<s>
Interrupt	B-General_Concept
coalescing	I-General_Concept
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
interrupt	B-General_Concept
moderation	I-General_Concept
,	O
is	O
a	O
technique	O
in	O
which	O
events	O
which	O
would	O
normally	O
trigger	O
a	O
hardware	O
interrupt	O
are	O
held	O
back	O
,	O
either	O
until	O
a	O
certain	O
amount	O
of	O
work	O
is	O
pending	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
timeout	O
timer	O
triggers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interrupt	B-General_Concept
coalescing	I-General_Concept
is	O
typically	O
combined	O
with	O
either	O
a	O
hardware	O
FIFO	O
or	O
direct	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
access	I-General_Concept
,	O
to	O
allow	O
for	O
continued	O
data	O
throughput	O
while	O
interrupts	O
are	O
being	O
held	O
back	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interrupt	B-General_Concept
coalescing	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
common	O
feature	O
of	O
modern	O
network	O
cards	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
technique	O
dates	O
back	O
to	O
early	O
computer	O
UARTs	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
16550	B-Device
UART	I-Device
chip	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
's	O
serial	O
interface	O
,	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
when	O
even	O
servicing	O
the	O
interrupt	O
rates	O
required	O
by	O
the	O
low	O
data	O
rate	O
serial	O
data	O
streams	O
of	O
the	O
day	O
was	O
taxing	O
for	O
contemporary	O
CPUs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interrupt	B-General_Concept
coalescing	I-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
be	O
implemented	O
without	O
support	O
in	O
hardware	O
,	O
by	O
disabling	O
interrupts	O
in	O
the	O
interrupt	O
controller	O
and	O
using	O
timer-based	O
polling	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
