Hardware

  1. Direct Memory Access (DMA) i/o: A device called a DMA controller that is separate from the CPU takes care of all the i/o instructions (besides handling interrupts) instead of the CPU.
  2. I/O Processors: Smart i/o processor(s) resembling small CPUs control channel paths connected to i/o devices and handle entire i/o events, including interrupts.
These notes by Miriam Briskman are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 and based on sources.