COMPUTER ORGNIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE (CS-404)

UNIT -3
I/O Organization & I/O Interface
Input Output Organization:

The input-output subsystems of computer referred to as I/O provides an efficient mode of

communication between the central system and the outside world. The most familiar means of
entering information into a computer is through a typewriter-like keyboard that allows a person
to enter alphanumeric information directly.
Input and output devices attached to the computer are also called peripherals. Among the
common peripherals are keyboards, display units, printers. Peripherals that provide auxiliary
storage for the system are magnetic disks and tapes. Peripherals are electromechanical and
electromagnetic devices of some complexity.
ASCII Alphanumeric Characters:
Input and output devices that communicate with people and the computer are usually involved
in the Standard Code for Information Interchange). It uses 7 bits to code 128 characters as
shown in table 1.The seven bits of the code are designated by b1 through b7, with b7 being the
most significant bit. The letter A, for example is represented in ASCII as 1000001(column 100,
row 001). The ASCII code contains 94 characters that can be printed and 34 nonprinting
characters used for various control functions.

Input/Output Subsystem

The I/O subsystem of a computer provides an efficient mode of communication between the central
system and the outside environment. It handles all the input-output operations of the computer system.

Peripheral Devices

Input or output devices that are connected to computer are called peripheral devices. These devices are
designed to read information into or out of the memory unit upon command from the CPU and are
considered to be the part of computer system. These devices are also called peripherals.

For example: Keyboards, display units and printers are common peripheral devices.

There are three types of peripherals:

1. Input peripherals : Allows user input, from the outside world to the computer. Example:
Keyboard, Mouse etc.

2. Output peripherals: Allows information output, from the computer to the outside world.
Example: Printer, Monitor etc

3. Input-Output peripherals: Allows both input(from outised world to computer) as well as,
output(from computer to the outside world). Example: Touch screen etc.
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Interfaces

Interface is a shared boundary between two separate components of the computer system which
can be used to attach two or more components to the system for communication purposes.

There are two types of interface:

1. CPU Interface

2. I/O Interface

Input-Output Interface
Data transfer between the central unit and I/O devices can be handled in generally three types of
modes which are given below:

1. Programmed I/O

2. Interrupt Initiated I/O

3. Direct Memory Access(DMA)

Programmed I/O:

It is due to the result of the I/O instructions that are written in the computer program. Each
data item transfer is initiated by an instruction in the program. Usually the transfer is from a
CPU register and memory. In this case it requires constant monitoring by the CPU of the
peripheral devices.
Interrupt- initiated I/O:

Since in the above case we saw the CPU is kept busy unnecessarily. This situation can
very well be avoided by using an interrupt driven method for data transfer. By using
interrupt facility and special commands to inform the interface to issue an interrupt
request signal whenever data is available from any device. In the meantime the CPU can
proceed for any other program execution. The interface meanwhile keeps monitoring the
device. Whenever it is determined that the device is ready for data transfer it initiates an
interrupt request signal to the computer. Upon detection of an external interrupt signal
the CPU stops momentarily the task that it was already performing, branches to the
service program to process the I/O transfer, and then return to the task it was originally
performing.
Note: Both the methods programmed I/O and Interrupt-driven I/O require the active
intervention of the
processor to transfer data between memory and the I/O module, and any data transfer
must transverse
a path through the processor. Thus both these forms of I/O suffer from two inherent
drawbacks.
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 The I/O transfer rate is limited by the speed with which the processor can test and
service a
device.
 The processor is tied up in managing an I/O transfer; a number of instructions must be
executed
for each I/O transfer.

Direct Memory Access:

The data transfer between a fast storage media such as magnetic disk and memory unit is
limited by the speed of the CPU. Thus we can allow the peripherals directly communicate
with each other using the memory buses, removing the intervention of the CPU. This type of
data transfer technique is known as DMA or direct memory access. During DMA the CPU is
idle and it has no control over the memory buses. The DMA controller takes over the buses to
manage the transfer directly between the I/O devices and the memory unit.

