This allows data transfer between the peripheral and the main system memory while the CPU is being used by other devices. A bus-mastering peripheral can control the bus and act as if it were the entire computer system.
Bus mastering is a concept that can function independently of the bus architecture.
Bus mastering adapters can be ISA, EISA, VLB , PCI, AGP , USB , or FireWire . Currently most bus mastering on PCs is done on the PCI bus. While in theory bus mastering can allow the processor to do other work simultaneously, in practice there can be some complications. This ability to properly handle these requests is controlled by the system chipset. This is document ahxa in domain all from the Knowledge Base.