Method and apparatus for reducing the rate of interrupts by generating a single interrupt for a group of events
US5708814A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 21, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jan 13, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 21, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/24
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A peripheral device interrupt controller maintains a count of pending interrupt events for a peripheral device up to a preset limit and times a preset delay interval from a first pending interrupt event or last interrupt servicing before asserting an interrupt request. When the interrupt request is asserted, the then pending interrupt events can be serviced as a group by a central processing unit of a computer. The overhead of processing a separate interrupt request for each interrupt event is thus avoided. The preset limit and preset delay interval can be set under software control to control the rate at which interrupt requests can be asserted by the peripheral device.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.