The purpose of the communication link is to resolve the differences that exist between the
central computer and each peripheral.
The major differences are:
Peripherals are electromechanical and electromagnetic devices and their manner of operation
is different from the operation of the CPU and memory, which are electronic devices. Therefore
a conversion of signal values may be required.
The data transfer rate of peripherals is usually slower than the transfer rate of the CPU, and
consequently, a synchronization mechanism may be needed. Data codes and formats in
peripherals differ from the word format in the CPU and memory.
The operation modes of peripherals are different from each other and each must be controlled
so as not to disturb the operation of other peripherals connected to the CPU.
To resolve these differences, computer systems include special hardware components between
the CPU and peripherals to supervise and synchronize all input and output transfers. These
components are called interface units because they interface between the processor bus and
the peripheral device.

Example of I/O Interface:

Figure 1 shows the block diagram of I/O interface unit. It consists of 2 data registers called
ports, a control register, a status register, bus buffers and timing and control circuits.
· The interface communicates with the CPU through data bus.
· The chip select (CS) and register select (RS) inputs determine the address assigned to the
interface.
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· The I/O read and write are two control lines that specify an input or output respectively.
· The four registers communicate directly with the I/O device attached to the interface.
· The I/O data to and from the device can be transferred into either port A or port B.
The interface may operate with an output device or with an input device or with a device that
requires both input and output.

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI):-

It could be a standard information transport that was common in computers from 1993 to 2007 or so. It
was for a long time the standard transport for extension cards in computers, like sound cards, network
cards, etc. It was a parallel transport, that, in its most common shape, had a clock speed of 66 MHz, and
can either be 32 or 64 bits wide. It has since been replaced by PCI Express, which could be a serial
transport as contradicted to PCI. These expansion boards are normally plugged into expansion slots on
the motherboard.

 PCI 32 bits have a transport speed of 33 MHz and work at 132 MBps.

 PCI 64 bits have a transport speed of 33 MHz and work at 264 MBps.

 PCI 64 bits have a transport speed of 66 MHz and work at 512 MBps.

 PCI 64 bits have a transport speed of 66 MHz and work at 1 GBps.

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Advantage of PCI :
 You’ll interface a greatest of five components to the PCI and you’ll be able moreover supplant
each of them by settled gadgets on the motherboard.
 You have different PCI buses on the same computer.
 The PCI transport will improve the speed of the exchanges from 33MHz to 133 MHz with a
transfer rate of 1 gigabyte per second.

Figure 2(a): Conceptual design of PCI bus for single processor system
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Disadvantage of PCI :

 PCI Graphics Card cannot get to to system memory.

 PCI does not support pipeline.

Small Computer System Interface(SCSI) :-

The acronym SCSI stands for small computer system interface. It was adopted as a standard by
the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) in 1986. This bus connects I/O devices such as
hard disk units and printers to personal computers. SCSI was originally designed to transfer data
a byte at a time at rates up to 5 MB/s. The Figure 3 shows the SCSI I/O bus. Small Computer
System Interface is used to boost performance, deliver fast data transfer delivery and provide
wider expansion for machines like CD-ROM drivers, scanners, DVD> drives and CD writers. Small
Computer System Interface is most commonly used for RAID, servers, highly efficient desktop
computers, and storage area networks. The Small Computer System Interface has control,
which is responsible for transmitting data across the Small Computer System Interface bus and
the computers.
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The acronym SCSI stands for small computer system interface. It was adopted as a standard by
the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) in 1986. This bus connects I/O devices such as
hard disk units and printers to personal computers. SCSI was originally designed to transfer data
a byte at a time at rates up to 5 MB/s. The Figure 3 shows the SCSI I/O bus.

SCSI is smaller and simpler bus and its data sub bus is only 8-bits wide. Its data bus is also used to

transfer addresses. Ten additional lines provide all the necessary control functions. Recent extensions

to the original SCSI standard have wider data buses (16 and 32 bits), more control features and higher

data transfer rates.

SCSI Standard
SCSI-1 defines the basics of the first SCSI buses, including cable length signaling characteristics
,commands and transfer modes.
Devices corresponding to the SCSI-1 standard use only a narrow (8- bit) bus, With a 5 MB/s
maximum transfer rate.
· Only single-ended transmission was supported, with passive termination.
· There were also difficulties associated with the standard gaining universal acceptance due to
the fact that many manufacturers implemented different subsets of its features.
· Devices that adhere to the SCSI-l standard in most cases can be used with host adapters and
other devices that use the higher transfer rates of the more advanced SCSI-2 protocols, but
they will still function at their original slow speed.

