UNIT V

UNIT V MEMORY & I/O SYSTEMS 9

Memory Hierarchy - memory technologies – cache memory – measuring and improving
cache performance – virtual memory, TLB‘s – Accessing I/O Devices – Interrupts – Direct
Memory Access – Bus structure – Bus operation – Arbitration – Interface circuits - USB.

MEMORY HIERARCHY:
 A memory hierarchy consists of multiple levels of memory with different speeds and
sizes.
 The faster memories are smaller and more expensive per bit than the slower memories.

 Figure shows the faster memory is close to the processor and the slower, less expensive
memory is below it.
 A memory hierarchy can consist of multiple levels, but data is copied between only two
adjacent levels at a time.
 The upper level is the one closer to the processor and smaller and faster than the lower
level, since the upper level uses technology that is more expensive.
 Block: The minimum unit of information that can be either present or not present in the
two-level hierarchy is called a block or a line.
 Hit: If the data requested by the processor appears in some block in the upper level, this
is called a hit.
 Miss: If the data is not found in the upper level, the request is called a miss.
 The lower level in the hierarchy is then accessed to retrieve the block containing the
requested data.
 Hit rate or Hit ratio: It is the fraction of memory accesses found in the upper level;
it is often used as a measure of the performance of the memory hierarchy.
 Miss rate: Miss rate (1−hit rate) is the fraction of memory accesses not found in the
upper level.
 Hit time: It is the time to access the upper level of the memory hierarchy, which
includes the time needed to determine whether the access is a hit or a miss.
 Miss penalty: It is the time to replace a block in the upper level with the corresponding
block from the lower level, plus the time to deliver this block to the processor.
 Every pair of levels in the memory hierarchy can be thought of as having an
upper and lower level.

 Principle of locality: It states that programs access a relatively small portion of their
address space at any instant of time. There are two different types of locality:
 Temporal locality: The principle stating that if a data location is referenced then it will
be likely to be referenced again soon.
 Spatial locality: The locality principle stating that if a data location is referenced, data
locations with nearby addresses will be likely to be referenced soon.
MEMORY TECHNOLOGY:
There are four primary technologies used today in memory hierarchies.
1. DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)
2. SRAM (Static Random Access Memory).
3. Flash memory.
4. Magnetic disk.
 Main memory is implemented from DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory).
 Levels closer to the processor (caches) use SRAM (Static Random Access Memory).
 DRAM is less costly per bit than SRAM, although it is significantly slower. The price
difference arises because DRAM uses significantly less area per bit of memory, and
DRAMs thus have larger capacity for the same amount of silicon.
 The third technology is flash memory. This nonvolatile memory is the secondary
memory in Personal Mobile Devices.
 The fourth technology, used to implement the largest and slowest level in the hierarchy
in servers, is magnetic disk.
 The access time and price per bit vary widely among these technologies, as the table
shows, below.
SRAM Technology
 SRAMs are simply integrated circuits that are memory arrays with (usually) a single
access port that can provide either a read or a write.
 SRAMs have a fixed access time to any datum, though the read and write access times
may differ.
 SRAMs don’t need to refresh and so the access time is very close to the cycle time.
 SRAMs typically use six to eight transistors per bit to prevent the information from
being disturbed when read.
 SRAM needs only minimal power to retain the charge in standby mode.
 All levels of caches are integrated onto the processor chip.
 In a SRAM, as long as power is applied, the value can be kept indefinitely.
DRAM Technology
 In a dynamic RAM (DRAM), the value kept in a cell is stored as a charge in a
capacitor.
 A single transistor is then used to access this stored charge, either to read the value or to
overwrite the charge stored there. Because DRAMs use only a single transistor per bit
of storage, they are much denser and cheaper per bit than SRAM.
 As DRAMs store the charge on a capacitor, it cannot be kept indefinitely and must
periodically be refreshed. That is why this memory structure is called dynamic, as
opposed to the static storage in an SRAM cell.
 To refresh the cell, we merely read its contents and write it back. The charge can be
kept for several milliseconds.
 Figure shows the internal organization of a DRAM, and shows the density, cost, and
access time of DRAMs.
 Modern DRAMs are organized in banks, typically four for DDR3. Each bank consists
of a series of rows.
 When the row is in the buffer, it can be transferred by successive column addresses at
whatever the width of the DRAM is (typically 4, 8, or 16 bits in DDR3) or by
specifying a block transfer and the starting address.
 To further improve the interface to processors, DRAMs added clocks and are properly
called Synchronous DRAMs or SDRAMs.
 The advantage of SDRAMs is that the use of a clock eliminates the time for the
memory and processor to synchronize.
 The speed advantage of synchronous DRAMs comes from the ability to transfer the bits
in the burst without having to specify additional address bits.
  The fastest version is called Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM. The name means data
transfers on both the rising and falling edge of the clock, thereby getting twice as much
bandwidth as you might expect based on the clock rate and the data width.

