Lecture # 3

Outline of the Lecture

• Input/output (I/O) and Device Interfacing

INPUT/OUTPUT (I/O) AND DEVICE INTERFACING

In addition to memory, 80x86 microprocessors are able to access I/O ports. Ports are
accessed either to bring data from the port into the CPU (inputting) or to send data from
the CPU to the port (outputting).

Input/Output Instructions in 8086 CPU

The 8086 microprocessor can access information from ports as well as from the
memory. There are two instructions for this purpose “IN” and “OUT”. These
instructions can send data from the accumulator (AX, AL or AH) to ports or receive
data from ports into the accumulator.

Case 1: 8-bit data ports

Inputting Data Outputting Data
Format IN dest,source OUT dest,source
(1) IN AL,port# OUT port#,AL
(2) MOV DX,port# MOV Port#, DX
IN AL,DX OUT DX,AL

In format (1) above, port# is the address of the port, and can be from 00 to FFH. This 8
-bit address allows 256 input ports and 256 output ports. No segment register is
involved in computing the address, in contrast to the data accessed from memory.
In format (2), port# is the address of the port, and can be from 0000 to FFFFH. This 16-
bit address allows 65,536 input ports and 65,536 output ports. No segment register (DS)
is involved.

Ex: Write a sequence of instructions that will output FFH to a byte-wide output
port at the address ABH of the I/O address space?
MOV AL,FFH
OUT ABH,AL

Ex: Write a sequence of instructions that will output FFH to an output port at
the address B000H of the I/O address space?
MOV DX,B000H ;Note that 16-bit address must be in DX
MOV AL,FFH
OUT DX,AL

Ex: Assume that the port address 22H is an input port for monitoring the
temperature. Write Assembly language instructions to monitor the port
continuously for the temperature of 100 degrees. If it reaches 100, then BH should
contain ‘Y’.

BACK: IN AL,22H ;get the temperature data from port# 22H

CMP AL,100 ;is temp =100?
JNZ BACK ;if not, keep monitoring
MOV BH,’Y’ ;temp =100, load ‘Y’ into BH
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Case 2: 16-bit data ports
Inputting Data Outputting Data
Format IN dest,source OUT dest,source
(1) IN AX,port# OUT port#,AX
(2) MOV DX,port# MOV DX,port#
IN AX,DX OUT DX,AX

Ex: Assume that AX=98F6H and the output port address is 47H, then

OUT 47H,AX

 In the above case F6H, the content of AL, goes to port address 47H and 98H, the
content of AH goes into the port address 48H.
 In other words the low byte goes to the low port address, and the high byte goes
to the high byte address.

• Types of Input / Output

Isolated Input / Output

Isolated I/O (also referred as peripheral I/O or direct I/O ) uses dedicated input (IN)
and output (OUT) instructions to transfer data between the I/O device and the
microprocessor. Isolated I/O uses separate map for the I/O space, freeing the entire
memory for use by the program.

Memory-mapped Input / Output

In memory-mapped I/O, a memory location is assigned to be input or output port, so
it uses a portion of memory space for I/O transfers. This reduces the amount of
memory available, but simplifies the hardware. “MOV” instruction is used instead of
“IN” and “OUT” instructions. M6800, M68000 and RISC processors are examples to
this type.

The 8255 programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI)

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 The 8255 PPI chip is designed to permit easy implementation of parallel I/O into the
microcomputer. The 8255 is one of the most widely used I/O chips. It has three
separately accessible ports, A, B, and C. Above all the user can program the individual
ports to be input or output, and change them dynamically.

The block diagram of the 8255 Chip

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 Detailed Block Diagram of 8255 (a), and the Pin layout (b)

• PA0-PA7 (Port A) : This 8-bit port can be programmed all as input or all as
output or all bits asbi-directional input/output.
• PB0-PB7 (Port B) : This 8-bit port can be programmed all as input or all as
output or all bits as bi-directional port.
• PC0-PC7 (Port C) : This 8-bit port can be all input or all output. It can also be
split into two parts:
CU (Upper 4 bits PC4-PC7) and
CL (Lower 4 bits PC0-PC3).
Each can be used for input or output.

