COMPUTER SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATION AND PROCESSING OF SYSTEM MANAGEMENT INTERRUPT IN IT

PURPOSE: To improve the performance of a computer system by asserting related SMI(instantaneous system management interruption) with the minimum latency based on a reason why the SMI is requested by an SMI source equipped with a reason register. CONSTITUTION: When an enable bit is set, an SMI(instantaneous system management interruption) flag register 114 asserts an SMI signal. A power management unit includes a reason register 112 whose writing can be attained by the command of software. Before the enable bit is set, a 'reason value' indicating a reason why the objective SMI is requested is written in the reason register 112. In an SMI source 102, the reason why the SIM is requested can be indicated by the reason value by starting software, and the related SMI can be asserted with the minimum latency. Thus, the flexibility of programming can be improved, and as a result, the performance of an overall computer system can be increased.