 Sending an address to several banks permits them all to read or write simultaneously.
For example, with four banks, there is just one access time and then accesses rotate
between the four banks to supply four times the bandwidth. This rotating access scheme
is called address interleaving.
Flash Memory
 Flash memory is a type of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
(EEPROM).
 EEPROM technologies use flash memory bits for writing purpose.
 Most flash products include a controller to spread the writes by remapping blocks that
have been written many times to less trodden blocks. This technique is called wear
leveling.
 Personal mobile devices are very unlikely to exceed the write limits in the flash.
Disk Memory
 A magnetic hard disk consists of a collection of platters, which rotate on a spindle at
5400 to 15,000 revolutions per minute.
 The metal platters are covered with magnetic recording material on both sides, similar
to the material found on a cassette or videotape.
 To read and write information on a hard disk, a movable arm containing a small
electromagnetic coil called a read-write head is located just above each surface.
 The disk heads to be much closer to the drive surface.
 Tracks: Each disk surface is divided into concentric circles, called tracks. There are
typically tens of thousands of tracks per surface.
 Sector: Each track is in turn divided into sectors that contain the information; each
track may have thousands of sectors. Sectors are typically 512 to 4096 bytes in size.
 The sequence recorded on the magnetic media is a sector number, a gap, the
information for that sector including error correction code.
 The disk heads for each surface are connected together and move in conjunction, so that
every head is over the same track of every surface.
 The term cylinder is used to refer to all the tracks under the heads at a given point on all
surfaces.
 Seek Time: To access data, the operating system must direct the disk through a three-
stage process. The first step is to position the head over the proper track. This operation
is called a seek, and the time to move the head to the desired track is called the seek
time.
 Average seek times are usually advertised as 3 ms to 13 ms, but, depending on the
application and scheduling of disk requests.
 Rotational Latency: Once the head has reached the correct track, we must wait for the
desired sector to rotate under the read/write head. This time is called the rotational
latency or rotational delay.
 The average latency to the desired information is halfway around the disk. Disks rotate
at 5400 RPM to 15,000 RPM. The average rotational latency at 5400 RPM is Average
rotational latency 0.5 rotation.

 The last component of a disk access, transfer time, is the time to transfer a block of bits.
 The transfer time is a function of the sector size, the rotation speed, and the recording
density of a track.
 In summary, the two primary differences between magnetic disks and semiconductor
memory technologies are that disks have a slower access time because they are
mechanical devices flash is 1000 times as fast and DRAM is 100,000 times as fast.
 Magnetic disks memory is cheaper per bit because they have very high storage capacity
at a modest cost disk is 10 to 100 times cheaper.
 Magnetic disks are nonvolatile like flash, but unlike flash there is no write wear-out
problem. However, flash is much more rugged and hence a better match to the jostling
inherent in personal mobile devices.
CACHE MEMORY
 Cache to represent the level of the memory hierarchy between the processor and main
memory.

 If the number of entries in the cache is a power of 2, then modulo can be computed
simply by using the low-order log2 (cache size in blocks) bits of the address.
 Because each cache location can contain the contents of a number of different memory
locations.
 The tags contain the address information required to identify whether a word in the
cache corresponds to the requested word.
 The tag needs only to contain the upper portion of the address, corresponding to the bits
that are not used as an index into the cache. The lower 3-bit index field of the address
selects the block.
 Valid Bit: The most common method is to add a valid bit a field in the tables of a
memory hierarchy that indicates that the associated block in the hierarchy contains
valid data. i.e., to indicate whether an entry contains a valid address. If the bit is not
set, there cannot be a match for this block.
Accessing a Cache
 Below is a sequence of nine memory references to an empty eight-block cache,
including the action for each reference.
 Figure shows how the contents of the cache change on each miss.

 Since there are eight blocks in the cache, the low-order three bits of an address give the
block number:
 The cache is initially empty, with all valid bits (V entry in cache) turned off (N). The
processor requests the following addresses: 10110two (miss), 11010two (miss),
10110two (hit), 11010two (hit), and 10000two (miss), 00011two (miss), 10000two (hit),
10010two (miss), and 10000two (hit).
 The figures show the cache contents after each miss in the sequence has been handled.
The tag field will contain only the upper portion of the address.
 A tag field, which is used to compare with the value of the tag field of the cache and a
cache index, which is used to select the block.

