The Processor Structure

Question 1

Name the three parts of the Processor and what their purposes are

Answer 1

Control Unit - responsible for timing and execution of instructions correctly
Arithmetic and Logic Unit - the ALU which performs arithmetic and boolean operations
Registers - temporary storage of instructions or results

Question 2

Name four tasks a control bus can do

Answer 2

Clock
Reset
Interrupt
Non Maskable Interrupt

Question 3

State the difference between an instruction and an operation

Answer 3

Operation - single command

An instruction- may be made up of operations

Question 4

Name the 3 types of information a register can hold

Answer 4

Data
Instructions
Addresses

Question 5

Describe the fetch-execute cycle

Answer 5

Instruction is transferred to the processor on the data bus

Then decoded and executed

Question 6

What is the difference between memory-read and memory-write?

Answer 6

Memory read operation- address bus gets location, read line activated, data is decoded and executed
Memory write- address is decided, data is set up, sends data to section of memory

Question 7

Name the four parts of a processor

Answer 7

The central arithmetic logic unit
The central control unit
Memory
Input and Output channels

Question 8

Describe two tasks a control unit does during fetch-execute cycle

Answer 8

Activate read line to transfer instruction

Supplies the clock signal

Question 9

Describe some developments in CPU help processing speeds to increase

Answer 9

Increased internal bus width - improves simultaneous processing
Increased external bus width - improves number of bits received
Increased cache - Allow more instructions stored near CPU
Multi-core processors - simultaneous processing
Reduced instruction set - simplifies CPU instructions

Question 10

Describe how changing the width of the bus’ help memory

Answer 10

Width of data bus - number of bits stored in each memory address
Width of address bus - number of addresses in memory