Gepufferte

Gepufferte is the past participle adjective form of the German verb puffern, meaning to buffer. It is used to describe data, signals, or resources that have been temporarily stored to absorb timing differences between producers and consumers or to smooth out bursts in data flow. The term is common in technical German, especially in computing, networking, audio, and video contexts.

Etymology and usage notes: The noun Puffer (buffer) and the verb puffern are borrowed into German from English terminology. Gepufferte items are typically located in a buffer, a memory region or queue that holds information briefly before it is processed or transmitted. The form gepufferte is used attributively (as in gepufferte Daten) and predicatively in technical writing.

In computing and digital systems, gepufferte data are stored temporarily to accommodate speed differences between components, compensate for jitter, and prevent underflow or overflow. Buffers can be implemented as ring buffers, FIFO queues, or double buffers, and they often involve trade-offs between latency and smoothness of data delivery.

Applications and contexts: Gepufferte data are encountered in video and audio streaming, real-time communication, network traffic management, disk I/O, and embedded systems. Buffering helps maintain steady throughput, reduces artifacts, and allows asynchronous components to work together despite varying processing times or network conditions.

See also: Buffering, Puffer (Computing), Puffern (the verb), buffering techniques.