 The total number of bits needed for a cache is a function of the cache size and the
address size, because the cache includes both the storage for the data and the tags.
 The size of the block above was one word, but normally it is several. For the following
situation:
1. 32-bit addresses
2. A direct-mapped cache
3. The cache size is 2n blocks, so n bits are used for the index
4. The block size is 2m words (2m+2 bytes), so m bits are used for the word
within the block, and two bits are used for the byte part of the address the
size of the tag field is,
32-(n+m+2)
The total number of bits in a direct-mapped cache is
2n × (block size + tag size+ valid field size).
 This cache holds 1024 words or 4 KiB. We assume 32-bit addresses in this chapter. The
tag from the cache is compared against the upper portion of the address to determine
whether the entry in the cache corresponds to the requested address.
 Because the cache has 210 (or 1024) words and a block size of one word, 10 bits are
used to index the cache, leaving 32 −10 − 2 = 20 bits to be compared against the tag.
 If the tag and upper 20 bits of the address are equal and the valid bit is on, then the
request hits in the cache, and the word is supplied to the processor. Otherwise, a miss
occurs.
Example: 2
How many total bits are required for a direct-mapped cache with 16 KiB of data and 4-word
blocks, assuming a 32-bit address?
Solution:
We know that 16 KiB is 4096 (212) words. With a block size of 4 words (22), there are
1024 (210) blocks. Each block has 4 * 32 or 128 bits of data plus a tag, which is (32-10-
2-2) bits, plus a valid bit. Thus, the total cache size is

or 18.4 KiB for a 16 KiB cache. For this cache, the total number of bits in the cache is
about 1.15 times as many as needed just for the storage of the data.
CACHE MEMORY MAPPING TECHNIQUES:
1. Direct Mapping
 Direct-Mapped Cache: A cache structure in which each memory location is mapped to
exactly one location in the cache.
(Block address) modulo (Number of blocks in the cache)
The contention may occur,

2. Fully Associative:
 Where a block can be placed in any location in the cache. Such a scheme is called fully
associative. It is also called associative Mapping method.
 To find a given block in a fully associative cache, all the entries in the cache must be
searched because a block can be placed in any one.
Advantage: More Flexible than Direct Mapping
Disadvantage:
 Increase the hardware cost.
 It is suitable for caches with small numbers of blocks.
3. Set Associative:
 The middle range of designs between direct mapped and fully associative is called set
associative.
 In a set-associative cache, there are a fixed number of locations where each block can
be placed.
 A set-associative cache with n locations for a block is called an n-way set-associative
cache.

 An n-way set-associative cache consists of a number of sets, each of which consists of n

blocks.
 Each block in the memory maps to a unique set in the cache given by the index field,
and a block can be placed in any element of that set.
 In a set-associative cache, the set containing a memory block is given by
(Block number) modulo (Number of sets in the cache)
Example:1
Assume there are three small caches, each consisting of four one-word blocks. One cache is
fully associative, a second is two-way set-associative, and the third is direct-mapped. Find the
number of misses for each cache organization given the following sequence of block
addresses: 0, 8, 0, 6, and 8.
Solution:
Direct Map: Number of blocks: 4

 The direct-mapped cache generates five misses for the five accesses.

Set Associative:
 The set-associative cache has two sets (with indices 0 and 1) with two elements per set.
Let’s first determine to which set each block address maps:

 Set-associative caches usually replace the least recently used block within a set;

 Notice that when block 6 is referenced, it replaces block 8, since block 8 has been less
recently referenced than block 0. The two-way set-associative cache has four misses,
one less than the direct-mapped cache.

Fully Associative:
  The fully associative cache has four cache blocks (in a single set); any memory block
can be stored in any cache block.
 The fully associative cache has the best performance, with only three misses:

The implementation of a four-way set-associative cache requires four comparators and

a 4-to-1 multiplexor.
 The following figure shows that in a four-way set-associative cache, four comparators
are needed, together with a 4-to-1 multiplexor to choose among the four potential
members of the selected set.
 The comparators determine which element of the selected set (if any) matches the tag.
 The output of the comparators is used to select the data from one of the four blocks of
the indexed set, using a multiplexor with a decoded select signal.
 In some implementations, the Output enables signals on the data portions of the cache
RAMs can be used to select the entry in the set that drives the output.
 The Output enable signal comes from the comparators, causing the element that
matches to drive the data outputs. This organization eliminates the need for the
multiplexor.

Example:
Increasing associativity requires more comparators and more tag bits per cache block.
Assuming a cache of 4096 blocks, a 4-word block size, 16 bytes per block and a 32-bit
address, find the total number of sets and the total number of tag bits for caches that are direct
mapped, two-way and four-way set associative, and fully associative.
Solution:
 Number of bytes per block is : 16 [24]. So, 32-bit address yields 32-4=28 bits to be used
for index and tag.
Direct Mapped cache:
 The direct-mapped cache has the same number of sets as blocks, and 12 bits of index
(212=4096). Hence, the total number is (28-12) ×4096 =16 ×4096 =66 K tag bits.
Two-Way Set-Associative Cache:
 Thus, for a two-way set-associative cache, there are 2048 (211=2048) sets. The total
number of tag bits is (28-11) × 2× 2048=34× 2048=70 Kbits.
Four-way set-associative cache:
 For a four-way set-associative cache, the total number of sets is 1024 (210=1024) sets.
The total number is (28-10)×4×1024=72×1024=74 K tag bits.
Fully associative cache:
 For a fully associative cache, there is only one set with 4096 blocks, and the tag is 28
bits, leading to 28×4096×1=115 K tag bits.
Least Recently Used (LRU):

