|
Direct Memory Access
Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of computer systems that allows certain hardware subsystems to access main system computer memory, memory independently of the central processing unit (CPU). Without DMA, when the CPU is using programmed input/output, it is typically fully occupied for the entire duration of the read or write operation, and is thus unavailable to perform other work. With DMA, the CPU first initiates the transfer, then it does other operations while the transfer is in progress, and it finally receives an interrupt from the DMA controller (DMAC) when the operation is done. This feature is useful at any time that the CPU cannot keep up with the rate of data transfer, or when the CPU needs to perform work while waiting for a relatively slow I/O data transfer. Many hardware systems use DMA, including disk drive controllers, graphics cards, network cards and sound cards. DMA is also used for intra-chip data transfer in some multi-core processors. Computers that h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Memory
Computer memory stores information, such as data and programs, for immediate use in the computer. The term ''memory'' is often synonymous with the terms ''RAM,'' ''main memory,'' or ''primary storage.'' Archaic synonyms for main memory include ''core'' (for magnetic core memory) and ''store''. Main memory operates at a high speed compared to mass storage which is slower but less expensive per bit and higher in capacity. Besides storing opened programs and data being actively processed, computer memory serves as a Page cache, mass storage cache and write buffer to improve both reading and writing performance. Operating systems borrow RAM capacity for caching so long as it is not needed by running software. If needed, contents of the computer memory can be transferred to storage; a common way of doing this is through a memory management technique called ''virtual memory''. Modern computer memory is implemented as semiconductor memory, where data is stored within memory cell (com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Word (computer Architecture)
In computing, a word is any processor design's natural unit of data. A word is a fixed-sized datum handled as a unit by the instruction set or the hardware of the processor. The number of bits or digits in a word (the ''word size'', ''word width'', or ''word length'') is an important characteristic of any specific processor design or computer architecture. The size of a word is reflected in many aspects of a computer's structure and operation; the majority of the registers in a processor are usually word-sized and the largest datum that can be transferred to and from the working memory in a single operation is a word in many (not all) architectures. The largest possible address size, used to designate a location in memory, is typically a hardware word (here, "hardware word" means the full-sized natural word of the processor, as opposed to any other definition used). Documentation for older computers with fixed word size commonly states memory sizes in words rather than bytes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bus Snooping
Bus snooping or bus sniffing is a scheme by which a coherency controller (snooper) in a cache (a snoopy cache) monitors or snoops the bus transactions, and its goal is to maintain a cache coherency in distributed shared memory systems. This scheme was introduced by Ravishankar and Goodman in 1983, under the name "write-once" cache coherency. A cache containing a coherency controller (snooper) is called a snoopy cache. How it works When specific data are shared by several caches and a processor modifies the value of the shared data, the change must be propagated to all the other caches which have a copy of the data. This change propagation prevents the system from violating cache coherency. The notification of data change can be done by bus snooping. All the snoopers monitor every transaction on a bus. If a transaction modifying a shared cache block appears on a bus, all the snoopers check whether their caches have the same copy of the shared block. If a cache has a copy of the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Write-back Cache
In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. A cache hit occurs when the requested data can be found in a cache, while a cache miss occurs when it cannot. Cache hits are served by reading data from the cache, which is faster than recomputing a result or reading from a slower data store; thus, the more requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the system performs. To be cost-effective, caches must be relatively small. Nevertheless, caches are effective in many areas of computing because typical computer applications access data with a high degree of locality of reference. Such access patterns exhibit temporal locality, where data is requested that has been recently requested, and spatial locality, where data is requested that is stored near data that has already bee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache Coherency
In computer architecture, cache coherence is the uniformity of shared resource data that is stored in multiple local caches. In a cache coherent system, if multiple clients have a cached copy of the same region of a shared memory resource, all copies are the same. Without cache coherence, a change made to the region by one client may not be seen by others, and errors can result when the data used by different clients is mismatched. A cache coherence protocol is used to maintain cache coherency. The two main types are snooping and directory-based protocols. Cache coherence is of particular relevance in multiprocessing systems, where each CPU may have its own local cache of a shared memory resource. Overview In a shared memory multiprocessor system with a separate cache memory for each processor, it is possible to have many copies of shared data: one copy in the main memory and one in the local cache of each processor that requested it. When one of the copies of data is c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache Incoherence Write
Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Science and technology * Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access * Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals * Cache (archaeology), artifacts purposely buried in the ground * InterSystems Caché, a database management system from InterSystems Places United States * Cache, Idaho, an unincorporated community * Cache, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Cache, Oklahoma, a city in Comanche County * Cache, Utah, Cache County, Utah * Cache County, Utah * Cache Peak (Idaho), a mountain in Castle Rocks State Park Other places * Cache, Aosta, a frazione in Italy * Cache Creek (other), several places Arts, entertainment and media * ''Caché'' (album), a 1993 album by Kirk Whalum * ''Caché'' (film), a 2005 film directed by Michael Haneke Commerce * Cache (retailer), a defunct retail clothing store * Caché, Inc., a Florida women's apparel company owned by Andrew Sau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bus Grant