SCSI-2 is an extensive enhancement over SCSI-1. In addition, the standard de�nes the following
significant new features as additions to the original SCSI-1 specification:
1.Fast SCSI: This higher-speed transfer protocol doubles the speed of the bus to 10 MHz
2.Wide SCSI: The width of the original SCSI bus was increased to 16 (or even 32) bits. This
permits
more data throughput at a given signaling speed.
3.More Devices per Bus: On buses that are running with Wide SCSI, 16 devices are supported.

SCSI-3 - SCSI-3 specification defines the mechanical, electrical and protocol layers of the
interface. Data
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transfers of 8 bits at 20Mbps over a 50 pin connector and 16 bits at 40Mbps over a 68 pin
connector. The number of devices on the bus increased to 16 (for Fast-10), Fast-20 allows 8
devices maximum with a number of other combinations.
Universal Serial Bus (USB):-

A USB is a common computer port, which shorts for Universal Serial Bus and allows
communication between a computer and peripheral or other devices. It is the most common
interface used in today's computers, which can be used to connect printers
, scanners, keyboards mice, game controllers, digital cameras, external hard drives and flash
drives. The USB has replaced a wide range of interfaces like the parallel and serial port because
it is used for a wide variety of uses as well as offers better support for electrical power. With a
single USB port, up to 127 peripherals can be connected with the help of a few USB hubs,
although that will need quite a bit of dexterity.
A USB is intended to allow hot-swapping and enhance plug-and-play. Without having to restart
the computer, plug-and-play makes it capable of operating the system to involuntarily discover
and configure, and hot-swapping allows replacement and removal of a new peripheral device.
In the devices like smartphones and tablets, a USB may also use for supplying power as well as
charge their batteries. Its first version 1.0, was introduced in January 1996. Then, Intel Compaq,
Microsoft, and other companies adopted this industry-standard quickly.

USB connector types:-

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USB transfer speeds :-

o USB 1.0 is capable of supporting up to 127 peripheral devices and also able to support
data transfer rates of 12 Mbps as it is an external bus standard.
o In 2001, USB 2.0 was developed by Phillips, Lucent, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Intel, NEC,
and Compaq that is also known as hi-speed USB. It has the ability to support a transfer
rate of 60 megabytes per second or up to 480 Mbps (megabits per second).
o In November 2009, USB 3.0 was available for the first time by Buffalo Technology, which
is also called as SuperSpeed USB. But until January 2010, the first certified devices were
not available. The performance and increased speed in USB 3.0, also helped to improve
upon the USB 2.0 technology, power management and increased bandwidth capability.
It includes a feature to offer two unidirectional data paths to send and receive data in one
go. It can support transfer rates of 640 megabytes per second, or up to 5.0 gigabits per
second (Gbps). Its name was changed to USB 3.1 Gen1 for making purposes after releasing
the USB 3.1. The first certified devices were designed with motherboards of Gigabyte and
ASUS Technology. In April 2011, Dell started to introduce USB 3.0 ports with their Dell XPS
and Inspiron series of computers.
o USB 3.1 is the latest version of the USB protocol that was made available till 31 July 2013,
which is also known as SuperSpeed It can support transfer rates of up to 10 Gbps.
Nowadays, USB 3.0 and 3.1 revisions are used by various devices to improve speed and
performance.

USB Features :-
� Simple cables
� One interface for many devices
� Automatic configuration
� No user setting
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Data Transfer: Serial, Parallel

There are two methods used for transferring data between computers which
are given below: Serial Transmission and Parallel Transmission.
Serial Transmission:

In Serial Transmission, data-bit flows from one computer to another

computer in bi-direction. In this transmission, one bit flows at one clock
pulse. In Serial Transmission, 8 bits are transferred at a time having a start
and stop bit.

Parallel Transmission:

In Parallel Transmission, many bits are flow together simultaneously from

one computer to another computer. Parallel Transmission is faster than
serial transmission to transmit the bits. Parallel transmission is used for short
distance.
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Difference between Serial and Parallel Transmission:

Serial Transmission Parallel Transmission

S.NO

In serial transmission, data(bit) In Parallel Transmission, data

1. flows in bi-direction. flows in multiple lines.