First in First out (FIFO):

 A replacement scheme in which the block replaced is the one that has been entered first
in the cache memory.
MEASURING AND IMPROVING CACHE PERFORMANCE
 There are two different techniques for improving cache performance. The first one is
reducing the miss rate by reducing the probability that two different memory blocks
will contend for the same cache location.
 The second technique reduces the miss penalty by adding an additional level to the
hierarchy. This technique, called multilevel caching.
 CPU time can be divided into the clock cycles that the CPU spends executing the
program and the clock cycles that the CPU spends waiting for the memory system.
 Normally, we assume that the costs of cache accesses that are hits are part of the normal
CPU execution cycles. Thus,
CPU time = (CPU execution clock cycles + Memory-stall clock cycles) ×
Clock cycle time
 The memory-stall clock cycles come primarily from cache misses. Memory-stall clock
cycles can be defined as the sum of the stall cycles coming from reads plus those
coming from write:
Memory-stall clock cycles = (Read-stall cycles + Write-stall cycles)
 The read-stall cycles can be defined in terms of the number of read accesses per
program, the miss penalty in clock cycles for a read, and the read miss rate:

 Writes are more complicated. For a write-through scheme, we have two sources of
stalls:
 Write Misses: we fetch the block before continuing the write and write buffer stalls,
which occur when the write buffer is full when a write occurs. Thus, the cycles stalled
for writes equals the sum of these two:

 Because the write buffer stalls depend on the proximity of writes. Fortunately, in
systems with a reasonable write buffer depth (e.g., four or more words) and a memory
capable of accepting writes at a rate that significantly exceeds the average write
frequency in programs (e.g., by a factor of 2), the write buffer stalls will be small, and
we can safely ignore them.
 If a system did not meet these criteria, it would not be well designed; instead, the
designer should have used either a deeper write buffer or a write-back organization.
 Write-back: schemes also have potential additional stalls arising from the need to write
a cache block back to memory when the block is replaced. If we assume that the write
buffer stalls are negligible, we can combine the reads and writes by using a single miss
rate and the miss penalty:
Example:1

Handling Cache Miss

Cache miss
 It is a request for data from the cache that cannot be filled because the data is not
present in the cache. We can now define the steps to be taken on an instruction cache
miss:
1. Send the original PC value (current PC – 4) to the memory.
2. Instruct main memory to perform a read and wait for the memory to complete its
access.
3. Write the cache entry, putting the data from memory in the data portion of the
entry, writing the upper bits of the address (from the ALU) into the tag field, and
turning the valid bit on.
4. Restart the instruction execution at the first step, which will refetch the
instruction, this time finding it in the cache.
Handling Writes
 Inconsistent: After the write into the cache, memory would have a different value from
that in the cache. In such a case, the cache and memory are said to be inconsistent.
 Write Through: The simplest way to keep the main memory and the cache consistent
is always to write the data into both the memory and the cache. This scheme is called
write-through.
 Write Buffer: A write buffer stores the data while it is waiting to be written to
memory. After writing the data into the cache and into the write buffer, the processor
can continue execution.
  When a write to main memory completes, the entry in the write buffer is freed. If the
write buffer is full when the processor reaches a write, the processor must stall until
there is an empty position in the write buffer.
 Write Back: In a write-back scheme, when a write occurs, the new value is written
only to the block in the cache. The modified block is written to the lower level of the
hierarchy when it is replaced.
 Write-back schemes can improve performance and more complex to implement than
write-through.
 Split cache: A scheme in which a level of the memory hierarchy is composed of two
independent caches that operate in parallel with each other, with one handling
instructions and one handling data.
Example:2
VIRTUAL MEMORY:
 Virtual memory: It is a technique that uses main memory as a “cache” for secondary
storage.
 Virtual memory implements the translation of a program’s address space to physical
addresses. This translation process enforces protection of a program’s address space
from other virtual machines.
 Protection: It is a set of mechanisms for ensuring that multiple processes sharing the
processor, memory, or I/O devices cannot interfere, intentionally or unintentionally,
with one another by reading or writing each other’s data. These mechanisms also isolate
the operating system from a user process.
 Page fault: It is an event that occurs when an accessed page is not present in main
memory.
 Address translation: It is also called address mapping. The process by which a virtual
address is mapped to an address used to access memory.
 In virtual memory, the address is broken into a virtual page number and a page offset.
Figure shows the translation of the virtual page number to a physical page number.
 The physical page number constitutes the upper portion of the physical address, while
the page off set, which is not changed, constitutes the lower portion.
 The number of bits in the page off set field determines the page size. The number of
pages addressable with the virtual address need not match the number of pages
addressable with the physical address.

