Control logic
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 | This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (November 2007) |
Control logic is the part of a software architecture that controls what the program will do. This part of the program is also called the controller. Before the instruction reaches the control logic it is translated into binary through an instruction decoder or "decode unit".
On the level of detailed circuits, logic circuits are differentiated into control logic and dataflow logic. Due to the higher number of instances, dataflow logic needs to save area, propagation delay and power consumption as much as possible. Control logic on the other side can spend more area as long as dataflow logic would save area, propagation delay or power at the same time.
An example for control logic would be a state machine, one for dataflow logic a 4-way multiplexer.
A major input to the control logic is a clock signal which controls all the device's timing.