Programmed input–output: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Method of CPU communication with peripheral devices}}

{{Refimprove|date=June 2013}}

'''Programmed input–output''' (also '''programmable input/output''', '''programmed input/output''', '''programmed I/O''', '''PIO''') is a method of [[data transmission]], via [[input/output]] (I/O), between a [[central processing unit]] (CPU) and a [[peripheral]] device,<ref name="CompArchOrg">{{cite book |title=Computer Architecture and Organization |last=Hayes |first=John P. |isbn=0-07-027363-4 |date=1978 |publisher=McGraw-Hill International Book Company |pages=419}}</ref> such as a [[Parallel ATA]] storage device. Each data item transfer is initiated by an instruction in the program, involving the CPU for every transaction. In contrast, in [[direct memory access]] (DMA) operations, the CPU is uninvolved in the data transfer.

'''Programmed input/output''' ('''PIO''') is a method of transferring data between the [[Central processing unit|CPU]] and a peripheral, such as a network adapter or an [[AT Attachment|ATA]] storage device.

The term can refer to either [[memory-mapped I/O]] (MMIO) or port-mapped I/O (PMIO). PMIO refers to transfers using a special [[address space]] outside of normal memory, usually accessed with dedicated instructions, such as <samp>IN</samp> and <samp>OUT</samp> in [[x86]] architectures. MMIO<ref>{{cite book |last=Stallings |first=William |date=2012 |title=Computer Organization and Architecture |edition=9th |publisher=Pearson}}</ref> refers to transfers to I/O devices that are mapped into the normal address space available to the program. PMIO was very useful for early microprocessors with small address spaces, since the valuable resource was not consumed by the I/O devices.

In general, programmed I/O happens when software running on the CPU uses instructions that access I/O address space to perform data transfers to or from an I/O device.

This is in contrast to [[Direct Memory Access]] (DMA) transfers.

The best known example of a PC device that uses programmed I/O is the [[Parallel AT Attachment|ATA]] (PATA) interface; however, the AT Attachment interface can also be operated in any of several DMA modes. Many older devices in a PC also use PIO, including legacy serial ports, legacy parallel ports when not in ECP mode, keyboard and mouse [[PS/2 port]]s, legacy [[MIDI]] and [[joystick]] ports, the interval timer, and older network interfaces.

however, this interface can also be operated in any of several [[Direct Memory Access|DMA]] modes.

Many older devices in a PC also use PIO, including legacy serial ports,

legacy parallel ports when not in ECP mode,

the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports,

legacy MIDI and joystick ports,

the interval timer, and older network interfaces.

== PIO mode in the ATA interface ==

The PIO interface is grouped into different modes that correspond to different [[transfer rate]]s. The [[electrical signal]]ing among the different modes is similar — only the cycle time between transactions is reduced in order to achieve a higher transfer rate. All ATA devices support the slowest mode — Mode 0. By accessing the information registers (using Mode 0) on an ATA drive, the CPU is able to determine the maximum transfer rate for the device and configure the ATA controller for optimal performance.

The PIO modes require a great deal of CPU overhead to configure a data transaction and transfer the data. Because of this inefficiency, the [[Direct memory access|DMA]] (and eventually [[ATUltra Attachment|UDMADirect Memory Access]] (UDMA) interface was created to increase performance. The simple digital logic requiredneeded to implement a PIO transfer still makes this transfer method useful today, especially if high transfer rates are notunneeded required likeas in [[embedded systemssystem]]s, or with [[Fieldfield-programmable gate array|FPGA]] (FPGA) chips, where PIO mode can be used withoutwith no significant performance loss.

Until the introduction of [[Direct memory access|DMA]], PIO was the only available method.

Two additional Advancedadvanced Timingtiming modes have been defined in the [[CompactFlash]] specification 2.0. Those are PIO modemodes 5 and PIO mode 6. They are specific to CompactFlash.

The PIO interface is grouped into different modes that correspond to different [[transfer rate]]s. The [[electrical signal]]ing among the different modes is similar — only the cycle time between transactions is reduced in order to achieve a higher transfer rate. All ATA devices support the slowest mode — Mode 0. By accessing the information registers (using Mode 0) on an ATA drive, the CPU is able to determine the maximum transfer rate for the device and configure the ATA controller for optimal performance.

The PIO modes require a great deal of CPU overhead to configure a data transaction and transfer the data. Because of this inefficiency, the [[Direct memory access|DMA]] (and eventually [[AT Attachment|UDMA]]) interface was created to increase performance. The simple digital logic required to implement a PIO transfer still makes this transfer method useful today, especially if high transfer rates are not required like in embedded systems, or with [[Field-programmable gate array|FPGA]] chips where PIO mode can be used without significant performance loss.

Two additional Advanced Timing modes have been defined in the [[CompactFlash]] specification 2.0. Those are PIO mode 5 and PIO mode 6. They are specific to CompactFlash.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

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=== PIO Mode 5 ===

A PIO Mode 5 was proposed<ref name="ATA Timing Extension For ATA-3">''{{cite web |url=https://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/document.95/95-122r0.pdf |title=Proposed 22 MByte/Sec ATA Timing Extension Forfor ATA-3, |first=Joseph |last=Chen |date=January 199510, [ftp1995 |publisher=Technical Committee T10 (X3T10) |work=T10.org |archive-url= https://ftpweb.archive.org/web/20100620052300/https://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/document.95/95-122r0.pdf ATA|archive-3date=June Extension20, Proposal]2010 |url-status=live |access-date=February 19, 2020}}</ref> with operation at 22 &nbsp;MB/s, but was never implemented on hard disks because CPUs of the time would have been crippled waiting for the hard disk at the proposed PIO 5 timings, and the [[Direct memory access|DMA]] standard ultimately obviated it. While no [[Hardhard disk|hard drivesdrive]] werewas ever manufactured to support this mode, some [[motherboard]] manufacturers preemptively provided [[BIOS]] support for it. PIO Mode 5 can be used with CompactFlash cards connected to IDEATA via CF-to-IDEATA adapters.

=== Device compatibility ===

Not all devices are compatible with the official PIO timings. An example is the Sandisk SDDR-89 ImageMate 12-in-1 card reader which uses the GL819 chip from [[Genesys Logic, Inc.]] That chip has slightly different timings for most of its PIO Modes.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|PIO Mode || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 6

|-

| GL819 timings

| 399 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 249 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 183 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 133 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 83 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

|-

| ATA & CF spec timings

| 383 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 240 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 180 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 120 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

| 80 [[1 E-9 s|ns]]

|}

== See also ==

* [[WDMA (computer)|WDMA]] -– Singlesingle/Multiwordmulti-word DMA

* [[AT Attachment|ATA]] -– ATA specification

* [[Input/output]]

* [[Interrupt]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Programmed input output}}

[[Category:Input/output]]

[[Category:AT Attachment]]