 Pages: Both the virtual memory and the physical memory are broken into pages, so that
a virtual page is mapped to a physical page.
 Physical pages can be shared by having two virtual addresses point to the same physical
address. This capability is used to allow two different programs to share data or code.
 Segmentation: It is a variable-size address mapping scheme in which an address
consists of two parts: a segment number, which is mapped to a physical address, and a
segment off set.
 Page table: It is the table containing the virtual to physical address translations in a
virtual memory system. The table, which is stored in memory, is typically indexed by
the virtual page number; each entry in the table contains the physical page number for
that virtual page if the page is currently in memory.
Mapping from virtual address into physical address

 The difficulty in using fully associative placement is in locating an entry, since it can be
anywhere in the upper level of the hierarchy. A full search is impractical.
 In virtual memory systems, we locate pages by using a table that indexes the memory;
this structure is called a page table, and it resides in memory.
 A page table is indexed with the page number from the virtual address to discover the
corresponding physical page number. Each program has its own page table, which maps
the virtual address space of that program to main memory.
 Page Table Register: To indicate the location of the page table in memory, the
hardware includes a register that points to the start of the page table; we call this the
page table register. Assume for now that the page table is in a fixed and contiguous
area of memory.
 When a page fault occurs, if all the pages in main memory are in use, the operating
system must choose a page to replace.
 Because we want to minimize the number of page faults, most operating systems try to
choose a page that they hypothesize will not be needed in the near future.
 Using the past to predict the future, operating systems follow the least recently used
(LRU) replacement scheme. The operating system searches for the least recently used
page, assuming that a page that has not been used in a long time is less likely to be
needed than a more recently accessed page. The replaced pages are written to swap
space on the disk.
 Swap space: It is the space on the disk reserved for the full virtual memory space of a
process.
 Reference bit: It is also called use bit. A field that is set whenever a page is accessed
and that is used to implement LRU or other replacement
schemes.
TRANSLATION-LOOKASIDE BUFFER (TLB):
 Translation-lookaside buffer (TLB) a cache that keeps track of recently used address
mappings to try to avoid an access to the page table.
 Accordingly, modern processors include a special cache that keeps track of recently
used translations. This special address translation cache is traditionally referred to as a
translation-lookaside buffer (TLB), although it would be more accurate to call it a
translation cache.
 Figure shows that each tag entry in the TLB holds a portion of the virtual page number,
and each data entry of the TLB holds a physical page number.

 Because we access the TLB instead of the page table on every reference, the TLB will
need to include other status bits, such as the dirty and the reference bits. On every
reference, we look up the virtual page number in the TLB.
 Reference Bit: If we get a hit, the physical page number is used to form the address,
and the corresponding reference bit is turned on.
 Dirty Bit: If the processor is performing a write, the dirty bit is also turned on. If a miss
in the TLB occurs, we must determine whether it is a page fault or purely a TLB miss.
 If the page exists in memory, then the TLB miss indicates only that the translation is
missing. In such cases, the processor can handle the TLB miss by loading the
translation from the page table into the TLB and then trying the reference again.
 True page Fault: If the page is not present in memory, then the TLB miss indicates a
true page fault. In this case, the processor invokes the operating system using an
exception. Because the TLB has many fewer entries than the number of pages in main
memory, TLB misses will be much more frequent than true page faults.
 TLB misses can be handled either in hardware or in software.
 After a TLB miss occurs and the missing translation has been retrieved from the page
table, we will need to select a TLB entry to replace.
 Because the reference and dirty bits are contained in the TLB entry, we need to copy
these bits back to the page table entry when we replace an entry. These bits are the only
portion of the TLB entry that can be changed.
 Using write-back—that is, copying these entries back at miss time rather than when
they are written—is very efficient, since we expect the TLB miss rate to be small.
 Some systems use other techniques to approximate the reference and dirty bits,
eliminating the need to write into the TLB except to load a new table entry on a miss.

 Virtually addressed cache a cache that is accessed with a virtual address rather than a
physical address.
 Aliasing a situation in which two addresses access the same object; it can occur in
virtual memory when there are two virtual addresses for the same physical page.
 Physically addressed cache a cache that is addressed by a physical address.
ACCESSING I/O DEVICES
 A bus is a shared communication link, which uses one set of wires to connect multiple
subsystems. Most modern computers use single bus arrangement for connecting I/O
devices to CPU & Memory. The bus enables all the devices connected to it to exchange
information.

