Consumer Electronics

MICROCOMPUTER

It is important to understand the difference between the microcomputer (μC) and the microprocessor (μP). A microcomputer contains several elements, the most important of which is the microprocessor. The microprocessor is usually a single IC that contains all of the circuitry of the control and arithmetic logic units-in other words the CPU. It is common to refer to the microprocessor as the MPU since it is the CPU (central processing unit) of the microcomputer This is illustrated in Fig. 48.3, where the basic elements of a microcomputer are shown.

 

 

Fig. 48.3 Basic elements of a microcomputer

 

The memory unit shows both RAM (random ...