Serial Transmission is cost- Parallel Transmission is not cost-

2. efficient. efficient.

In Parallel Transmission, eight

In serial transmission, one bit bits transferred at one clock
3. transferred at one clock pulse. pulse.

Serial Transmission is slow in Parallel Transmission is fast in

comparison of Parallel comparison of Serial
4. Transmission. Transmission.

Generally, Serial Transmission is Generally, Parallel Transmission

5. used for long-distance. is used for short distance.

The circuit used in Parallel

The circuit used in Serial Transmission is relatively
6. Transmission is simple. complex.

Serial transmission can be synchronous or asynchronous.

In synchronous transmission, the two units share a common clock frequency and bits
are transmitted continuously at the rate dictated by the clock pulses. In long distant
serial transmission, each unit is driven by a separate clock of the same frequency.
Synchronization signals are transmitted periodically between the two units to keep their
clocks in step with each other.

In asynchronous transmission, binary information is sent only when it is available and

the line remains idle when there is no information to be transmitted. This is in contrast to
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synchronous transmission, where bits must be transmitted continuously to keep the

clock frequency in both units synchronized with each other .

In Synchronous Transmission, data is sent in form of blocks or frames. This

transmission is the full duplex type. Between sender and receiver the
synchronization is compulsory. In Synchronous transmission, There is no gap
present between data. It is more efficient and more reliable than asynchronous
transmission to transfer the large amount of data.

In Asynchronous Transmission, data is sent in form of byte or character. This

transmission is the half duplex type transmission. In this transmission start bits
and stop bits are added with data. It does not require synchronization.
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Difference between Synchronous and Asynchronous Transmission:

Synchronous
S.NOTransmission Asynchronous Transmission
In Synchronous
transmission, Data is In asynchronous transmission,
sent in form of blocks or Data is sent in form of byte or
1. frames. character.

Synchronous Asynchronous transmission is

2. transmission is fast. slow.

Synchronous Asynchronous transmission is

3. transmission is costly. economical.

In Synchronous
transmission, time In asynchronous transmission,
interval of transmission time interval of transmission is
4. is constant. not constant, it is random.

In Synchronous
transmission, There is no In asynchronous transmission,
gap present between There is present gap between
5. data. data.

Efficient use of While in asynchronous

transmission line is done transmission, transmission line
in synchronous remains empty during gap in
6. transmission. character transmission.

Synchronous Asynchronous transmission

transmission needs have no need of synchronized
precisely synchronized clocks as parity bit is used in
clocks for the information this transmission for
7. of new bytes. information of new bytes.
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Input/Output Processor :-

An input-output processor (IOP) is a processor with direct memory access capability. In this, the
computer system is divided into a memory unit and number of processors.
Each IOP controls and manage the input-output tasks. The IOP is similar to CPU except that it
handles only the details of I/O processing. The IOP can fetch and execute its own instructions.
These IOP instructions are designed to manage I/O transfers only.

Block Diagram Of I/O Processor :-

Below is a block diagram of a computer along with various I/O Processors. The memory unit
occupies the central position and can communicate with each processor. The CPU processes
the data required for solving the computational tasks. The IOP provides a path for transfer of
data between peripherals and memory. The CPU assigns the task of initiating the I/O
program.The IOP operates independent from CPU and transfer data between peripherals and
memory.

The communication between the IOP and the devices is similar to the program control method
of transfer. And the communication with the memory is similar to the direct memory access
method.
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In large scale computers, each processor is independent of other processors and any processor
can initiate the operation.
The CPU can act as master and the IOP act as slave processor. The CPU assigns the task of
initiating operations but it is the IOP, who executes the instructions, and not the CPU. CPU
instructions provide operations to start an I/O transfer. The IOP asks for CPU through interrupt.
Instructions that are read from memory by an IOP are also called commands to distinguish
them from instructions that are read by CPU. Commands are prepared by programmers and are
stored in memory. Command words make the program for IOP. CPU informs the IOP where to
find the commands in memory.
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Direct Memory Access(DMA)

Removing the CPU from the path and letting the peripheral device manage the memory buses
directly would improve the speed of transfer. This technique is known as DMA.
In this, the interface transfer data to and from the memory through memory bus. A DMA
controller manages to transfer data between peripherals and memory unit.
Many hardware systems use DMA such as disk drive controllers, graphic cards, network cards
and sound cards etc. It is also used for intra chip data transfer in multicore processors. In DMA,
CPU would initiate the transfer, do other operations while the transfer is in progress and
receive an interrupt from the DMA controller when the transfer has been completed.