Advantages
1. Versatility 2. Low cost.
Bus consists of 3 set of lines :
1. Address: Processor places a unique address for an I/O device on address lines.
2. Data: The data will be placed on Data lines. The data lines of the bus carry information
between the source and the destination. This information may consist of data, complex
commands, or addresses.
3. Control: The control lines are used to signal requests and acknowledgments, and to
indicate what type of information is on the data lines. Processor requests for either Read /
Write.
INPUT OUTPUT SYSTEM
1. Memory mapped I/O 2.Programmed I/O
1. Memory mapped I/O
 I/O devices and the memory share the same address space, the arrangement is called
Memory-mapped I/O. In Memory-mapped I/O portions of address space are assigned to
I/O devices and reads and writes to those addresses are interpreted as commands to the
I/O device.
2. Programmed I/O
 Programmed I/O is a method included in every computer for controlling I/O operation.
It is most useful in small, low speed system where hardware cost must be minimized.
 Programmed I/O requires all I/O operation can be executed under the direct control of
the CPU.
 Generally data transfer takes place between two registers. One is CPU register and other
register is attached in I/O device. I/O device does not have direct access to main
memory.
 A data transfer from an I/O device to memory required CPU to execute several
instructions.
 Input instruction to transfer a word from the I/O device to the CPU and store instruction
to transfer the word from the CPU to memory.
Techniques:
1. I/O Addressing 2. I/O-Mapped I/O 3. I/O Instruction 4. I/O Interface Circuit
INTERRUPTS
 The word interrupt is used to cause a CPU to temporarily transfer control from its
current program to another program.
 When I/O Device is ready, it sends the INTERRUPT signal to processor via a dedicated
controller line. In response to the interrupt, the processor executes the Interrupt Service
Routine (ISR).
 All the registers, flags, program counter values are saved by the processor before
running ISR.
 The time required to save status & restore contribute to execution overhead is called
“Interrupt Latency”.
 Various internal and external sources generate interrupts to the CPU. IO interrupts are
external requests to the CPU to initiate or terminate an operation.
 If a power supply failure occurs then interrupt can be generated and interrupt handler to
save critical data about the system's state, it is a kind of hardware interrupt.
 An instruction to divide by zero is an examples of software interrupt.
Steps:
Handling Multiple Devices
 Multiple devices can initiate interrupts. They uses the common interrupt request line
Techniques are
1. Maskable and Nonmaskable interrupt
2. Single line interrupt(polling)
3. Multilevel interrupt
4. Vectored Interrupts
5. Interrupt Nesting
6. Daisy Chaining
7. Daisy Chaining with priority group
8. Pipeline Interrupt
1. Maskable and Nonmaskable interrupt
 Maskable interrupts are enabled and disabled under program control.
 By setting or resetting particular flip-flops in the processor, interrupts can be masked or
unmasked.
 When masked processor does not respond to the interrupt even though the interrupt is
activated. Most of the processor provides the masking facility.
 In the processor those interrupts which can be masked under software control are called
maskable interrupts.
 In the processor those interrupts which cannot be masked under software control are
called nonmaskable interrupts.
 Three methods of Controlling Interrupts (single device)
1. Ignoring interrupt
2. Disabling interrupts
3. Special Interrupt request line
1. Ignoring Interrupts
 Processor hardware ignores the interrupt request line until the execution of the first
instruction of the ISR completed. Using an interrupt disable instruction after the first
instruction of the ISR. A return from interrupt instruction is completed before further
interruptions can occur.
2. Disabling Interrupts
 Processor automatically disables interrupts before starting the execution of the ISR.
 The processor saves the contents of PC and PS (status register) before performing
interrupt disabling. The interrupt-enable is set to 0 means no further interrupts allowed.
 When return from interrupt instruction is executed the contents of the PS are restored
from the stack, and the interrupt enable is set to 1
3. Special Interrupt line
 Special interrupt request line for which the interrupt handling circuit responds only to
the leading edge of the signal Edge –triggered.
 Processor receives only one request regardless of how long the line is activated.
 No separate interrupt disabling instructions.
2. Single Line Interrupt
 In a single interrupts there can be many interrupting devices. But all interrupt requests
are made via a single input pin of the CPU.
 In single line interrupt system, all IO ports share a single INTERRUPT REQUEST line.
On responding to an interrupt request, the CPU must scan all the IO devices to
determine the source of the interrupt.
 This procedure requires activating an INTERRUPT ACKNOWLEDGE line and that is
connected in daisy chain fashion to all IO devices.
 Once the interrupting I/O port is identified, the CPU will service it and then return to
task it was performing before the interrupt.
 Polling software routine that checks the logic state of each device. The Interrupt service
routine polls the I/O devices connected to the bus.
 Main advantage of polling is it allowing the interrupt priority to be programmed.

3. Multilevel Interrupt
 In multiple level interrupts, processor has more than one interrupt pins.
 The I/O devices are tied to the individual interrupt pins.
 The interrupts can be easily identified by the CPU upon receiving an interrupt request
from it.
 This allows processor to go directly to that I/O device and service it without having to
poll first.
 Advantage is saves the time in processing interrupt.
4. Vectored Interrupts
 The following figure shows a basic way to derive interrupt vectors from multiple
interrupt request lines.
 Each interrupt request line generates a unique fixed address and it is used to modify the
CPU's program counter PC.
 Interrupt requests are stored on receipt in an interrupt register. The interrupt, mask
register can disable any or all of the interrupt request lines under program control.
 The K masked interrupt signals are fed into a priority encoder that produces a [log2K]
bit address and it is inserted into PC. PC finds the ISR address from the code.
 Device requesting an interrupt identifies itself directly to the processor. The device
sends a special code to the processor over the bus.
 The code contains the
1. Identification of the device
2. Starting address for the ISR
3. Address of the branch to the ISR

