The control unit coordinates the components of a computer system. It fetches the code of all of the instructions in the program. It directs the operation of the other units by providing timing and control signals. All computer resources are managed by the CU. It directs the flow of data between the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the other devices.
The control unit was historically defined as one distinct part of the 1946 reference model of Von Neumann architecture. In modern computer designs, the control unit is typically an internal part of the CPU with its overall role and operation unchanged.
The control unit is the circuitry that controls the flow of data through the processor, and coordinates the activities of the other units within it. In a way, it is the "brain within the brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor, which in turn controls the rest of the computer. The examples of devices that require a control unit are CPUs and graphics processing units (GPUs). The modern information age would not be possible without complex control unit designs. The control unit receives external instructions or commands which it converts into a sequence of control signals that the control unit applies to the data path to implement a sequence of register-transfer level operations.
Read more about Control Unit: Hardwired Control Unit, Microprogram Control Unit, Functions of The Control Unit
Famous quotes containing the words control and/or unit:
“The inability to control our children’s behavior feels the same as not being able to control it in ourselves. And the fact is that primitive behavior in children does unleash primitive behavior in mothers. That’s what frightens mothers most. For young children, even when out of control, do not have the power to destroy their mothers, but mothers who are out of control feel that they may destroy their children.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“During the Suffragette revolt of 1913 I ... [urged] that what was needed was not the vote, but a constitutional amendment enacting that all representative bodies shall consist of women and men in equal numbers, whether elected or nominated or coopted or registered or picked up in the street like a coroner’s jury. In the case of elected bodies the only way of effecting this is by the Coupled Vote. The representative unit must not be a man or a woman but a man and a woman.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)