clock duration calculation

hi friends, I am doing a small project on programmble timer.The timer is designed to give control output to each channel according to the timing.the timer starts from 0.0minutes and as it increments to the fullest cycle, it energises relays which fall within the timing. The cycle time,process time and ON/OFF time
of each channel can be read on a 8 digit display. can you(any one) give me an idea for implementing this project ?

thanks in advance.

 Basics

For a start, take a look at the so-called "bible" for the 8051 - that will tell you what facilities are available on the chip, and then you can think about how to use those facilities to achieve your goal...

Chapter 1 - 80C51 Family Architecture:
http://www.nxp.com/acrobat_download/various/80C51_FAM_ARCH_1.pdf

Chapter 2 - 80C51 Family Programmer's Guide and Instruction Set:
http://www.nxp.com/acrobat_download/various/80C51_FAM_PROG_GUIDE_1.pdf

Chapter 3 - 80C51 Family Hardware Description:
http://www.nxp.com/acrobat_download/various/80C51_FAM_HARDWARE_1.pdf

You should probably also take a look at these tutorial:

http://www.8052.com/tutorial.phtml

 and

once you are familiar with "the bible" read the datasheet for the actual chip you use.

Erik