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<title>Data buffer</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Data buffer</span></span>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">"Memory buffer" redirects here; not to be confused with <a href="Memory_buffer_register" title="Memory buffer register">memory buffer register</a>.</div>

<p>In <a href="Computer_science" title="Computer science">computer science</a>, a <b>data buffer</b> (or just <b>buffer</b>) is a region of memory used to store <a href="Data" title="Data">data</a> temporarily while it is being moved from one place to another. Typically, the data is stored in a buffer as it is retrieved from an <a href="Input_device" title="Input device">input device</a> (such as a microphone) or just before it is sent to an output device (such as speakers); however, a buffer may be used when data is moved between <a href="Process_(computing)" title="Process (computing)">processes</a> within a computer, 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 that points at a location in the physical memory.

</p><p>In all cases, the data stored in a data buffer is stored on a <a href="Computer_data_storage" title="Computer data storage">physical storage medium</a>. The majority of buffers are implemented in <a href="Software" title="Software">software</a>, which typically use <a href="Random-access_memory" title="Random-access memory">RAM</a> to store temporary data because of its much faster access time when compared with <a href="Hard_disk_drive" title="Hard disk drive">hard disk drives</a>. 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 <a href="Spooler" class="mw-redirect" title="Spooler">spooler</a> or in <a href="Video_hosting_service" class="mw-redirect" title="Video hosting service">online video</a> <a href="Streaming_media" title="Streaming media">streaming</a>. In a <a href="Distributed_computing" title="Distributed computing">distributed computing</a> environment, data buffers are often implemented in the form of <a href="Burst_buffer" title="Burst buffer">burst buffers</a>, which provides distributed buffering services.

</p><p>A buffer often adjusts timing by implementing a <a href="Queue_(data_structure)" class="mw-redirect" title="Queue (data structure)">queue</a> (or <a href="FIFO_(computing_and_electronics)" title="FIFO (computing and electronics)">FIFO</a>) algorithm in memory, simultaneously writing data into the queue at one rate and reading it at another rate.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Applications">Applications</h2></div>

<p>Buffers are often used in conjunction with <a href="I/O" class="mw-redirect" title="I/O">I/O</a> to <a href="Computer_hardware" title="Computer hardware">hardware</a>, such as <a href="Disk_drives" class="mw-redirect" title="Disk drives">disk drives</a>, sending or receiving data to or from a <a href="Computer_network" title="Computer network">network</a>, or playing sound on a speaker. A line to a <a href="Rollercoaster" class="mw-redirect" title="Rollercoaster">rollercoaster</a> 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 <a href="Queue_area" title="Queue area">queue area</a> acts as a buffer—a temporary space where those wishing to ride wait until the ride is available. Buffers are usually used in a <a href="FIFO_(computing_and_electronics)" title="FIFO (computing and electronics)">FIFO</a> (first in, first out) method, outputting data in the order it arrived.

</p><p>Buffers can increase application performance by allowing <a href="Synchronous" class="mw-redirect" title="Synchronous">synchronous</a> 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, which allows 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 physically access a disk.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Telecommunication_buffer">Telecommunication buffer</h2></div>

<p>A buffer <a href="Subroutine" class="mw-redirect" title="Subroutine">routine</a> or <a href="Data_storage_device" class="mw-redirect" title="Data storage device">storage</a> <a href="Recording_medium" class="mw-redirect" title="Recording medium">medium</a> used in telecommunications compensates for a difference in rate of flow of <a href="Data" title="Data">data</a> or <a href="Time_of_occurrence" title="Time of occurrence">time of occurrence</a> of events when data is transferred from one device to another.

</p><p>Buffers are used for many purposes, including:

</p>

<ul><li>Interconnecting two <a href="Digital_data" title="Digital data">digital</a> circuits operating at different rates.</li>

<li>Holding data for later use.</li>

<li>Allowing timing corrections to be made on a <a href="Data_stream" title="Data stream">data stream</a>.</li>

<li>Collecting <a href="Binary_numeral_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Binary numeral system">binary</a> data bits into groups that can then be operated on as a unit.</li>

<li>Delaying the transit time of a signal in order to allow other operations to occur.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Examples">Examples</h2></div>

<ul><li>The <a href="BUFFERS_(CONFIG.SYS_directive)" class="mw-redirect" title="BUFFERS (CONFIG.SYS directive)">BUFFERS</a> command/statement in <a href="CONFIG.SYS" title="CONFIG.SYS">CONFIG.SYS</a> of <a href="DOS" title="DOS">DOS</a>.</li>

<li>The buffer between a serial port (<a href="Universal_asynchronous_receiver-transmitter" title="Universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter">UART</a>) and a <a href="Modem" title="Modem">modem</a>. The <a href="COM_port" class="mw-redirect" title="COM port">COM port</a> speed may be 38400 bit/s while the modem may have only a 14400 bit/s <a href="Carrier_wave" title="Carrier wave">carrier</a>.</li>

<li>The integrated <a href="Disk_buffer" title="Disk buffer">disk buffer</a> on a hard disk drive, solid state drive or BD/DVD/CD drive.</li>

<li>The integrated <a href="Static_random-access_memory" title="Static random-access memory">SRAM</a> buffer on an <a href="Ethernet_adapter" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethernet adapter">Ethernet adapter</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li>

<li>The <a href="Windows_NT_kernel" class="mw-redirect" title="Windows NT kernel">Windows NT kernel</a> also manages a portion of <a href="Main_memory" class="mw-redirect" title="Main memory">main memory</a> as the buffer for slower devices such as <a href="Sound_card" title="Sound card">sound cards</a> and <a href="Network_interface_controller" title="Network interface controller">network interface controllers</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li>

<li>The <a href="Framebuffer" title="Framebuffer">framebuffer</a> on a video card.</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

<p>An early mention of a print buffer is the "Outscriber" devised by image processing pioneer Russel A. Kirsch for the <a href="SEAC_(computer)" title="SEAC (computer)">SEAC computer</a> in 1952:<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<p>One of the most important

problems in the design of automatic digital computers is that of getting the calculated results out of the machine rapidly enough to avoid delaying the further progress of the calculations. In many of the problems to which a general-purpose computer is applied the amount of output data is relatively big — so big that serious inefficiency would result from forcing the computer to wait for these data to be typed on existing printing devices. This difficulty has been solved in the SEAC by providing magnetic recording devices as output units. These devices are able to receive information from the machine at rates up to 100 times as fast as an electric typewriter can be operated. Thus, better efficiency is achieved in recording the output data; transcription can be made later from the magnetic recording device to a printing device without tying up the main computer.

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<ul><li><a href="Buffer_overflow" title="Buffer overflow">Buffer overflow</a></li>

<li><a href="Buffer_underrun" title="Buffer underrun">Buffer underrun</a></li>

<li><a href="Circular_buffer" title="Circular buffer">Circular buffer</a></li>

<li><a href="Disk_buffer" title="Disk buffer">Disk buffer</a></li>

<li><a href="Streaming_media" title="Streaming media">Streaming media</a></li>

<li><a href="Frame_buffer" class="mw-redirect" title="Frame buffer">Frame buffer</a> for use in graphical display</li>

<li><a href="Double_buffering" class="mw-redirect" title="Double buffering">Double buffering</a> and <a href="Triple_buffering" class="mw-redirect" title="Triple buffering">Triple buffering</a> for techniques mainly in graphics</li>

<li><a href="Depth_buffer" class="mw-redirect" title="Depth buffer">Depth buffer</a>, <a href="Stencil_buffer" title="Stencil buffer">Stencil buffer</a>, for different parts of image information</li>

<li><a href="Variable_length_buffer" class="mw-redirect" title="Variable length buffer">Variable length buffer</a></li>

<li><a href="Optical_buffer" title="Optical buffer">Optical buffer</a></li>

<li><a href="MissingNo." title="MissingNo.">MissingNo.</a>, the result of buffer data not being cleared properly in <a href="Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and_Blue" class="mw-redirect" title="Pokémon Red and Blue"><i>Pokémon Red</i> and <i>Blue</i></a></li>

<li><a href="16550_UART#The_16550_FIFO" title="16550 UART">UART buffer</a></li>

<li><a href="ENOBUFS" class="mw-redirect" title="ENOBUFS">ENOBUFS</a>, <a href="POSIX" title="POSIX">POSIX</a> error caused by lack of memory in buffers</li>

<li><a href="Write_buffer" title="Write buffer">Write buffer</a>, a type of memory buffer</li>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/82576eb-gigabit-ethernet-controller-datasheet.pdf">https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/82576eb-gigabit-ethernet-controller-datasheet.pdf</a></span>

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</style><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/netcx/network-data-buffer-management">"Network data buffer management - Windows drivers"</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/ee416820%28v=vs.85%29">https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/ee416820%28v=vs.85%29</a></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation journal cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200215063219/https://www.nist.gov/msidlibrary/doc/kirsch_1953_nbs2794.pdf">"SEAC Maintenance Manual: The Outscriber"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>National Bureau of Standards Report</i>. <b>2794</b>. July 1953. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nist.gov/msidlibrary/doc/kirsch_1953_nbs2794.pdf">the original</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span> on 2020-02-15<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-07-13</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

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