Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 1 2 6 0 4 7 3 9 2 9 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618/11

Paper 1 Theory Fundamentals May/June 2024

1 hour 30 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 16 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (DE/SG) 329372/2
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1 (a) Tick (✓) one box to identify the correct logic statement for this truth table.

A B C X
0 0 0 1
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 0
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0

NOT (A AND B AND C)

(A XOR B) NOR C

(A OR B OR C) NOR C

NOT A AND NOT B AND NOT C

[1]

(b) Draw a logic circuit for the logic expression:

X = NOT (NOT A AND (NOT B XOR C))

B X

[2]

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2 A video doorbell is attached to the front door of a house. The doorbell uses a motion sensor to
detect when a visitor walks in front of the door. When the motion sensor is activated:

• The digital camera in the doorbell starts recording a video.

• A message is transmitted to a smartphone so that the person who lives in the house can
watch the video.

The doorbell also has a button that can be pressed. When the button is pressed, a message is
transmitted to a smartphone to play the doorbell sound.

The videos are stored on the doorbell’s internal secondary storage device and overwritten when
the secondary storage device is full.

(a) The video doorbell can be considered an example of an embedded system.

Identify two characteristics of the doorbell that suggest it is an embedded system.

Door bell only performs specific task of monitoring recordinng video
1 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
Specific microprocessor is used for specific task processing
2 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

(b) State whether the video doorbell is a monitoring system or a control system.
Justify your choice.
Monitoring system
Monitoring or control system ....................................................................................................

Justification ...............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

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(c) The video doorbell has both primary memory and secondary storage.

(i) Identify two items of data that the video doorbell will store in primary memory.
Start up instruction
1 ........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
Instruction being executed
2 ........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) The video doorbell has a solid state (flash) secondary storage device.

Complete the table by writing the answer or answers to each statement about the
principal operation of solid state (flash) memory.

Statement Answer

NAND
the two types of logic gate that 1 .................................................................................
can be used to create solid state NOR
devices 2 .................................................................................

the number of transistors contained 2

....................................................................................
in each cell

the type of gate that can retain Floating

....................................................................................
electrons without power

the type of gate that allows or stops cONTROL

....................................................................................
current from passing through

[4]

(iii) The video doorbell uses a buffer.

Describe how the video doorbell will use the buffer.

Captured video is transmitted to buffer which is then sent to the smart phone
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

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(d) The digital camera has a microphone which is used to record the sound for the video.

The user changes the sampling rate that the microphone uses from 44.1 kHz to 88.2 kHz.

Describe how this change in sampling rate will affect the performance of the video doorbell.
Data transmission will take longer time as more data needs to be processed
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
Secondary storage will fill faster
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

(e) The video doorbell allows both real-time and on-demand bit streaming.

(i) State what is meant by bit streaming.

Continuous ordered flow of bit over a communication path
...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) Give two differences between real-time and on-demand bit streaming.
We can rewing and replay in on bit tstream
1 ........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
Real time plays continous
2 ........................................................................................................................................
On demand cant play continous if all the video data is not downloaded
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[2]

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3 A software developer is writing a computer program.

(a) The developer uses an interpreter while writing the program code because it is easier for
debugging.

Explain one reason why it is easier to debug the program code using an interpreter instead of
a compiler.
It interpretes line by line so when error occurs it stops interpreting so real time correction can be done
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(b) The program is ready to be sold to customers.

The developer uses a compiler because it creates an executable file.

Explain the reasons why the need to create an executable file makes the complier the
appropriate choice when the program is complete.

...................................................................................................................................................
Program can be distributed without a source code so it cant be edited
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
No need of translator
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

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BLANK PAGE

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4 The following table shows part of the instruction set for a processor. The processor has two
registers: the Accumulator (ACC) and an Index Register (IX).

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
LDM #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to ACC
Direct addressing. Load the contents of the location at the given
LDD <address>
address to ACC
Indirect addressing. The address to be used is at the given address.
LDI <address>
Load the contents of this second address to ACC
Indexed addressing. Form the address from <address> + the contents
LDX <address> of the Index Register. Copy the contents of this calculated address to
ACC
LDR #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to IX
ADD #n/Bn/&n Add the number n to the ACC
ADD <address> Add the contents of the given address to the ACC
SUB #n/Bn/&n Subtract the number n from the ACC
SUB <address> Subtract the contents of the given address from the ACC
INC <register> Add 1 to the contents of the register (ACC or IX)
<address> can be an absolute or a symbolic address
# denotes a denary number, e.g. #123
B denotes a binary number, e.g. B01001010
& denotes a hexadecimal number, e.g. &4A

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(a) The current contents of memory are shown:

Address Data
19 24
20 2
21 1
22 3
23 5
24 4
25 22

The current contents of the ACC and IX are shown:

ACC 12
IX 1

Complete the table by writing the content of the ACC after each program has run.

