Method and apparatus for detecting interrupt requests in video graphics and other systems

摘要

A method and apparatus for detecting an interrupt request in a video graphics or other system are accomplished by reading or polling a shared interrupt request flag stored in one of multiple potentially interrupting devices and determining whether a pending interrupt request exists based on a status of the shared interrupt request flag. In the event that a pending interrupt request exists, a notification of the pending interrupt request is provided to an interrupt service routine. In the event that a pending interrupt request does not exist the circuitry that is reading or polling the shared interrupt request flag delays for a polling interval and then repeats reading or polling the shared interrupt request flag and determining whether a pending interrupt request exists. By reading or polling the shared interrupt request flag of a single potentially interrupting device at predetermined intervals of time, the system is able to detect whether any one of the potentially interrupting devices is asserting an interrupt request.