Introduction to Data Communication

Techniques

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 Data Communication Formats
• The microprocessor communicates with its
peripherals is one of two ways:
– Synchronous.
• At agreed upon points in time.
• The sender and receiver must be synchronized to the
same clock signal.
– Asynchronous.
• At irregular intervals.

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 Data Communication Formats (Contd.)
• Synchronous is usually used for high-speed data
transfer where no time can be lost.
• Asynchronous is used for low speed.

• Transfer between the microprocessor and I/O

devices is primarily Asynchronous.

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 Modes of Data Transfer
• The microprocessor transfers the data to its
peripheral devices in one of two modes:
– Parallel.
• All of the bits are sent at the same time over multiple
wires.
– Faster.
– Short distance.
– Serial.
• The bits are sent one at-a-time over a single wire.
– Slower.
– More economical.

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 Interfacing Techniques for Peripheral Devices
• The microprocessor identifies the peripherals
based on their interfacing technique either as:
– Memory-mapped.
• The device uses an address from the memory address
range.
• The microprocessor treats the device as a regular
memory location.
– Peripheral-mapped.
• The device uses a special address known as a port
number.
• The peripherals do not interfere with the memory
address range.

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 Controlling Data Communication
• There are two ways to control the transfer of data
between the microprocessor and its peripherals:
– Microprocessor-controlled:
• The microprocessor initiates the communication with the
peripheral.
– Peripheral-controlled.
• The peripheral initiates the communication.

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 Microprocessor Controlled Communications
• There are several techniques for the
microprocessor to control the communications:
– Unconditional
– Polling
– Interrupt
– RDY signal
– Handshake

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 Microprocessor-controlled Data Transfer
• Most I/O devices are slow, therefore, the
microprocessor needs to control the process to
make sure data is not lost. There are 5 ways to
control the process:
1. Unconditional.
• The microprocessor assumes that the device is always
ready. (Like the LEDs).
• When the data is ready, the microprocessor sends it
directly to the device.
2. Polling (status check).
• The microprocessor stays in a loop checking the status
of the device until it is ready.
• Wasteful of resources.

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 Microprocessor-controlled Data Transfer
1. Interrupt.
• When the device is ready it sends an interrupt signal to
the microprocessor. The microprocessor stops
executing the program, services the device and then
goes back to what it was doing.
• More useful for data input type operations.
2. READY signal.
• When the device is not ready it resets the ready signal.
Basically stalling the microprocessor. When it becomes
ready it sets the signal.
• Resting the ready signal may be done in response to
the an attempt by the microprocessor to send data to
the device.
• More useful for data output type operations.

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 Microprocessor-controlled Data Transfer
1. Handshake.
• Signals are exchanged before the beginning of the data
transfer to make sure the device and the
microprocessor are both ready.
• Very similar to the polling technique but it can be used
in both directions.
• Most commonly used for modems, communication
networks.

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 Peripheral- Controlled Data Transfer
• This is used when the device is much faster than
the microprocessor.
– Example DMA.
• The DMA controller send a HOLD signal to the
microprocessor.
• The microprocessor releases the system bus.
• The DMA controller transfers the data directly to memory
without the intervention of the microprocessor.
• The microprocessor is “officially” not stalled. However,
there is little that the microprocessor can do without the
system bus.

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