Memory-mapped I O and Port-mapped I O
Darwin Jonson edited this page 1 week ago


Memory-mapped I/O (MMIO) and port-mapped I/O (PMIO) are two complementary methods of performing input/output (I/O) between the central processing unit (CPU) and peripheral units in a computer (usually mediating access via chipset). Another method is utilizing devoted I/O processors, commonly known as channels on mainframe computers, which execute their very own instructions. The memory and registers of the I/O devices are mapped to (associated with) tackle values, so a memory deal with might confer with either a portion of physical RAM or to memory and registers of the I/O gadget. Every I/O gadget either screens the CPU's deal with bus and responds to any CPU access of an deal with assigned to that device, connecting the system bus to the desired machine's hardware register, or uses a dedicated bus. To accommodate the I/O units, some areas of the address bus utilized by the CPU must be reserved for I/O and must not be available for normal physical memory