The Von Neumann

Model
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The Stored Program Computer

1943: ENIAC
• Presper Eckert and John Mauchly -- first general electronic computer.
(or was it John V. Atanasoff in 1939?)
• Hard-wired program -- settings of dials and switches.
1944: Beginnings of EDVAC
• among other improvements, includes program stored in memory
1945: John von Neumann
• wrote a report on the stored program concept,
known as the First Draft of a Report on EDVAC
The basic structure proposed in the draft became known
as the “von Neumann machine” (or model).
• a memory, containing instructions and data
• a processing unit, for performing arithmetic and logical operations
• a control unit, for interpreting instructions

For more history, see http://www.maxmon.com/history.htm

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von Neumann Architecture

The von Neumann architecture describes a general
framework, or structure, that a computer's
hardware, programming, and data should follow.
Although other structures for computing have been
devised and implemented,
the vast majority of computers in use today operate
according to the von Neumann architecture.
von Neumann envisioned the structure of a
computer system as being composed of the
following components:

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von Neumann Architecture

ALU: The Arithmetic-Logic unit that performs the
computer's computational and logical functions.
RAM: Memory; more specifically, the computer's main,
or fast, memory, also known as Random Access
Memory (RAM).
Control Unit: This is a component that directs other
components of the computer to perform certain actions,
such as directing the fetching of data or instructions
from memory to be processed by the ALU; and
Man-machine interfaces; i.e. input and output devices,
such as keyboard for input and display monitor for
output.

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Block Diagram of a Digital Computer

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Von Neumann Model

M E M OR Y
M AR M DR

IN P UT OUTP UT
K eyb o a rd M o n ito r
M ouse P R OCE S S IN G UN IT P rin ter
S canner LE D
D is k ALU TE M P D is k

CON TR OL UN IT
PC IR

MAR: Memory Address Register

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MDR: Memory Data Register
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Von Neumann Model

 An example of computer architecture base on the von
Neumann architecture is the desktop personal
computer.
 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
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A Von Neumann-based computer:

Uses a single processor
Uses one memory for both
instructions and data.
Executes programs
following the fetch-decode-
execute cycle
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Memory
2k x m array of stored bits
Address
• unique (k-bit) identifier of location 0000
0001
Contents 0010
0011 00101101
• m-bit value stored in location 0100
0101
0110
•
Basic Operations: •
•
1101 10100010
LOAD 1110
• read a value from a memory location 1111

STORE
• write a value to a memory location

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Interface to Memory
How does processing unit get data to/from memory?
MAR: Memory Address Register
M E M OR Y
MDR: Memory Data Register
M AR M DR
To LOAD a location (A):
1. Write the address (A) into the MAR.
2. Send a “read” signal to the memory.
3. Read the data from MDR.
To STORE a value (X) to a location (A):
1. Write the data (X) to the MDR.
2. Write the address (A) into the MAR.
3. Send a “write” signal to the memory.

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Processing Unit
Functional Units
• ALU = Arithmetic and Logic Unit
• could have many functional units.
some of them special-purpose P R OCE S S IN G UN IT
(multiply, square root, …)
• LC-3 performs ADD, AND, NOT ALU TE M P
Registers
• Small, temporary storage
• Operands and results of functional units
• LC-3 has eight registers (R0, …, R7), each 16 bits wide
Word Size
• number of bits normally processed by ALU in one instruction
• also width of registers
• LC-3 is 16 bits
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Input and Output

Devices for getting data into and out of computer
memory
IN P UT OUTP U T
K eybo a rd M o n ito r
Each device has its own interface, M o u se
S c a n n er
P rin ter
LE D
usually a set of registers like the D is k D is k
memory’s MAR and MDR
• LC-3 supports keyboard (input) and monitor (output)
• keyboard: data register (KBDR) and status register (KBSR)
• monitor: data register (DDR) and status register (DSR)

Some devices provide both input and output

• disk, network
Program that controls access to a device is
usually called a driver.
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Control Unit
Orchestrates execution of the program

CON TR OL U N IT
PC IR

Instruction Register (IR) contains the current instruction.

