What is an interrupt?

An interrupt is a signal emitted by a device attached to a computer or from

a program within the computer. It requires the operating system (OS) to stop and
figure out what to do next. An interrupt temporarily stops or terminates a service
or a current process. Most I/O devices have a bus control line called Interrupt
Service Routine (ISR) for this purpose.

An interrupt signal might be planned (i.e., specifically requested by a program) or

it may be unplanned (i.e., caused by an event that may not be related to a
program that's currently running on the system).

Today, almost all computing systems are interrupt-driven. What this means is
that they follow the list of computer instructions in a program and run the
instructions until they get to the end or until they sense an interrupt signal. If the
latter event happens, the computer either resumes running the current program
or begins running another program. In either case, it must stop operations while
deciding on the next action. To do this and to work on other programs, the OS
uses pauses in operations.

When the device processor handles interrupts, it informs the device sending the
signal that the interrupt request (IRQ) has been recognized. Then the device
stops sending the IRQ signal.

An OS usually includes code called an interrupt handler to prioritize interrupts

and save them in a queue if more than one is waiting to be handled. It also has a
scheduler program that determines the next program that gets control.

When an interrupt occurs, the associated service may not start immediately. The
time interval between the time the interrupt occurs and the time when ISR
execution starts is called interrupt latency.
Types of interrupts
Interrupts are classified into two types:

I. Hardware interrupt
A hardware interrupt is an electronic signal from an external hardware device that
indicates it needs attention from the OS. One example of this is moving a mouse or
pressing a keyboard key. In these examples of interrupts, the processor must stop to read
the mouse position or keystroke at that instant.

In this type of interrupt, all devices are connected to the Interrupt Request Line (IRL).
Typically, a hardware IRQ has a value that associates it with a particular device. This
makes it possible for the processor to determine which device is requesting service by
raising the IRQ, and then provide service accordingly.

There are three types of hardware interrupts:

Maskable interrupts

In a processor, an internal interrupt mask register selectively enables and disables

hardware requests. When the mask bit is set, the interrupt is enabled. When it is clear, the
interrupt is disabled. Signals that are affected by the mask are maskable interrupts.

Non-maskable interrupts

In some cases, the interrupt mask cannot be disabled so it does not affect some interrupt
signals. These are non-maskable interrupts and are usually high-priority events that
cannot be ignored.

Spurious interrupts

Also known as a phantom interrupt or ghost interrupt, a spurious interrupt is a type of

hardware interrupt for which no source can be found. These interrupts are difficult to
identify if a system misbehaves. If the ISR does not account for the possibility of such
interrupts, it may result in a system deadlock.

II. Software interrupts

A software interrupt occurs when an application program terminates or requests certain
services from the OS. Usually, the processor requests a software interrupt when certain
conditions are met by executing a special instruction. This instruction invokes the
interrupt and functions like a subroutine call. Software interrupts are commonly used
when the system interacts with device drivers or when a program requests OS services.

In some cases, software interrupts may be triggered unexpectedly by program execution

errors rather than by design. These interrupts are known as exceptions or traps.

Difference between Hardware Interrupt and

Software Interrupt
1. Hardware Interrupt : Hardware Interrupt is caused by some hardware
device such as request to start an I/O, a hardware failure or something similar.
Hardware interrupts were introduced as a way to avoid wasting the processor’s
valuable time in polling loops, waiting for external events.
For example, when an I/O operation is completed such as reading some data
into the computer from a tape drive.
 An interrupt generated by a mouse when a button is clicked
 An interrupt generated by a network card when data is received
 An interrupt generated by a disk drive when a read or write operation is
completed
2. Software Interrupt : Software Interrupt is invoked by the use of INT
instruction. This event immediately stops execution of the program and passes
execution over to the INT handler. The INT handler is usually a part of the
operating system and determines the action to be taken. It occurs when an
application program terminates or requests certain services from the operating
system.
For example, output to the screen, execute file etc.
 A system call to read or write data to a file
 A division by zero exception
 A page fault exception
Difference between Hardware Interrupt and Software Interrupt :
SR.NO. Hardware Interrupt Software Interrupt

Hardware interrupt is an interrupt Software interrupt is the interrupt that is

1 generated from an external device generated by any internal system of the
or hardware. computer.

It do not increment the program

2 It increment the program counter.
counter.

Hardware interrupt can be invoked

with some external device such as Software interrupt can be invoked with
3
request to start an I/O or the help of INT instruction.
occurrence of a hardware failure.

It has lowest priority than software It has highest priority among all
4
interrupts interrupts.

Hardware interrupt is triggered by Software interrupt is triggered by

external hardware and is software and considered one of the ways
5 considered one of the ways to to communicate with kernel or to trigger
communicate with the outside system calls, especially during error or
peripherals, hardware. exception handling.

6 It is an asynchronous event. It is synchronous event.

Hardware interrupts can be

Software interrupts can be classified into
classified into two types they are:
7 two types they are: 1. Normal Interrupts.
1. Maskable Interrupt. 2. Non
2. Exception
Maskable Interrupt.

Keystroke depressions and mouse

All system calls are examples of
8 movements are examples of
software interrupts
hardware interrupt.
Interrupts vs. polling
Polling is a state of continuous monitoring where a microcontroller in a computing
system continuously checks the status of all devices. The first device encountered with
the IRQ bit is serviced first and the appropriate ISR is called to service that device. The
system is easy to implement and ensures that the component that needs service gets it.

However, because the microcontroller uses all its processing time for polling, it cannot
carry out simultaneous operation. Also, a lot of time is wasted by interrogating the IRQ
bit of all devices. Interrupts provide a solution to this problem. With interrupts,
the controller does not need to regularly monitor the status of devices. Instead, it responds
only when an interrupt occurs. So, when there is an interrupt, the controller is notified
that it needs service.

What is an ISR?
An ISR is present for every interrupt. The address of each ISR is stored in a fixed
location in memory. An ISR can call for asynchronous interrupts and handle both
maskable and non-maskable interrupts.

When an interrupt occurs, the microcontroller runs the ISR. At the start of execution, the
ISR disables the interrupt services of all other devices, stopping the instruction that's
currently processing and saving its configuration in a register. Then it will load the
interrupt's program counter from a location given by the interrupt vector table. Once ISR
execution is complete, it will reinitialize all interrupt services.

The two main types of interrupt handlers:

 First-level interrupt handler (FLIH). A hard or fast interrupt handler that handles
maskable interrupts and has jitter during process execution

 Second-level interrupt handler (SLIH). A slow and soft interrupt handler with less
jitter than FLIH
Interrupt vector

Table of pointers in memory contains the addresses of interrupt service routines

at a fixed location for a given CPU.

Interrupt processing
Step 1 − First device issues interrupt to CPU.
Step 2 − Then, the CPU finishes execution of current instruction.
Step 3 − CPU tests for pending interrupt request. If there is one, it sends an
acknowledgment to the device which removes its interrupt signal.
Step 4 − CPU saves program status word onto control stack.
Step 5 − CPU loads the location of the interrupt handler into the PC register.
Step 6 − Save the contents of all registers from the control stack into memory.
Step 7 − Find out the cause of interrupt, or interrupt type or invokes
appropriate routine.
Step 8 − Restore saved registers from the stack.
Step 9 − Restore PC to dispatch the original process.