InBuffer

InBuffer is a term used in software engineering to denote a memory buffer that stores incoming data before it is processed. It is used in streaming systems, network I/O, multimedia processing, and other pipelines to decouple data producers from consumers and to accommodate variable input rates.

Concept and purpose: An InBuffer accepts data from an input source and provides it to a consumer at its own pace. By smoothing bursts and absorbing timing variations, it helps maintain steady downstream processing and reduces latency jitter. Implementation variants include circular (ring) buffers, first-in-first-out queues, or slab-based pools. The buffer typically tracks capacity, current occupancy, and read/write pointers.

Architecture and features: Many InBuffer designs offer thread-safe APIs, non-blocking operations, and signaling for backpressure when the buffer is full or empty. Common operations include initialization, write/append, read/consume, peek, drain, and status queries such as size and capacity. Memory management strategies vary from fixed-size buffers with overflow handling to dynamic resizing and spillover to secondary storage in extreme cases. Some implementations provide zero-copy access to minimize data copies when the producer and consumer share the same memory region.

Applications: InBuffers are widely used in network servers, media decoders, event-driven I/O, and data processing pipelines to decouple stages and improve throughput and responsiveness. They are also employed in embedded systems where deterministic timing is important.

See also: Buffer, Circular buffer, FIFO queue, Backpressure, Data pipeline.