A control unit is one of the two components of the central processing unit.

The function of
the control unit is to extract information which is stored in the memory and to decode and
execute those instructions.

It also takes help from the arithmetic logic unit, whenever required. The control unit is very
important for computers functioning. The control unit has outputs which take charge of the
activities of the entire device. Some regard the control unit to be an FSM or finite state
machine which is used for hardware and software applications.

Functions of Control Unit:

A control unit can be described as a sort of circuitry that supervises and controls the path of
information that runs over the processor and organizes the various activities of those units that
lie inside it.

•  It carries out many tasks such as decoding, fetching, handling the execution and finally
storing the results.

•  It controls the execution of instructions in a sequential order.

•  It guides the flow of data through the different parts of the computer.

•  It interprets the instructions.

•  It regulates the time controls of the processor.

•  It sends and receives control signals from various peripheral devices.

A control unit is a major computer part which helps in the functioning of the central
processing unit and in turn runs the whole computer.

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Functions of the Control Unit

The functions performed by the control unit vary greatly by the internal architecture of the CPU,
since the control unit really implements this architecture. On a regular processor that executes
x86 instructions natively the control unit performs the tasks of fetching, decoding, managing
execution and then storing results. On a x86 processor with a RISC core, the control unit has
significantly more work to do. It manages the translation of x86 instructions to RISC micro-
instructions, manages scheduling the micro-instructions between the various execution units, and
juggles the output from these units to make sure they end up where they are supposed to go. On
one of these processors the control unit may be broken into other units (such as a scheduling unit
to handle scheduling and a retirement unit to deal with results coming from the pipeline) due to
the complexity of the job it must perform.