(I-R-Q)

A hardware signal that indicates some device wants the attention of the computer. Each time a key is pressed, for example, the keyboard sends an IRQ to tell the computer it has something the computer needs to process. To avoid conflicts, IRQ signals are processed by a referee, the PIC. Depending on the computer's design an interrupt can be level sensitive (persists until acted on) or edge triggered (signalled by a transition). Processors can have multiple IRQ inputs.

More Information

• Interrupt Function
• System Resources