Working of I/O system

"Working of I/O System"

The working of I/O system combines I/O hardware and I/O software. The I/O hardware includes ports, buses and device controllers for different devices, and I/O devices. The I/O software is the device driver software that may be embedded with operating system or comes with each device. The working of I/O system is described as follows—

• I/O Devices are attached to computer via the ports of computer. There are many standard ports available on the backside of the computer case like serial port and parallel port. If one or more devices use a common set of wires, it is called a bus. For example, PCI bus, PCI Express bus, etc.
• Device Controller operates on a bus, a port or a device. It controls the signals on the wires of port or bus. The controllers have one or more registers for data and control signals. Controller may be simple like a serial port controller for a serial port, or, complex like a SCSI controller. Some devices have their own built-in controllers.
• Device Driver is software via which the operating system communicates with the device controllers. Each device has its own device driver, and a device controller which is specific to the device. The device drivers hide the differences among the different device controller and present a uniform interface to the operating system.

APPLICATION OF I/O DEVICE:

• Application programs use an I/O device by issuing commands and exchanging data with the device driver.
•  The device driver provides correct commands to the controller, interprets the controller register, and transfers data to and from device controller registers as required for the correct device operation.