What Does Interrupt Request (IRQ) Mean?
An interrupt request (IRQ) is an asynchronous signal sent from a device to a processor indicating that in order to process a request, attention is required. A hardware IRQ is induced by a hardware peripheral or device request, whereas a software IRQ is induced by a software instruction. Both result in processor status savings, and revert to serving the IRQ using an interrupt handler routine.
Techopedia Explains Interrupt Request (IRQ)
Interrupts are commonly used to implement computing multitasking and effectively eliminate the requirement for the processor to sample (poll) the lines while waiting for external events.
When two devices use the same level, IRQ conflicts occur. Today, USB plug and play (PnP) devices have virtually eliminated this problem.
