Direct Memory Access

Direct memory access (DMA) is a technique for transferring blocks of data directly between two hardware devices. In the absence of DMA, the processor must read the data from one device and write it to the other, one byte or word at a time. If the amount of data to be transferred is large, or the frequency of transfers is high, the rest of the software might never get a chance to run. However, if a DMA controller is present it is possible to have it perform the entire transfer, with little assistance from the processor. 

Here's how DMA works. When a block of data needs to be transferred, the processor provides the DMA controller with the source and destination addresses and the total number of bytes. The DMA controller then transfers the data from the source to the destination automatically. After each byte is copied, each address is incremented and the number of bytes remaining is reduced by one. When the number of bytes remaining reaches zero, the block transfer ends and the DMA controller sends an interrupt to the processor. 

In a typical DMA scenario, the block of data is transferred directly to or from memory. For example, a network controller might want to place an incoming network packet into memory as it arrives, but only notify the processor once the entire packet has been received. By using DMA, the processor can spend more time processing the data once it arrives and less time transferring it between devices. The processor and DMA controller must share the address and data buses during this time, but this is handled automatically by the hardware and the processor is otherwise uninvolved with the actual transfer