5. Interrupt Nesting
 Pre-Emption of low priority Interrupt by another high priority interrupt is known as
Interrupt nesting.
 Need a priority of IRQ devices and accepting IRQ from a high priority device.
 The priority level of the processor can be changed dynamically.
 The privileged instruction write in the PS (processor status word), that encodes the
processors priority. Organizing I/O devices in a prioritized structure.
 Each of the interrupt-request lines is assigned a different priority level. The processor is
interrupted only by a high priority device.
6. Daisy Chaining
 The interrupt request line INTR is common to all the devices.
 The interrupt acknowledgement line INTA is connected to devices in a DAISY CHAIN
way.
 INTA propagates serially through the devices. Device that is electrically closest to the
processor gets high priority.
 Low priority device may have a danger of STARVATION.

7. Daisy Chaining with Priority Group

 Combining Daisy chaining and Interrupt nesting to form priority group.
 Each group has different priority levels and within each group devices are connected in
daisy chain way.

8. Pipeline Interrupts
 In a pipelined processor, many instructions are executed at same time so it is difficult to
find the interrupting instruction.
 In a pipelined process one instruction can finish sooner than another instruction that was
issued earlier. Let's consider three different kinds of instructions floating point
representation such as
1. Multiply
2. Add1
3. Add2
 Multiply instruction has 7 clock cycles and Add 1 and 2 have four clock cycles.
 In Fig.(a) Add 1 instruction completes their execution before multiply instruction, even
though multiply instruction starts their execution 1 cycle earlier than Add 1.
  Here no hazard occurs due to the data dependencies. Suppose add1 generates an
interrupt due to a result overflows in its execution stage EX corresponding to cycle4.

 Now we need transfer the control to an interrupt handler designed to service adder
overflow. It is also possible that the ongoing multiply instruction will generate another
interrupt in cycle6.
 This second interrupt can change the CPU’s state to prevent proper processing of the
first interrupt.
 Registers affected by add1 instruction can be further modified by the multiply interrupt
so proper recovery from the add1 instruction may not be possible.
 In such kinds of situation the CPU state is said to have become imprecise.
 Precise interrupt is one where the system state information or correct transfer of
control to the interrupt handler and correct return to the interrupting program is always
preserved.
DIRECT MEMORY ACCESS (DMA)
 To transfer large blocks of data at high Speed, between EXTERNAL devices & Main
Memory, DMA approach is often used.
 DMA controller allows data transfer directly between I/O device and Memory, with
minimal intervention of processor.
 DMA controller acts as a Processor, but it is controlled by CPU.
 To initiate transfer of a block of words, the processor sends the following data to
controller
 The starting address of the memory block
 The word count
 Control to specify the mode of transfer such as read or write
 A control to start the DMA transfer
 DMA controller performs the requested I/O operation and sends a interrupt to the
processor upon completion

 In DMA interface First register stores the starting address, Second register stores Word
count and Third register contains status and control flags.

 Memory accesses by the processor and DMA Controller are interleaved.

 DMA devices have higher priority than processor over BUS control.
 Cycle Stealing: DMA Controller “steals” memory cycles from processor, though
processor originates most memory access.
 Block or Burst mode: The DMA controller may give exclusive access to the main
memory to transfer a block of data without interruption.
  Conflicts in DMA:
1. Processor and DMA.
2. Two DMA controllers, try to use the Bus at the same time to access the main
memory.
The hardware needed to implement DMA is shown in the following Figure.
 The circuit assumes that all access to main memory is via a shared system bus.
 The IO device is connected to the system bus via a special interface circuit called DMA
controller.
 It contains a data buffer register IODR, it also controls an address register IOAR and a
data count register DC.
 These registers enable the DMA controller to transfer data to or from a contiguous
region of memory.
 IOAR stores the address of the next word to be transferred. It is automatically
incremented or decremented after each word transfer.
 The data counter DC stores the number of words that remain to be transferred.
 Data counter is automatically incremented or decremented after each transfer and tested
for zero, when DC reaches zero the DMA transfer halls.

