Process control block (PCB)

A Process control block is a data structure that holds the state for a process. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Process Identification (PID),
    • Of both the process and its parent if that exists.
  • Process state
  • Program counter
  • CPU register
  • Memory management information,
  • Scheduling information,
  • Accounting information,
    • SPU usage, elapsed time, user/system time.
  • I/O status
  • Process privileges, and
  • Process metadata.