Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms: bank switching
bank switching
the ability to use more than one set of memory chips at different times, while giving them the same addresses. This makes it possible to equip a computer with more memory than it was originally designed for-simply store some data in one set of chips, then switch over and use the other set of chips.
Bank switching was used to give the original IBM PC more than 640K of memory (see expanded memory). Bank switching is also used on advanced color graphics cards.
