COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE DESIGNING FOR PERFORMANCE NINTH EDITION

3.3 INTERCONNECTION STRUCTURES

A computer consists of a set of components or modules of three basic types
(processor, memory, I/O) that communicate with each other. In effect, a computer is
a network of basic modules. Thus, there must be paths for connecting the modules.
The collection of paths connecting the various modules is called the intercon-
nection structure. The design of this structure will depend on the exchanges that
must be made among modules.
Figure 3.15 suggests the types of exchanges that are needed by indicating the
major forms of input and output for each module type
: