[General] diff b/w MICROPROCESSOR & MICROCONTROLLER

[v.s.n.kumar]

Hi,
can any body tell what is the difference between micro controller & microprocessor. Is the processor present in smart phones are micro controllers or microprocessors. tell me whether the pc & cell phones are called as embedded systems.

 

[HTA]

A microprocessor is the core computing part with the ALU, instruction decode and execution unit(incl. microcode) - but without memory(data/program) and pheripheral I/O units. A microcomputer has all component on a single chip. Microcomputer targetted for controller(or embedded) application are called microcontroller.

Enjoy your design work!

 

[Raady Here]

Re: diff b/w MICROPROCESSOR & MICROCONTROLLER

microprocessors doesnt have any ROM or RAM and other peripherals , its just an IC having CPU inside.
microcontrollers has a CPU, in addition with a fixed amount of RAM, ROM and other peripherals all embedded on a single chip.

both are embedded where in both are combination of hardware and software.
PC will have processor and controller as well.
cellphones only controllers. May be in future you may get with both combined.

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though microcontrollers are cheap you can't replaced processors with controllers.
though processors are costly, they alone can't be used with out controllers.

Every thing differs by application to application