 The DMA controller is normally provided with interrupt capabilities to send an

interrupt to the CPU to signal the end of the IO data transfer.
 A DMA controller can be designed to supervise DMA transfers involving several IO
devices, each device has a different priority of access to the system bus. Under DMA
control data can be transferred in several different ways.
 In a DMA block transfer a data word is a sequence of arbitrary length that is transferred
in a single burst while the DMA controller is master of the memory bus.
 This DMA mode needs the secondary memories like disk drives, where data
transmission cannot be stopped or slowed without loss of data.
  Block DMA transfer supports the fastest IO data transfer rates but it can make the
CPU inactive for relatively long periods by tying up the system bus.
 Cycle stealing: An alternative technique called cycle stealing; it allows the DMA
controller to use the system bus to transfer one word data after it must 'return control of
the bus to the CPU.
 Cycle stealing reduces, the maximum IO transfer rate and also reduces the interference
by the DMA controller in the CPU’s memory access.
 Transparent DMA: It is possible to eliminate this interference completely by
designing the DMA interfaces. CPU is not actually using the system bus. This is called
transparent DMA.
 The above shown DMA circuit has the following DMA transfer process:
Step 1:
 The CPU executes two IO instructions, which load the DMA' registers IOAR and DC
with their initial values.
 IOAR register should contain the base address of the memory region to be used in the
data transfer.
 DC register should contain the number of words to be transferred to' or from that
region.
Step 2:
 When the DMA controller is ready to transmit or receive data, it activates the DMA
REQUEST line to the CPU.
 The CPU waits for the next DMA breakpoint.
 DMA controller relinquishes control of the data and address lines and activates DMA
ACKNOWLEDGE.
 DMA REQUEST and DMA ACKNOWLEDGE are essentially used in BUS
REQUEST and BUS GRANT lines for control of the system bus.
 DMA requests from several DMA controllers are resolved by bus priority control
techniques.
Step 3:
 Now DMA controller transfers data directly to or from main memory. After transferring
a word, IOAR and DC registers are updated.
Step 4:
 If DC has not yet reached zero but, the 10 device is not ready to send' or receive the
next batch of data then the DMA-controller will release the system bus to the CPU by
deactivating the DMA REQUEST line.
 The CPU responds by deactivating DMA ACKNOWLEDGE and resuming control of
the system bus.
Step 5:
 If DC register is decremented to zero then the DMA controller again relinquished
control of the system bus.
 It may also send an interrupt request signal to the CPU. The CPU responds by halting
the IO device or by initiating a new DMA transfer.
BUS ARBITRATION
 Bus master: Device that initiates data transfers on the bus.
 The next device can take control of the bus after the current master surrenders control.
 Bus Arbitration: Process by which the next device to become master is selected.
Types of bus arbitration:
1. Centralized and Distributed Arbitration
2. Distributed Arbitration
Centralized and Distributed Arbitration

 BR (Bus Request) line is the open drain line and the signal on this line is a logical OR
of the bus request from all the DMA devices.
 BG (Bus Grant) line is processor activates this line indicating (acknowledging) to all the
DMA devices (connected in daisy chain fashion) that the BUS may be used when it’s
free.
 BBSY (Bus Busy) line is an open collector line. The current bus master indicates
devices that it is currently using the bus by signaling this line.
 Processor is normally the bus master, unless it grants bus mastership to DMA.
 For the timing/control, in the above diagram DMA controller 2 requests and acquires
bus mastership and later releases the bus.
 During its tenure as the bus master, it may perform one or more data transfer operations,
depending on whether it is operating in the cycle stealing or block mode.
 After it releases the bus, the processor resumes bus mastership.
Distributed Arbitration
 All devices waiting to use the bus have to carry out the arbitration process and it has no
central arbiter.
 Each device on the bus is assigned with a 4-bit identification number.
 One or more devices request the bus by asserting the start-arbitration signal and place
their identification number on the four open collector lines.

 ARB0 through ARB3 are the four open collector lines.

 One among the four is selected using the code on the lines and one with the highest ID
number.
 Assume that two devices, A and B, having ID numbers 5 and 6, respectively, are
requesting the use of the bus.
 Device A transmits the pattern 0101, and device B transmits the pattern 0110. The code
seen by both devices is 0111.
 Each device compares the pattern on the arbitration lines to its own ID, starting from
the most significant bit.
 If it detects a difference at any bit position, it disables its drivers at that bit position and
for all lower-order bits. It does so by placing a 0 at the input of these drivers.
 In the case of our example, device A detects a difference on line ARB I. Hence, it
disables its drivers on lines ARB 1 and ARBO.
 This causes the pattern on the arbitration lines to change to 0110, which means that B
has won the contention.
Interface Circuit
 The interface circuit contains the following units. Namely,
1. Address Decoder
2. Control Circuits
3. Data registers and Status registers
 The register in I/O Interface is buffer and control. There are two flags in Status
Registers, like SIN, SOUT and two Data Registers, like Data-IN, Data-OUT.
 Status register SIN, SOUT provides status information for keyboard and display unit.
 When the processor places the address and data on the memory bus, the memory system
ignores the operation because the address indicates a portion of the memory space used
for I/O.

 DATAIN is the address of the input buffer associated with the keyboard.
Move DATAIN, R0; reads the data from DATAIN and stores them into
processor registerR0
Move R0, DATAOUT; sends the contents of register R0 to location
DATAOUT
 The device controller, sees the operation, records the data, and transmits it to the device
as a command.
 User programs are prevented from issuing I/O operations directly because the OS does
not provide access to the address space assigned to the I/O devices and thus the
addresses are protected by the address translation.