GATE | GATE CS 2011 | Question 11

A computer handles several interrupt sources of which the following are relevant for this question.

. Interrupt from CPU temperature sensor (raises interrupt if 
  CPU temperature is too high)
. Interrupt from Mouse(raises interrupt if the mouse is moved 
  or a button is pressed)
. Interrupt from Keyboard(raises interrupt when a key is 
  pressed or released)
. Interrupt from Hard Disk(raises interrupt when a disk 
  read is completed)

Which one of these will be handled at the HIGHEST priority?
(A) Interrupt from Hard Disk
(B) Interrupt from Mouse
(C) Interrupt from Keyboard
(D) Interrupt from CPU temperature sensor


Answer: (D)

Explanation: Higher priority interrupt levels are assigned to requests which, if delayed or interrupted, could have serious consequences. Devices with high speed transfer such as magnetic disks are given high priority, and slow devices such as keyboard receive low priority (Source: Computer System Architecture by Morris Mano)

Interrupt from CPU temperature sensor would have serious consequences if ignored.

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