Concept
Network interface controller
Related concepts (33)
Network address
A network address is an identifier for a node or host on a telecommunications network. Network addresses are designed to be unique identifiers across the network, although some networks allow for local, private addresses, or locally administered addresses that may not be unique. Special network addresses are allocated as broadcast or multicast addresses. These too are not unique. In some cases, network hosts may have more than one network address. For example, each network interface controller may be uniquely identified.
System bus
A system bus is a single computer bus that connects the major components of a computer system, combining the functions of a data bus to carry information, an address bus to determine where it should be sent or read from, and a control bus to determine its operation. The technique was developed to reduce costs and improve modularity, and although popular in the 1970s and 1980s, more modern computers use a variety of separate buses adapted to more specific needs.
Polling (computer science)
Polling, or interrogation, refers to actively sampling the status of an external device by a client program as a synchronous activity. Polling is most often used in terms of input/output (I/O), and is also referred to as polled I/O or software-driven I/O. A good example of hardware implementation is a watchdog timer. Polling is the process where the computer or controlling device waits for an external device to check for its readiness or state, often with low-level hardware.