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Data Buffer: Applications

Data buffers are regions of physical memory used to temporarily store data as it moves between locations. Buffers store data as it is retrieved from an input device or just before sending to an output device. Buffers are commonly implemented in software using RAM and are used when there is a difference between the rate data is received and processed, such as in streaming video. Buffers function like queues, simultaneously writing data in at one rate and reading it at another.

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57 views

Data Buffer: Applications

Data buffers are regions of physical memory used to temporarily store data as it moves between locations. Buffers store data as it is retrieved from an input device or just before sending to an output device. Buffers are commonly implemented in software using RAM and are used when there is a difference between the rate data is received and processed, such as in streaming video. Buffers function like queues, simultaneously writing data in at one rate and reading it at another.

Uploaded by

Dexter
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Data buffer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


  (Redirected from Buffer (computer science))

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"Memory buffer" redirects here. It is not to be confused with memory buffer register.
In computer science, a data buffer (or just buffer) is a region of a physical memory
storage used to temporarily store data while it is being moved from one place to
another. Typically, the data is stored in a buffer as it is retrieved from an input
device (such as a microphone) or just before it is sent to an output device (such as
speakers). However, a buffer may be used when moving data between processes within
a computer. This is comparable to buffers in telecommunication. Buffers can be
implemented in a fixed memory location in hardware—or by using a virtual data buffer in
software, pointing at a location in the physical memory. In all cases, the data stored in a
data buffer are stored on a physical storage medium. A majority of buffers are
implemented in software, which typically use the faster RAM to store temporary data,
due to the much faster access time compared with hard disk drives. Buffers are typically
used when there is a difference between the rate at which data is received and the rate
at which it can be processed, or in the case that these rates are variable, for example in
a printer spooler or in online video streaming. In the distributed computing environment,
data buffer is often implemented in the form of burst buffer that provides distributed
buffering service.
A buffer often adjusts timing by implementing a queue (or FIFO) algorithm in memory,
simultaneously writing data into the queue at one rate and reading it at another rate.

Contents

 1Applications
 2Telecommunication buffer
 3Examples
 4History
 5See also
 6References

Applications[edit]
Buffers are often used in conjunction with I/O to hardware, such as disk drives, sending
or receiving data to or from a network, or playing sound on a speaker. A line to
a rollercoaster in an amusement park shares many similarities. People who ride the
coaster come in at an unknown and often variable pace, but the roller coaster will be
able to load people in bursts (as a coaster arrives and is loaded). The queue area acts
as a buffer—a temporary space where those wishing to ride wait until the ride is
available. Buffers are usually used in a FIFO (first in, first out) method, outputting data in
the order it arrived.
Buffers can increase application performance by allowing synchronous operations such
as file reads or writes to complete quickly instead of blocking while waiting for hardware
interrupts to access a physical disk subsystem; instead, an operating system can
immediately return a successful result from an API call, allowing an application to
continue processing while the kernel completes the disk operation in the background.
Further benefits can be achieved if the application is reading or writing small blocks of
data that do not correspond to the block size of the disk subsystem, allowing a buffer to
be used to aggregate many smaller read or write operations into block sizes that are
more efficient for the disk subsystem, or in the case of a read, sometimes to completely
avoid having to physical

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