Working of DMA :
Following list of points will describe briefly about DMA and its working as follows.
 For DMA, you basically need a hardware called DMAC (Direct Memory Access
Controller) which will help in the throughout process of data transfer between the
Memory and IO device directly.
 First what happens is IO device sends the DMA request to DMA Controller, then further
DMAC device sends HOLD signal to CPU by which it asks CPU for several information
which are needed while transferring data.
 CPU then shares two basic information with DMAC before the Data transfer which are:
Starting address (memory address starting from where data transfer should be
performed) and Data Count (no of bytes or words to be transferred).
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 CPU then sends HLDACK (Hold Acknowledgement) back to DMAC illustrating that now
DMAC can successfully pass on the information.
 Then further DMAC shares the DMA ACK (DMA Acknowledgement) to the IO device
which would eventually let IO device to access or transfer the data from memory in a
direct and efficient manner.
Modes of DMA Transfer :

 During the DMA Transfer CPU can perform only those operation in which it doesn’t
require the access of System Bus which means mostly CPU will be in blocked state.
 For how much time CPU remains in the blocked state or we can say for how much time
CPU will give the control of DMAC of system buses will actually depend upon the
following modes of DMA Transfer and after that CPU will take back control of system
buses from DMAC.

Mode-1 :
Burst Mode –
 In this mode Burst of data (entire data or burst of block containing data) is
transferred before CPU takes control of the buses back from DMAC.
 This is the quickest mode of DMA Transfer since at once a huge amount of
data is being transferred.
 Since at once only the huge amount of data is being transferred so time will
be saved in huge amount.

Percentage of Time CPU remains blocked :

Let time taken to prepare the data be Tx and time taken to transfer the data be Ty. Then
percentage of time CPU remains blocked due to DMA is as follows.
Percentage of time CPU remains in blocked state = Ty * 100% / Tx + Ty

Mode-2 :
Cycle Stealing Mode –
 Slow IO device will take some time to prepare data (or word) and within that time CPU
keeps the control of the buses.
 Once the the data or the word is ready CPU give back control of system buses to DMAC
for 1-cycle in which the prepared word is transferred to memory.
 As compared to Burst mode this mode is little bit slowest since it requires little bit of
time which is actually consumed by IO device while preparing the data.
Percentage of Time CPU remains blocked :
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Let time taken to prepare data be Tx and time taken to transfer the data be Ty. Then
percentage of time CPU remains blocked due to DMA is as follows.
Percentage of time CPU remains in blocked state = Ty * 100% / Tx

Mode-3 :
Interleaving Mode –
 Whenever CPU does not require the system buses then only control of buses will be
given to DMAC.
 In this mode, CPU will not be blocked due to DMA at all.
 This is the slowest mode of DMA Transfer since DMAC has to wait might be for so long
time to just even get the access of system buses from the CPU itself.
 Hence due to which less amount of data will be transferred.
Example :
Consider a device operating on 2MBPs speed and transferring the data to
memory is done using Cycle Stealing mode. It takes 2 microseconds to transfer
16 bytes of data to memory when it is ready or prepared. Then for what
percentage of time CPU is blocked due to DMA transfer?

Explanation –
Internal data preparation speed given = 2 MBPs.
So for preparing 2 MB it takes ------> 1 second
For preparing 1B it takes -------> 1 second / 2MB

So now for 16B data preparation it takes ------->1 second * 16B / 2MB
(after reciprocating Mega will be become micro

(that is 10^6 will become 10^-6 after reciprocating))

therefore for preparation 16B it takes -------> 8 microseconds

Therefore percentage of time CPU remains blocked in case of

Cycle Stealing mode = 2 * 100% / 8 = 25%
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