• RD & WR: These two active low signals are inputs to the 8255. If the 8255 is
using isolated I/O design, IOR or IOW of the system bus are connected to these
two pins. If the port uses memory-mapped I/O, MEMR and MEMW activate
them.

• RESET: This is an active high signal input to the 8255 used to clear the control
register. When RESET is activated, all ports are initialized as input ports.

• A0, A1, and CS: While CS selects the entire chip, it is A0 and A1 that select
the specific port. A0 and A1 are used to access ports A, B, C, or the control
register according to the table below.

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 A1 A0 Selects:
0 0 Port A
0 1 Port B Table 1:
1 0 Port C
1 1 Control Register

Programming Modes of PPI

1) Mode 0: Simple input or output mode:
ƒ This mode 0 is the basic input output mode. In this mode any ports A,B or
C can be programmed as input or output.
ƒ Note that in this mode a given port cannot be both input or output port
at the same time.
ƒ One major characteristic of port C is that one can program CL (PC0-
PC3) and CU (PC4-PC7) independent of each other.

The Control Register; is used to configure the individual ports as to be in input or

output mode.
The Control Register in Mode 0
D7 D6 D5 D4 D3 D2 D1 D0
1=Mode 0 Mode selection Port A Port C Mode Port B Port C
I/O Mode 00 = Mode 0 1=input (PC7-PC4) Selection 1=input (PC3-PC0)
01 = Mode 1 0=output 1=input 0=Mode 0 0=output 1=input
1X = Mode 2 0=output 1=Mode 1 0=output

The port Addresses for the 8255

Port Address A0 A1
A 300H 00
Note that first two bits of the Address are used for the
B 301H 01
mode selection as shown in the table given above.
C 302H 10
Control Register 303H 11

Ex: Configure 8255 as follows: port A as input, B as output, and all the bits in C as
output. Determine the content of the Control Register and,
Program the ports to input data from A and send it to both B and
C. (Assume the standard port addresses of 8255 given above)

Soln: a) Control register:

1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 = 90H

b) MOV AL,90H ; This control byte is used to initialize the PPI

MOV DX,303H ;get the address of Control Register
OUT DX,AL ;output the Control Byte to the Control register
MOV DX,300H ;get the address of Port A
IN AL,DX ;input data from Port A
MOV DX,301H ;get the address of Port B
OUT DX,AL ;output data to Port B
MOV DX,302H ;get the address of Port C
OUT DX,AL ;output data to Port C

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Ex: Configure the ports of 8255 as follows: port A=input, B=output/ PC0 –PC3=input, and
PC4-PC7=output.
Determine the content of the Control Register and,
Program the 8255 to get data from port A and send it to port B. In addition, input data
from PCL and send out to PCU.

(PCL=Lower 4 bits (nibble) of Port C, PCU;Upper 4 bits(nibble) of

Port C). (Assume the standard port addresses of 8255 given above)

Soln: a) Control register:

1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 = 91H

b) MOV AL,91H ; This control byte is used to initialize the PPI

MOV DX,303H ;get the address of Control Register
OUT DX,AL ;output the Control Byte to the Control register
MOV DX,300H ;get the address of Port A
IN AL,DX ;input data from Port A
MOV DX,301H ;get the address of Port B
OUT DX,AL ;output data to Port B
MOV DX,302H ;get the address of Port C
IN AL,DX ;get the data from Port C
AND AL,0FH ;mask the upper bits
MOV CL,4 ;rotate count =4
ROL AL,CL ;shift the bits to upper position
OUT DX,AL ;output PCL to PCU

2) Mode 1: I/O with handshaking capability:

One of the most powerful features of the 8255 is the ability to handle
handshaking signals. Handshaking refers to the process of communicating back and
forth between two intelligent devices. Printer is a good example for Mode 1
Interfacing.
Port A and B are used for input or output while Port C is used for handshaking signals.

3) Mode 2: Bi-directional I/O with handshaking:

In this mode data is transferred both in and out via the same port with
handshaking capability. Port A is used as a bi-directional port and port C is used for
handshaking signals. Port B can be configured to be in Mode 0 or 1.

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The 8255 programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI)

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