The '190, 'LS190, '191, and 'LS191 are synchronous, reversible up/down counters having a complexity of 58 equivalent gates. The '191 and 'LS191 are 4-bit binary counters and the '190 and 'LS190 are BCD counters. Synchronous operation is provided by having all flip-flops clocked simultaneously so that the outputs change coincident with each other when so instructed by the steering logic. This mode of operation eliminates the output counting spikes normally associated with asynchronous (ripple clock) counters.

The outputs of the four master-slave flip-flops are triggered on a low-to-high transition of the clock input if the enable input is low. A high at the enable input inhibits counting. Level changes at the enable input should be made only when the clock input is high.