HANDLING MULTIPLE DEVICES

When more than one device raises an interrupt request signal, then the
processor needs to decide which device’s request to be considered and
processed first.
The following methods are used by processor to decide which device’s
request is to be considered and processed first:
(i) Polled Interrupts.
(ii) Vectored Interrupts.
(iii) Interrupt Nesting.
(iv) Daisy Chain Priority Interrupts.
 POLLED INTERRUPTS
 In polled interrupts, the device raises an interrupt request by setting
IRQ bit to 1.
 The processor sequentially checks the IRQ bit of each device.
 The processor process the request of device whose IRQ bit is set to 1.  
Device 1 Device 2 Device 3 Device n
IRQ IRQ IRQ IRQ

Processor

Disadvantage:
(1) A lot of time is wasted by interrogating the IRQ bit of all devices.
 VECTORED INTERRUPTS
In vectored interrupts, each I/O device has a special register that holds
a special code called interrupt vector.
A device requesting an interrupt sends interrupt vector to the
processor over the bus.
This enables the processor to identify the device that generated the
interrupt.
The interrupt vector can be the starting address of the ISR or where
the ISR is located in memory.
We can have a different ISR(Interrupt Service Routine) for each
device.
 NESTED INTERRUPTS (or) INTERUPT NESTING

A multiple-level priority organization means that during execution of

an interrupt-service routine, interrupt requests will be accepted from
some devices but not from others, depending upon the device’s priority.
A multiple priority scheme can be implemented easily by using
separate interrupt-request and interrupt-acknowledge lines for each
device as shown in the figure given below:
 NESTED INTERRUPTS (or) INTERUPT NESTING

Each of the interrupt-request lines is assigned a different priority level.

Interrupt requests received over these lines are sent to a priority
arbitration circuit in the processor.
 NESTED INTERRUPTS (or) INTERUPT NESTING

The priority level of the processor is the priority of the program that is
currently being executed.
An interrupt request is accepted only if it has a higher priority level
than that currently assigned to the processor.
Interrupt requests from devices at the same level of priority or lower
than processor will be disabled.
 DAISY CHAIN PRIORITY INTERRUPTS
In daisy chain arrangement, the device that is electronically closest to
the processor has the highest priority.
The second device along the chain has second highest priority, and so
on.
The following figure illustrates a daisy chain arrangement.

Figure: Daisy Chain

 DAISY CHAIN PRIORITY INTERRUPTS
The interrupt-request line INTR is common to all devices.
The interrupt-acknowledge line, INTA, is connected in a daisy-chain
fashion such that the INTA signal propagates serially through the
devices.
When several devices raise an interrupt request and the INTR line is
activated , the processor responds by setting the INTA line to 1.
This signal is received by device1.
Device1 passes the signal on to device 2 only if it does not require any
service.
If device 1 has a pending request for interrupt, it blocks the INTA
signal and proceeds to put its identifying code on the data lines.
Explain the usage of daisy chains and priority in simultaneous
interrupt handling.[7M][II-II Regular, April – 2018 SET-1]

Explain daisy chain priority interrupts. [7M]

[II-II Regular, April/May – 2019 Set-3]
Write about the transfer of control between programs through
interrupts. (3M) [II-II Regular, April – 2018 SET-2]

What is interrupt? How the interrupts are processed? (3M)

[II-II Supp., Nov – 2018]

What do you mean by vectored interrupts?[2M]
[II-II Regular, April – 2018 SET-3]
Discuss the implementation of nested interrupts to handle
multiple devices. [7M]
[II-II Regular, April – 2018 SET-4]
What is the use of priority interrupts. [2M]
[II-II Regular, April/May – 2019 Set-3]
(1) It is used to set priorities to all devices and determines which
device’s request should be processed first when two or more
requests arrive simultaneously.

(2) It allows the processor to accept interrupt requests from some

devices but not from others, depending upon their priorities.
What is interrupt? Explain different types of interrupts. [7M]
[II-II
Regular, April/May – 2019 Set-3]
Illustrate different classes of interrupt.[7M]
[II-II Suppl. Nov-2019]
Write about enabling and disabling interrupts. [7M]
[II-II Regular, April/May – 2019 Set-1]