Counters

Lecture # 21 & 22
By : Ali Mustafa
 Counters
• A register that goes through a prescribed sequence
of states upon the application of input pulses is
called a counter.
• The input pulses may be clock pulses or they may
originated from some external source and may
occur at a fixed interval of time or at random.
• A counter that follows the binary number sequence
is called a binary counter.
• An n-bit binary counter consists of n flip-flops and
can count in binary from 0 through 2^n -1.
 Types of Counters
• Ripple counter (asynchronous):
– Flip-flop output transition serves as source for triggering the
other flip-flops
• Binary Ripple Counter
• BCD Ripple Counter
• Synchronous counter:
– Common clock for all flip-flops (same design procedure)
• Binary Counter
• Up-Down Binary Counter
• BCD Counter
• Other Counters
• Counter with unused States
• Ring Counter
• Johnson Counter
4-Bit Binary Ripple Counter
Count sequence for Binary Ripple Counter
BCD Ripple Counter
BCD Ripple Counter
BCD Ripple Counter
3 Decade Decimal BCD Counter
 Synchronous counters

• Clock pulses are applied to the inputs of all flip-

flops
• A common clock triggers all flip-flops
simultaneously rather than one at a time as in a
ripple counter
4-Bit synchronous Binary Counter
Up-Down Counter
Binary Counter with Parallel Load
BCD Counter with T-Flip flop

Circuit can be drawn with four T-

FFs, five AND gates & 1 OR gate.
 Counter with Unused States
• A circuit with n flip-flops has 2n states
– We may have to design a counter with a given sequence
(unused states)
– Unused states may be treated as don’t care or assigned
specific next state
– Outside noise may cause the counter to enter unused state
– Must ensure counter eventually goes to the valid state
Counter with Unused States
Simplified eq’s are
JA = B KA= B
JB = C KB = 1
JC = B’ KC = 1
Unused states can be don’t cares…
• To get the simplest possible circuit, you can fill in don’t cares
for the next states. This will also result in don’t cares for the
flip-flop inputs, which can simplify the hardware.
• If the circuit somehow ends up in one of the unused states
(110 or 111), its behavior will depend on exactly what the
don’t cares were filled in with.
 …or maybe you do care
• To get the safest possible circuit, you can explicitly
fill in next states for the unused states 110 and 111.
• This guarantees that even if the circuit somehow
enters an unused state, it will eventually end up in a
valid state.
• This is called a self-starting counter.
 Ring Counter
• It is a circular shift register with only one FF being set
at any particular time , others are cleared.
• A ring counter takes the serial output of the last Flip-
Flop of a shift register and provides it to the serial
input of the first Flip-Flop.
• Ring Counters are also known as re-circulating shift
registers.
Ring Counter
 Johnson Counter
• A Johnson Counter re-circulates the last flip-flop Q’ output
back to the input of the first Flip-Flop. It doesn’t require an
initialization value, and will provide a predictable output
state sequence.
 Re-Circulating Counters
A 4-bit Johnson counter has a modulus of 8, meaning
there are 8 unique output states.

Johnson Counter
0000
1000
1100
1110
8 unique states
1111
0111
0011
0001
Johnson Counter
 Self Study

• Revise chapter 6
• Quiz will be taken tomorrow