The introduction of the microprocessor in 1971 marked the beginning of a 30-year stall in design methods for electronic systems. The industry is coming out of the stall by shifting from programmed to reconfigurable systems. In programmed systems, a linear sequence of configuration bits, organized into blocks called instructions, configures fixed hardware to mimic custom hardware. In reconfigurable systems, the physical connections among logic elements change with time to mimic custom hardware. The transition to reconfigurable systems will be wrenching, but this is inevitable as the design emphasis shifts from cost performance to cost performance per watt. Here’s the story.
This paper considers microprogramming as a tool for implementing large scale integration, single-chip microprocessors. Design trade-offs for microprogrammed control are discussed in the context of semiconductor design constraints which limit the size, speed, complexity and pin-out of circuits. Aspects of the control unit of a new generation microprocessor, which has a two level microprogrammed structure, are presented.
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