A computer handles several interrupt sources of which of 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 if 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?
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Answer: D
Interrupt priority is determined by the urgency of the event and the potential consequences of delaying its handling. Let's analyze the given options:
- Interrupt from CPU temperature sensor: This indicates a critical hardware emergency (overheating). If not handled immediately, it can lead to permanent physical damage to the processor or system instability. Thus, it is typically mapped to a Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) and assigned the highest priority.
- Interrupt from Hard Disk: This is an I/O completion interrupt. While fast handling is preferred to maintain high throughput, a brief delay does not cause physical damage.
- Interrupt from Keyboard / Mouse: These are user input interrupts. Humans operate on a millisecond scale, so a small delay in handling these interrupts is imperceptible and completely safe.
Therefore, the Interrupt from CPU temperature sensor must be handled at the HIGHEST priority.
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