overlapping input/output

overlapping input/output

[′ō·vər¦lap·iŋ ′in‚pu̇t ′au̇t‚pu̇t] (computer science) A procedure in which a computer system works on several programs, suspending work on a program and moving to another when it encounters an instruction for input/output operation, which is then executed when input/output operations from other programs have been carried out.