Interrupts

Software

Exam Questions
The operating system of a PC carries out many different functions, including
multi-tasking and memory management.
Explain what is meant by each of these terms. [4]
Multi-tasking:

A multi-tasking operating system is capable of running several programs at

the same time. (1) The OS allocates a small amount of processor time to
each running process in turn. (1)

Memory management:
The operating system loads programs and data into memory/RAM
when they are needed. (1) It keeps track of where each item is held
and where there is free space (1), so it does not overwrite running
programs (1).
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Exam Questions
A systems administrator makes use of a text-based computer interface to
enter commands.
(a) State one advantage of using such an interface. [1]

The commands may be entered faster. (1)

Lots of options are available for each command, (giving the administrator
more control) (1).
The interface has low CPU/RAM/graphics processing requirements (1).
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Exam Questions
Give one reason why text-based computer interfaces are not commonly
used by the general public.[1]

They are harder to learn / they require the learning of multiple commands
(1).
They are less intuitive (1).
Most user devices have necessary graphics capabilities built in (1).
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Exam Questions
A user has purchased a new digital camera for recording high quality
videos.
When they first want to transfer videos from the camera to their
computer, they first connect the camera to a USB port on their computer.
(a) Name the type of software that will need to be installed by the
operating system before the videos can be transferred. [1]

Device driver. (1)

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Exam Questions
The user is able to delete photos and change settings on the camera
itself. To do this they use up, down and select buttons.
State the type of interface that the camera uses. [1]

A menu interface. (1)

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Exam Questions

Explain one security feature that a smartphone operating system provides.

[2]

Encryption of the secondary storage (1) so that if the phone is stolen

the data on it cannot be read (1).

A PIN/password/fingerprint recognition (1) to only allow access to an

authorised user (1).
Objectives
• Understand how hardware, firmware and an operating
system are required to run applications
• Understand the role of the bootloader

• Describe the role and operation of interrupts including:

• How an interrupt is generated
• How it is handled using an interrupt service routine
• What happens as a result of the interrupts

• Be able to describe examples of software and

hardware interrupts
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Starter
• ROM on a computer stores programs that cannot be
changed as they are stored on Read Only Memory
• Are these programs software or hardware?
• Discuss your thoughts with a partner
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Firmware
• Hardware is named after the fact it is physically hard
• The term is used for all physical components of a computer or
peripherals
• Software isn’t a physical object, so it is given the opposite
name (soft rather than hard)
• Firmware (between hard and soft) contains
programs that are stored permanently in hardware
• The BIOS stored on a computer
is stored on a flash ROM
• It can only be updated by flashing
the ROM
• Other peripherals may have their own firmware
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Bootloader
• When you first turn on a computer it starts running
firmware stored in the ROM
• These instructions then load the
first instructions from the hard disk
telling the computer what tasks
to do
• The part of the hard disk that stores
these instructions is the boot sector
• Turning on a computer is
known as ‘booting’ after
“pulling yourself up by
your bootstraps”
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Running applications
• Applications run on the computer’s Applications
operating system
• If they need to access hardware, they do
this via ‘calls’ to the operating system or
Operating system
device drivers
• The operating system itself runs on
top of the firmware Firmware
• The bootloader and other firmware runs
on the physical hardware itself

Hardware
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Worksheet
• Complete Task 1 on Worksheet
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Interrupts
• When you need to get the
attention of someone who is busy
you need to interrupt them
• In the same way, peripheral devices
also need to get the attention of the CPU
• They do this by sending an interrupt
which leads to the relevant
interrupt service routine (ISR) being run
• What happens to the current process
that is running on the processor?
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Interrupts
• The current process will need to pause, but it will
need to be restarted later
• The value stored in the program counter (PC) is saved
in a location in RAM
• No more instructions of the following task are performed (they
will be later)
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Interrupt Service Routine (ISR)

• Once the CPU has been interrupted, it needs to
process the interrupt
• It runs the interrupts program code known as an Interrupt
Service Routine (ISR)
• This is also known as an interrupt handler
• The ISR needs to execute as quickly as possible as it has
interrupted the CPU from the task it was working on
• For instance, if a key is pressed, the ISR may save the key
that was pressed. Later, a word-processor task can process it
further
Interrupt service
Interrupt routine (ISR) Processor returns to
generated previous task
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Hardware interrupts
• Hardware devices send interrupt signals to the CPU
• The interrupts are sent via Interrupt Request Lines (IRQ)
• For instance, if a key on a keyboard is pressed, an interrupt
will be sent (actually an interrupt is sent when the key is
pressed and another is sent when it is released)
• When a mouse is moved, constant
interrupts are sent to the
computer so that it
is able to update
the location of
the pointer
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Software interrupts
• Software interrupts are generated by programs that
are running
• For instance, if a program tries to divide by zero, a ‘division by
zero’ interrupt will need
to be handled
• In this case, an
exception is
handled by the OS
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Software interrupts
• Software interrupts deal with faults such as:
• Page faults – this is when the data isn’t in RAM, but in
virtual memory and needs to be loaded back into RAM
• Segmentation faults – this is when the one program tries to
make an illegal memory location, such as the memory used
by another program
• When a fault occurs
an interrupt service
routine is called
which handles
the error
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Worksheet
• Complete Task 2 on Worksheet
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Plenary
• Take turns to explain to a partner each of the
following terms

Bootloader Firmware Interrupt

Interrupt service
Software interrupt Hardware interrupt
routine (ISR)
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Plenary
• Bootloader – the first instructions a computer runs that tell it
where to find the boot sector on the hard drive. The bootloader
is stored in the ROM’s firmware
• Firmware – programs stored in ROM
• Interrupt – A signal sent to a processor causing it to pause the
current task and handle the interrupt
• Hardware interrupt – interrupts generated by hardware, such
as a key press or mouse movement
• Software interrupt – interrupts generated by software, such as
an attempted division by zero or an attempt to access a
memory location currently being used by another program
• Interrupt service routine – a short set of instructions that is
executed when an interrupt occurs – also known as an
interrupt handler