In computer architecture, a control bus is part of the system bus and is used by CPUs for communicating with other devices within the computer. While the address bus carries the information about the device with which the CPU is communicating and the data bus carries the actual data being processed, the control bus carries commands from the CPU and returns status signals from the devices. For example, if the data is being read or written to the device the appropriate line (read or write) will be active ( logic one). Lines The number and type of lines in a control bus varies but there are basic lines common to all microprocessors, such as: * Read (\overline ). A single line that when active (logic zero) indicates the device is being read by the CPU. * Write (\overline ). A single line that when active (logic zero) indicates the device is being written by the CPU. * Byte enable (\overline E). A group of lines that indicate the size of the data (8, 16, 32, 64 bytes). The RD an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bus Request
In computer architecture, a control bus is part of the system bus and is used by CPUs for communicating with other devices within the computer. While the address bus carries the information about the device with which the CPU is communicating and the data bus carries the actual data being processed, the control bus carries commands from the CPU and returns status signals from the devices. For example, if the data is being read or written to the device the appropriate line (read or write) will be active ( logic one). Lines The number and type of lines in a control bus varies but there are basic lines common to all microprocessors, such as: * Read (\overline ). A single line that when active (logic zero) indicates the device is being read by the CPU. * Write (\overline ). A single line that when active (logic zero) indicates the device is being written by the CPU. * Byte enable (\overline E). A group of lines that indicate the size of the data (8, 16, 32, 64 bytes). The RD and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cycle Stealing
In computing, traditionally cycle stealing is a method of accessing computer memory (RAM) or bus without interfering with the CPU. It is similar to direct memory access (DMA) for allowing I/O controllers to read or write RAM without CPU intervention. Clever exploitation of specific CPU or bus timings can permit the CPU to run at full speed without any delay if external devices access memory not actively participating in the CPU's current activity and complete the operations before any possible CPU conflict. Cycle stealing was common in older platforms, first on supercomputers which used complex systems to time their memory access, and later on early microcomputers where cycle stealing was used both for peripherals as well as display drivers. It is more difficult to implement in modern platforms because there are often several layers of memory running at different speeds, and access is often mediated by the memory management unit. In the cases where the functionality is needed, mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bus Contention
Bus contention is an undesirable state in computer design where more than one device on a bus attempts to place values on it at the same time. Bus contention is the kind of telecommunication contention that occurs when all communicating devices communicate directly with each other through a single shared channel, and contrasted with "network contention" that occurs when communicating devices communicate indirectly with each other, through point-to-point connections through routers or bridges. Bus contention can lead to erroneous operation, excess power consumption, and, in unusual cases, permanent damage to the hardware—such as burning out a MOSFET. Ian Sinclair; John Dunton"Practical Electronics Handbook"2013. section "Three-state control". p. 208. Description Most bus architectures requires devices sharing a bus to follow an arbitration protocol carefully designed to make the likelihood of contention negligible.. However, when devices on the bus have logic errors, man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bus Mastering
In computing, bus mastering is a feature supported by many bus architectures that enables a device connected to the bus to initiate direct memory access (DMA) transactions. It is also referred to as first-party DMA, in contrast with third-party DMA where a system DMA controller actually does the transfer. Some types of buses allow only one device (typically the CPU, or its proxy) to initiate transactions. Most modern bus architectures, such as PCI, allow multiple devices to bus master because it significantly improves performance for general-purpose operating systems. Some real-time operating systems prohibit peripherals from becoming bus masters, because the scheduler can no longer arbitrate for the bus and hence cannot provide deterministic latency. While bus mastering theoretically allows one peripheral device to directly communicate with another, in practice almost all peripherals master the bus exclusively to perform DMA to main memory. If multiple devices are able to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Host Controller
In computer hardware a host controller, host adapter or host bus adapter (HBA) connects a computer system bus which acts as the host system to other computer network, network and computer storage, storage devices. The terms are primarily used to refer to devices for connecting SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI, SAS, NVMe, Fibre Channel and Serial ATA, SATA devices. Devices for connecting to FireWire, USB and other devices may also be called host controllers or host adapters. Host adapters can be integrated in the motherboard or be on a separate expansion card. The term network interface controller (NIC) is more often used for devices connecting to computer networks, while the term converged network adapter can be applied when protocols such as iSCSI or Fibre Channel over Ethernet allow storage and network functionality over the same physical connection. SCSI A connects a host system and a peripheral SCSI device or storage system. These adapters manage service and task communication ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
