xon

Software flow control is a method of flow control used in computer data links, especially RS-232 serial. It uses special codes, transmitted in-band, over the primary communications channel. These codes are generally called XOFF and XON. Thus, "software flow control" is sometimes called "XON/XOFF flow control". This is in contrast to flow control via dedicated out-of-band signals — "hardware flow control" — such as RS-232 RTS/CTS.