Program number Code ACC content

LDD 20 4
1
ADD #2

5
2 LDX 22

LDI 25
3 INC ACC 1
SUB 22
LDD 19
4 LDM #5 25
LDM #25
[4]

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(b) The processor includes these bit manipulation instructions:

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
AND #n/Bn/&n Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of
AND <address>
<address>
XOR #n/Bn/&n Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of
XOR <address>
<address>
OR #n/Bn/&n Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the contents of
OR <address>
<address>
<address> can be an absolute or a symbolic address
# denotes a denary number, e.g. #123
B denotes a binary number, e.g. B01001010
& denotes a hexadecimal number, e.g. &4A

The current contents of memory are shown:

Address Data
30 01110101
31 11111111
32 00000000
33 11001100
34 10101010

The current content of the ACC is shown:

1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0
Complete the table by writing the content of the ACC after each program has run.

The binary number 10011010 is reloaded into the ACC before each program is run.

Program number Code ACC content

AND 31 10011010
1

1 1 0 1 0 1 01
2 XOR B01001111

3 OR #30 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

[3]
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5 A bank allows customers to access their accounts using an application that they can download
onto a device such as a smartphone.

(a) The system that allows customers to access their accounts using the application is a
client-server model.

Describe the roles of the different devices in this model.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [4]

(b) The bank wants to protect the integrity of its data while transferring the data to other banks.
Parity check is one example of data verification.

Complete the description of parity check when Computer A is transmitting data to Computer B.
ODD OR EVEN
Computer A and Computer B agree on whether to use ......................................................
7 BIT
parity. Computer A divides the data into groups of ...................................................... . The
ODD
number of 1s in each group is counted. If the agreed parity is ................................................

and the group has an even number of 1s, a parity bit of 1 is appended, otherwise a parity bit

of 0 is appended.
BLOCK
In a parity ...................................................... check the bytes are grouped together, for

example in a grid. The number of 1s in each column (bit position) is counted. A bit is assigned

to each column to make the column match the parity. These parity bits are transmitted with
BYTE
the data as a parity ...................................................... .
[5]

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(c) The bank also needs to keep its customers’ data private and secure.

(i) The bank’s network has a firewall.

Explain how a firewall can help protect the customers’ data.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [3]

(ii) Customers need to use biometric authentication to access their accounts.

One biometric authentication method is facial recognition.

Facial recognition uses Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Describe how AI is used in facial recognition.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [4]

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6 A company is developing a website that will allow users to create an account and then play a quiz
every day. The data about the users and the quizzes are stored in a database.

A user must select a unique username and enter a valid email address to create an account. All
users must be over the age of 16. A new quiz is given to the users every day. Each quiz is stored
in its own text file.

The database stores the filename of each quiz and the date it can be played. The user gets a
score for each quiz they complete, which is stored in the database. The scores are used to give
each user a rating, for example Gold.

(a) Create a 3-table design for this database normalised to Third Normal Form (3NF).

Give your table design in the format:

TableName(PrimaryKey, Field1, Field2, …)

...................................................................................................................................................
USER USERID USERNAME EMAIL AGE
...................................................................................................................................................
QUIZ QUIZNAME USERID DATE
...................................................................................................................................................
SCORE USERID RATING SCORE
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [6]

(b) The company is using a Database Management System (DBMS) to set up the database.

Describe what is meant by the following DBMS features:

Data dictionary ..........................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Logical schema .........................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[4]
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(c) The company has another database, FARMING, for a different game.

The database FARMING has a table named EVENT which is shown with some sample data.

PlayerID EventID Category Points

000123 3 Build 100
000124 1 Grow 36
000123 4 Grow 22
000123 7 Create 158
000125 3 Grow 85
000125 4 Build 69

(i) The database FARMING has a second table created named PLAYER that has the primary
key PlayerID.

The field PlayerID in EVENT needs to be set up as a foreign key to link to PlayerID in
PLAYER.

Write a Structured Query Language (SQL) script to change the table definition for EVENT
to link the foreign key to PLAYER.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

(ii) Write an SQL script to return the number of events that each player has completed.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [3]

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7 Complete the binary addition. Show your working.

10011110
01100001
+00011001

[3]

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8 A business is creating a local area network (LAN) in its office.

(a) The business is deciding which topology to use.

Tick (✓) one or more boxes in each row to identify the topology, or topologies, each statement
describes.

Statement Bus Star Mesh

all devices connect to one central device

all devices connect to a central cable

multiple paths for the packets to travel along

robust against damage because if any line fails,

the rest of the network retains full functionality

most likely to lose data through collisions

[5]

(b) The LAN will connect to the internet through a router. The router has a public IPv6 address.

(i) State why the router has a public IP address.

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) One difference between an IPv4 and IPv6 address is that the numbers in an IPv4 address
are separated by full stops and in an IPv6 address they are separated by colons.

Identify two other differences between an IPv4 and IPv6 address.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

2 ........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[2]
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