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Programmed input/output (PIO) is a method of transferring data between the CPU and a peripheral such as a network adapter or an ATA storage device.

In general, programmed I/O happens when software running on the CPU uses instructions that access I/O address space to perform data transfers to or from an I/O device. This is contrast to Direct Memory Access (DMA) transfers.

The best known example of a PC device that uses programmed I/O is the ATA interface; however, this interface can also be operated in any of several DMA modes. Many older devices in a PC also use PIO, including legacy serial ports, legacy parallel ports when not in ECP mode, the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, legacy MIDI and joystick ports, the interval timer, and older network interfaces.

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15y ago

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