What are I/O Interrupts?
I/O Interrupt
°An I/O interrupt is just like the exceptions except:
• An I/O interrupt is asynchronous
• Further information needs to be conveyed
°An I/O interrupt is asynchronous with respect to instruction execution:
• I/O interrupt is not associated with any instruction
• I/O interrupt does not prevent any instruction from completion
- You can pick your own convenient point to take an interrupt
°I/O interrupt is more complicated than exception:
• Needs to convey the identity of the device generating the interrupt
• Interrupt requests can have different urgencies:
- Interrupt request needs to be prioritized