Program Counter (PC) contains the address
of the next instruction to be executed.
Control unit:
• reads an instruction from memory
 the instruction’s address is in the PC
• interprets the instruction, generating signals
that tell the other components what to do
 an instruction may take many machine cycles to complete
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Instruction Processing

Fetch instruction from memory

Decode instruction

Evaluate address

Fetch operands from memory

Execute operation

Store result
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Instruction
The instruction is the fundamental unit of work.
Specifies two things:
• opcode: operation to be performed
• operands: data/locations to be used for operation

An instruction is encoded as a sequence of bits.

(Just like data!)
• Often, but not always, instructions have a fixed length,
such as 16 or 32 bits.
• Control unit interprets instruction:
generates sequence of control signals to carry out operation.
• Operation is either executed completely, or not at all.

A computer’s instructions and their formats is known as its

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).
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Example: LC-3 ADD Instruction

LC-3 has 16-bit instructions.
• Each instruction has a four-bit opcode, bits [15:12].
LC-3 has eight registers (R0-R7) for temporary storage.
• Sources and destination of ADD are registers.

“Add the contents of R2 to the contents of R6,

and store the result in R6.”

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Example: LC-3 LDR Instruction

Load instruction -- reads data from memory
Base + offset mode:
• add offset to base register -- result is memory address
• load from memory address into destination register

“Add the value 6 to the contents of R3 to form a

memory address. Load the contents of that
memory location to R2.”
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Instruction Processing: FETCH

Load next instruction (at address stored in PC)
from memory F
into Instruction Register (IR).
• Copy contents of PC into MAR. D
• Send “read” signal to memory.
• Copy contents of MDR into IR.
EA

Then increment PC, so that it points to OP

the next instruction in sequence.
• PC becomes PC+1.
EX

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Instruction Processing: DECODE

First identify the opcode.
• In LC-3, this is always the first four bits of instruction. F
• A 4-to-16 decoder asserts a control line corresponding
to the desired opcode. D

Depending on opcode, identify other operands EA

from the remaining bits.
• Example:
OP
 for LDR, last six bits is offset
 for ADD, last three bits is source operand #2
EX

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Instruction Processing: EVALUATE ADDRESS

For instructions that require memory access,
compute address used for access. F

Examples: D
• add offset to base register (as in LDR)
• add offset to PC EA
• add offset to zero
OP

EX

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Instruction Processing: FETCH OPERANDS

Obtain source operands needed to
perform operation. F

Examples: D
• load data from memory (LDR)
• read data from register file (ADD) EA

OP

EX

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Instruction Processing: EXECUTE

Perform the operation,
using the source operands. F

Examples: D
• send operands to ALU and assert ADD signal
• do nothing (e.g., for loads and stores) EA

OP

EX

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Instruction Processing: STORE RESULT

Write results to destination.
(register or memory) F

Examples: D
• result of ADD is placed in destination register
• result of memory load is placed in destination register EA
• for store instruction, data is stored to memory
 write address to MAR, data to MDR OP
 assert WRITE signal to memory

EX

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Changing the Sequence of Instructions

In the FETCH phase,
we increment the Program Counter by 1.

What if we don’t want to always execute the instruction

that follows this one?
• examples: loop, if-then, function call

Need special instructions that change the contents

of the PC.
These are called control instructions.
• jumps are unconditional -- they always change the PC
• branches are conditional -- they change the PC only if
some condition is true (e.g., the result of an ADD is zero)

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Example: LC-3 JMP Instruction

Set the PC to the value contained in a register. This
becomes the address of the next instruction to fetch.

“Load the contents of R3 into the PC.”

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Instruction Processing Summary

Instructions look just like data -- it’s all interpretation.

Three basic kinds of instructions:

• computational instructions (ADD, AND, …)
• data movement instructions (LD, ST, …)
• control instructions (JMP, BRnz, …)

Six basic phases of instruction processing:

F  D  EA  OP  EX  S
• not all phases are needed by every instruction
• phases may take variable number of machine cycles

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Control Unit State Diagram

The control unit is a state machine. Here is part of a
simplified state diagram for the LC-3:

A more complete state diagram is in Appendix C.

It will be more understandable after Chapter 5.
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Stopping the Clock

Control unit will repeat instruction processing sequence
as long as clock is running.
• If not processing instructions from your application,
then it is processing instructions from the Operating System (OS).
• The OS is a special program that manages processor
and other resources.
To stop the computer:
• AND the clock generator signal with ZERO
• When control unit stops seeing the CLOCK signal, it stops processing.

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