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8086 Interrupts Basics

The document summarizes the interrupt interface of the 8086 microprocessor. It discusses how interrupts can be caused by external hardware signals, software instructions, or internal events. When an interrupt occurs, the microprocessor suspends its current task and jumps to an interrupt service routine. An interrupt vector table stored in memory contains pointers to the locations of the 256 possible service routines. Interrupts are prioritized, with lower numbers having higher priority, and nested interrupts are only allowed from higher priority sources.

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156 views4 pages

8086 Interrupts Basics

The document summarizes the interrupt interface of the 8086 microprocessor. It discusses how interrupts can be caused by external hardware signals, software instructions, or internal events. When an interrupt occurs, the microprocessor suspends its current task and jumps to an interrupt service routine. An interrupt vector table stored in memory contains pointers to the locations of the 256 possible service routines. Interrupts are prioritized, with lower numbers having higher priority, and nested interrupts are only allowed from higher priority sources.

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mani_vlsi
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Chapter 11 Summary: Interrupt Interface

of the 8086 Microprocessor


An Interrupt can be caused by:
1. An external hardware applying voltage to the INTR pin of the microprocessor,
which indicates that the external device, such as printer or keyboard, requires
service (hardware-based interrupt).
2. By executing the INT xx instruction (software-based interrupt).
3. Due to an internal interrupt (e.g., divide by zero).

Figure 11-1 Interrupt program context switching mechanism.


1

When an interrupt signal occurs, the MPU must suspend what it is doing in the
main part of the program and pass control to a special routine (called the
interrupt-service routine) that performs the function required by the external
device.
For example, when the printer causes an interrupt, the printer driver (interruptservice routine) is called, but how does the microprocessor know where to
jump?
The 8086 microprocessor is capable of implementing any combination of up to
256 interrupts.
An interrupt vector table is stored in the first 1 kbyte of memory (starting at
address 00000h and ending at 003FFh). This is a pointer table to indicate the
location of service routines corresponding to interrupt types 0 to 255.
The CS and IP in the interrupt vector table indicate the location of the service
routine for the corresponding interrupt.
For example, when an interrupt of type 32 occurs, the microprocessor looks at
address 32 * 4 = 128 = 80h and (after pushing the current CS and IP) loads the
new values of CS and IP from 80h to jump to the interrupt service routine.
The first 32 interrupt types have dedicated functions or are reserved (see Figure
11.3).
Interrupts are serviced on a priority basis. Type 0 identifies the highestpriority interrupt, and type 255 identifies the lowest-priority interrupt.
If an interrupt-service routine has been initiated to perform a function assigned
to a specific priority level, only interrupts with higher priority are allowed to
interrupt the active service routine. Lower-priority devices have to wait until the
current service routine is completed.
The user normally assigns tasks that must not be interrupted frequently to
higher-priority levels and those that can be interrupted to lower-priority levels
(e.g., the keyboard is high-priority and the floppy disk is low-priority).
If the IF flag is set (IF = 1), it enables the external interrupt request pin (INTR)
input for operation (i.e., enables hardware interrupts). If IF = 0 the INTR pin is
disabled and external devices cannot interrupt the microprocessor operation.

Figure 11-3 Interrupt vector table of the 8086 microprocessor.

11.3 INTERRUPT INSTRUCTIONS


Below is a summary of 8086 interrupt instructions.

Figure 11-4 Interrupt instructions

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