Intel 80C186XL, User Manual

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2-1
CHAPTER 2
OVERVIEW OF THE 80C186 FAMILY
ARCHITECTURE
The 80C186 Modular Microprocessor Core shares a common base architecture with the 8086,
8088, 80186, 80188, 80286, Intel386™ and Intel486™ processors. The 80C186 Modular Core
maintains full object-code compatibility with the 8086/8088 family of 16-bit microprocessors,
while adding hardware and software performance enhancements. Most instructions require fewer
clocks to execute on the 80C186 Modular Core because of hardware enhancements in the Bus
Interface Unit and the Execution Unit. Several additional instructions simplify programming and
reduce code size (see Appendix A, “80C186 Instruction Set Additions and Extensions”).
2.1 ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW
The 80C186 Modular Microprocessor Core incorporates two separate processing units: an Exe-
cution Unit (EU) and a Bus Interface Unit (BIU). The Execution Unit is functionally identical
among all family members. The Bus Interface Unit is configured for a 16-bit external data bus
for the 80C186 core and an 8-bit external data bus for the 80C188 core. The two units interface
via an instruction prefetch queue.
The Execution Unit executes instructions; the Bus Interface Unit fetches instructions, reads op-
erands and writes results. Whenever the Execution Unit requires another opcode byte, it takes the
byte out of the prefetch queue. The two units can operate independently of one another and are
able, under most circumstances, to overlap instruction fetches and execution.
The 80C186 Modular Core family has a 16-bit Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). The Arithmetic
Logic Unit performs 8-bit or 16-bit arithmetic and logical operations. It provides for data move-
ment between registers, memory and I/O space.
The 80C186 Modular Core family CPU allows for high-speed data transfer from one area of
memory to another using string move instructions and between an I/O port and memory using
block I/O instructions. The CPU also provides many conditional branch and control instructions.
The 80C186 Modular Core architecture features 14 basic registers grouped as general registers,
segment registers, pointer registers and status and control registers. The four 16-bit general-pur-
pose registers (AX, BX, CX and DX) can be used as operands for most arithmetic operations as
either 8- or 16-bit units. The four 16-bit pointer registers (SI, DI, BP and SP) can be used in arith-
metic operations and in accessing memory-based variables. Four 16-bit segment registers (CS,
DS, SS and ES) allow simple memory partitioning to aid modular programming. The status and
control registers consist of an Instruction Pointer (IP) and the Processor Status Word (PSW) reg-
ister, which contains flag bits. Figure 2-1 is a simplified CPU block diagram.