IT107 I/O MODULE

KO, JEROME B.
12, 2015
3-ISA
BARIBAR

April
ENGR. AARON NATHANIEL

1. What is an I/O Module? Illustrate with a neat diagram.

- An I/O module is a mediator between the processor and an I/O device/devices.
- It controls the data exchange between the external devices and main memory.

2. Justify the need for an I/O module in a computer system.

- Diversity of I/O devices makes it difficult to include all the peripheral device logic
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(i.e. its control commands, data format etc.) into CPU.

The I/O devices are usually slower than the memory and CPU. Therefore, it is not
advisable to use them on high speed system bus directly for communication purpose.
The data format and word length used by the peripheral may be quite different than
that of a CPU.

3. What are the major functions of an I/O module?

1. Processor communication -- this involves the following tasks:
a. exchange of data between processor and I/O module.

b. command decoding - I/O module accepts commands sent from the processor.
c. status reporting The device must be able to report its status to the processor,

2.
3.
4.

5.

d. Address recognition Each I/O device has a unique address and the I/O module
must recognize this address.
Device communication The I/O module must be able to perform device
communication such as status reporting.
Control & timing The I/O module must be able to co-ordinate the flow of data
between the internal resources (such as processor, memory) and external devices.
Data buffering This is necessary as there is a speed mismatch between speed of
data transfer between processor and memory and external devices. Data coming from
the main memory are sent to an I/O module in a rapid burst. The data is buffered in
the I/O module and then sent to the peripheral device at its rate.
Error detection The I/O module must also be able to detect errors and report them
to the processor.

4. List and briefly define the three techniques of performing I/O?

a. Programmed I/O
b. Interrupt-driven I/O
c. Direct memory access
5. What is an interrupt? Explain how a processor can take advantage of an
interrupt signal to reduce its waiting period to read input data.
- The term interrupt is used for any event that causes temporary transfer of control of
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CPU from one program to the other which is causing the interrupt.
When the processor receives the interrupt signal, it knows that the data is ready; it
suspends its current job and transfers data from buffer to its own registers.

6. State the advantages of direct memory access.

a. When a read instruction is encountered, the processor sends the device address
via the Device Address Bus (DAB). This is decoded by the I/O controller and
the DMA interface of the appropriate device is selected. The processor also
sends the address (in RAM) where the data is to be stored. The READ
command is issued.
b. The processor continues with the next instruction in the program. It has no
further role to play in data transfer.
c. The DMA status register is set to 1 to indicate the BUSY status. Data is read
from the device and stored in the DMAs data register (buffer).
d. When data has been entered in the data register, the data ready flip-flop is set
to 1 and an interrupt is sent to the processor.
e. The processor completes the current instruction. It then gives control of MAB
and DB to the DMA interface. The DMA transfers data from its data registers
to the memory address specified.
7. Elaborate the role of the processor in interrupt-driven I/O.
a. The device issues an interrupt signal to the processor.
b. The processor finishes execution of the current instruction. It then responds to the

interrupt signal.
c. The processor sends an acknowledgement signal to the device that sent the interrupt.

The device then removes its interrupt signal.

d. The processor must save the state of the current task(i.e., the values of registers, the

address of the next instruction to be executed, etc). These are saved onto a stack.

e. The processor then attends to the device that issued to the interrupt signal.
f. When interrupt processing is over the saved registers are retrieved from the stack and

the processor continues its previous task from the point where it was last stopped.
8. What is cycle stealing? Which I/O technique uses this method?

The process of taking control of memory cycle to transfer data is known as cycle
stealing. The DMA transfers one data word at a time after which it must return
control of the buses to the CPU. The CPU delays its operations for 1 cycle to allow
the DMA to steal one memory cycle.

9. What is software polling?

When the processor detects an interrupt, it executes an interrupt-service routine. This

routine polls each I/O device to determine which device caused the interrupt. This
technique is called software poll.

10.Explain the following I/O techniques:

a. Programmed I/O
Using this technique, data transfer takes place under the direct control of the

processor. The processor must continuously check an I/O device and hence it cannot
do another task. This method is hence inefficient (slow).
b. Interrupt-driven I/O
- The basic drawback of programmed I/O is that the speed of I/O devices is much

slower in comparison to that of CPU, and because the CPU has to repeatedly check
whether a device is free; or wait till the completion of I/O, therefore, the performance
of CPU in programmed I/O goes down tremendously. What is the solution? What
about CPU going back to do other useful work without waiting for the I/O device to
complete or get freed up. On completion of I/O, the I/O device interrupts the CPU to
tell it has finished the work.
c. Direct memory access

This method eliminates the need for the continuous involvement of the processor in
the I/O operations.

REFERENCE:

http://www.slideshare.net/mukeshnt/io-modules-24946158