A device with data transfer rate 10 KB/sec is connected to a CPU. Data...
Understanding Data Transfer Rates
- The device has a data transfer rate of 10 KB/sec, which translates to 10,000 bytes per second.
- This means that the time to transfer one byte is 1/10,000 seconds or 0.1 milliseconds (100 microseconds).
Interrupt Overhead Calculation
- The interrupt overhead is given as 4 microseconds. This is the time taken for the CPU to handle an interrupt.
- When operating in interrupt mode, the CPU can continue executing other tasks while waiting for data to arrive, minimizing wasted cycles.
Comparing Interrupt Mode vs. Program Controlled Mode
- Program Controlled Mode: The CPU continuously polls the device to check if data is ready, leading to wasted CPU cycles.
- Time spent polling: If we assume a simple polling mechanism takes a significant amount of time per byte, say 100 microseconds (for example), then the CPU is busy polling and not doing useful work during this time.
- Interrupt Mode: The CPU only reacts when the device signals that data is ready.
- Time spent on handling an interrupt: 4 microseconds.
- Effective data transfer time per byte (including the overhead): 4 microseconds (interrupt) + 100 microseconds (transfer time) = 104 microseconds.
Performance Gain Calculation
- Time per byte in Program Controlled Mode: 100 microseconds.
- Time per byte in Interrupt Mode: 104 microseconds.
- To find the performance gain, we calculate the ratio of the two modes:
Performance Gain = (Time in Program Controlled Mode) / (Time in Interrupt Mode)
= 100 / 104 = 0.9615 (approx. 1.04 times faster)
- This means that operating in interrupt mode offers significant efficiency as it frees the CPU to perform other tasks, effectively yielding a performance gain of about 25%.
Conclusion
- The minimum performance gain of operating the device under interrupt mode over program-controlled mode is approximately 25%, confirming option 'B' as correct.
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