
of the von Neumann architecture.[2] In
modern computer designs, the control unit
is typically an internal part of the CPU with
its overall role and operation unchanged
since its introduction.[3]

Functions of the control unit

The Control unit (CU) is digital circuitry
contained within the processor that
coordinates the sequence of data
movements into, out of, and between a
processor's many sub-units. The result of
these routed data movements through
various digital circuits (sub-units) within
the processor produces the manipulated
data expected by a software instruction
(loaded earlier, likely from memory). It
controls (conducts) data flow inside the
processor and additionally provides
several external control signals to the rest
of the computer to further direct data and
instructions to/from processor external
destinations (i.e. memory).

Examples of devices that require a CU are

CPUs and graphics processing units
(GPUs). The CU receives external
instructions or commands which it
converts into a sequence of control
signals that the CU applies to the data
path to implement a sequence of register-
transfer level operations.[4]

More precisely, the Control Unit (CU) is

generally a sizable collection of complex
digital circuitry interconnecting and
directing the many execution units (i.e.
ALU, data buffers, registers) contained
within a CPU. The CU is normally the first
CPU unit to accept from an externally
stored computer program a single
instruction (based on the CPU's instruction
set). The CU then decodes this individual
instruction into several sequential steps
(fetching addresses/data from
registers/memory, managing execution
([i.e. data sent to the ALU or I/O]), and
storing the resulting data back into
registers/memory) that controls and
coordinates the CPU's inner works to
properly manipulate the data. The design
of these sequential steps is based on the
needs of each instruction and can range in
number of steps, the order of execution,
and which units are enabled.

Thus by only using a program of set

instructions in memory, the CU will
configure all the CPU's data flows as
needed to manipulate the data correctly
between instructions. This results in a
computer that could run a complete
program and require no human
intervention to make hardware changes
between instructions (as had to be done
when using only punch cards for
computations before stored programmed
computers with CUs were invented). These
detailed steps from the CU dictate which
of the CPU's interconnecting hardware
control signals to enable/disable or which
CPU units are selected/de-selected and
the unit's proper order of execution as
required by the instruction's operation to
produce the desired manipulated data.
Additionally, the CU's orderly hardware
coordination properly sequences these
control signals, then configures the many
hardware units comprising the CPU,
directing how data should also be moved,
changed, and stored outside the CPU (i.e.
memory) according to the instruction's
objective.

Depending on the type of instruction

entering the CU, the order and number of
sequential steps produced by the CU could
vary the selection and configuration of
which parts of the CPU's hardware are
utilized to achieve the instruction's
objective (mainly moving, storing, and
modifying data within the CPU). This one
feature, that efficiently uses just software
instructions to control/select/configure a
computer's CPU hardware (via the CU) and
eventually manipulates a program's data,
is a significant reason most modern
computers are flexible and universal when
running various programs. As compared to
some 1930s or 1940s computers without
a proper CU, they often required rewiring
their hardware when changing programs.
This CU instruction decode process is then
repeated when the Program Counter is
incremented to the next stored program
address and the new instruction enters the
CU from that address, and so on until the
programs end.

Other more advanced forms of Control

Units manage the translation of
instructions (but not the data containing
portion) into several micro-instructions
and the CU manages the scheduling of the
micro-instructions between the selected
execution units to which the data is then
channeled and changed according to the
execution unit's function (i.e., ALU
contains several functions). On some
processors, the Control Unit may be
further broken down into additional units,
such as an instruction unit or scheduling
unit to handle scheduling, or a retirement
unit to deal with results coming from the
instruction pipeline. Again, the Control Unit
orchestrates the main functions of the
CPU: carrying out stored instructions in the
software program, then directing the flow
of data throughout the computer based
upon these instructions (roughly likened to
how traffic lights will systematically
control the flow of cars [containing data]
to different locations within the traffic grid
(CPU), until it parks at the desired parking
spot [memory address/register]. The car
occupants [data] then go into the building
[execution unit] and come back changed in
some way, then get back into the car and
return to another location via the
controlled traffic grid).

Hardwired control unit

Hardwired control units are implemented
through use of combinational logic units,
featuring a finite number of gates that can
generate specific results based on the
instructions that were used to invoke
those responses. Hardwired control units
are generally faster than the
microprogrammed designs.[5]

Their design uses a fixed architecture—it

requires changes in the wiring if the
instruction set is modified or changed.
This architecture is preferred in reduced
instruction set computers (RISC) as they
use a simpler instruction set.

A controller that uses this approach can

operate at high speed; however, it has little
flexibility, and the complexity of the
instruction set it can implement is limited.
The hardwired approach has become less
popular as computers have evolved.
Previously, control units for CPUs used ad-
hoc logic, and they were difficult to
design.[6]

[1]

Microprogram control unit

The idea of microprogramming was
introduced by Maurice Wilkes in 1951 as
an intermediate level to execute computer
program instructions. Microprograms were
organized as a sequence of
microinstructions and stored in special
control memory. The algorithm for the
microprogram control unit, unlike the
hardwired control unit, is usually specified
by flowchart description.[7] The main
advantage of the microprogram control
unit is the simplicity of its structure.
Outputs of the controller are organized in
microinstructions and they can be easily
replaced.[8]

See also
CPU design
Computer architecture
 Richards controller
Controller (computing)

References
1. Patterson, David; Hennessy, John
(2011). Computer Organization and
Design: The Hardware/Software
Interface, 4th ed., revised. Morgan
Kaufmann. ISBN 978-0-12-374750-1.
2. von Neumann, John (1945), First Draft
of a Report on the EDVAC (PDF),
Moore School of Electrical
Engineering, University of
 Pennsylvania, archived from the
original (PDF) on March 14, 2013
3. Astha Singh. "Computer Organization -
Control Unit and design" .
GeeksforGeeks. Retrieved 25 May
2019.
4. Englander, Irv (2009). The Architecture
of Computer Hardware, Systems
Software, & Networking, 4th Ed.
Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
5. "MICRO-PROGRAMMED VERSUS
HARDWIRED CONTROL UNITS;" .
www.cs.binghamton.edu. Archived
 from the original on 2017-04-30.
Retrieved 2017-02-17.
6. Williams, R. D.; Klenke, R. H.; Aylor, J.
H. (May 2003). "Teaching computer
design using virtual prototyping" . IEEE
Transactions on Education. 46 (2):
296–301.
doi:10.1109/te.2002.808278 .
ISSN 0018-9359 . Archived from the
original on 2018-01-06.
7. Barkalov, Alexander (2009). Logic
synthesis for FSM based control units
/ Alexander Barkalov and Larysa
 Titarenko. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-
642-04308-6.
8. Wiśniewski, Remigiusz (2009).
Synthesis of compositional
microprogram control units for
programmable devices. Zielona Góra:
University of Zielona Góra. p. 153.
ISBN 978-83-7481-293-1.

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