ACS134

DIGITAL & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

LECTURE 7
Gate-level minimisation
 2

Recap
• More logic gates
• NAND
• NOR
• XOR
• XNOR
 3

Outline
• Karnaugh maps
• Two- and three-variable maps
• Minimisation rules
• Application of Karnaugh maps (e.g. One-bit adder)
• Four and Five-variable Karnaugh maps
 4
Karnaugh maps

• Boolean expressions may be simplified by algebraic

means
• However, this procedure lacks specific rules to predict each
succeeding step
• Alternate way: Karnaugh map or K-map
• Easy to convert between truth table, K-map and SOP
• number of 1’s in K-map equals number of minterms (products) in SOP

F = Σ(m0,m1) = x’y’ + x’y

y x y F
y y
x 0 1 x 0 1 0 0 1
0 x’y’ x’y 0 1 1 0 1 1

x 1 xy’ 1 1 0 0
xy 0 0
1 1 0
 5
Karnaugh maps
Two- and Three-variable maps

• Two-variable map: y
y
x 0 1
m0 m1 0 x’y’ x’y

m2 m3 x 1 xy’ xy

• Three-variable map:
y
yz
x 00 01 11 10
m0 m1 m3 m2 0 x’y’z’ x’y’z x’yz x’yz’

m4 m5 m7 m6 x 1 xy’z’ xy’z xyz xyz’

z
 6
Karnaugh maps

• A Karnaugh map is a graphical tool for assisting the

general simplification procedure

• Two-variable map:

B0 1 B0 1
A A
00 1 F=AB +A’B 00 1 F=AB +AB +AB 
11 0 11 1
• Three-variable map:
A B C F
BC 0 0 0 0
00 01 11 10 0 0 1 1
A 0 1 0 1
00 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
11 1 1 1 1
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
1 1 0 1
F=AB’C’ +AB C +ABC +ABC  + A’B’C + A’BC’ +
1 1 1 1
 7
Karnaugh maps
Rules for K-maps
• We can reduce functions by circling 1’s in the K-map
• Each circle represents minterm reduction
• Following circling, we can deduce minimised AND-OR
form.

Rules to consider:
• Every cell containing a 1 must be included at least once.
• The largest possible “power of 2 rectangle” must be
enclosed.
• The 1’s must be enclosed in the smallest possible number
of rectangles.
 8
Karnaugh maps

B0 1 B0 1
A A
00 1 00 1 F=AB +AB +AB 
F=AB +A’B
11 0 11 1
F=A+B

BC
00 01 11 10
A
00 1 0 1
F=AB’C’ +AB C +ABC +ABC  + A’B’C + A’BC’
11 1 1 1

F=A+B C +BC 
 9
Karnaugh maps

Simplify the Boolean function:

F(A,B,C)=Σ(0,1,2,4,6)

BC
00 01 11 10
A
01 1 0 1
11 0 0 1

F=A’B  +C 
 Application of Karnaugh Maps:10
The One-bit Adder
Cin
A B Cin S Cout
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 0
A 0 1 0 1 0
Adder S 0 1 1 0 1
B 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
Cout +

S = A’B’Cin + A’BCin’ + AB’Cin’ + ABCin

Cout = A’BCin + A B’Cin + ABCin’ + ABCin
= A’BCin + ABCin + AB’Cin + ABCin + ABCin’ + ABCin
= (A’ + A)BCin + (B’ + B)ACin + (Cin’ + Cin)AB
= 1·BCin + 1· ACin + 1· AB
= BCin + ACin + AB

How can we use a Karnaugh Map instead of algebraic simplification?

 Application of Karnaugh Maps:
The One-bit Adder

Cin A B Cin S Cout

0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 0
A 0 1 0 1 0
Adder S 0 1 1 0 1
B 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
Cout
+

BCin
00 01 11 10
A
00 1 0 1
11 0 1 0

S = A’B’Cin + A’BCin’ + AB’Cin’ + ABCin

 Application of Karnaugh Maps:
The One-bit Adder

Cin A B Cin S Cout

0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1 0
A 0 1 0 1 0
Adder S 0 1 1 0 1
B 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
Cout
+

BCin
00 01 11 10
A
00 0 1 0
10 1 1 1

Cout = BCin + ACin + AB

 Application of Karnaugh Maps:13
The One-bit Adder
Implementation

A
S

Cin

Cout
 Four-variable Karnaugh map

• Boolean functions with 4 inputs

• Rows and columns are numbered in a Gray code sequence
(only one digit changes between adjacent rows/columns)
• Same rules apply for minimisation
 Four-variable Karnaugh map

Simplify the Boolean function:

F(A,B,C,D)=Σ(0,1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,12,13)

CD
00 01 11 10
AB
00 1 1 0 1
01 1 1 1 1
11 1 1 0 0
10 1 1 0 0

F=C’+A’B+A’D
’
 Four-variable Karnaugh map

Simplify the Boolean function:

F=A’B’C’+B’CD’+AB’C’+A’BC’D

0000 1000 CD
00 01 11 10
A’B’C’ AB’C’ AB
0001 1001 00 1 1 0 1
01 0 1 0 0
0010 11 0 0 0 0
B’CD’ A’BC’D 0101 10 1 1 0 1
1010
F=B’C’+B’D’+A’C’D
Can we arrive at the same result using Boolean
algebra?
 Five-variable Karnaugh map

• Five variables: A, B, C, D, E
• A five-variable map requires 32 squares
• Use 2 four-variable maps for B, C, D, E: one corresponding
to A=0 and one to A=1:

A=0 A=1
D D
DE DE
BC 00 01 11 10 BC 00 01 11 10
00 m0 m1 m3 m2 00 m16 m17 m19 m18

01 m4 m5 m7 m6 01 m20 m21 m23 m22

C C
11 m12 m13 m15 m14 11 m28 m29 m31 m30
B B
10 m8 m9 m11 m10 10 m24 m25 m27 m26

E E
 Five-variable Karnaugh map

Simplify the Boolean function:

F(A,B,C,D,E)=Σ(0,2,4,6,9,13,21,23,25,29,31)

A=0 A=1
DE DE
00 01 11 10 00 01 11 10
BC BC
00 1 0 0 1 00 0 0 0 0
01 1 0 0 1 01 0 1 1 0
11 0 1 0 0 11 0 1 1 0
10 0 1 0 0 10 0 1 0 0

F=A’B’E’+ACE+A’BD’E+ABD’E =A’B’E’+ACE+BD’E
Private Study

• Review the slides

• Mano, Ciletti, Digital Design:
• Read Chapter 3: Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and
3.4
 Summary 20

• Karnaugh maps
• Two- and three-variable maps
• Minimisation rules
• Application of Karnaugh maps (e.g. One-bit adder)
• Four-variable Karnaugh map
• Five-variable Karnaugh map
• Typically simplifying a Boolean expression up to 3
variables can be easily done by applying known
identities. From 3 to 6 variables, K-maps are used. More
than 6-variables, simplification can be done using CAD
packages eg VHDL.