A unit of processing time in a time-sharing system that may be allocated for operating a program during its turn in the computer. More quanta may be allocated to higher priority programs than to lower priority programs.

• 分时系统中一种处理时间的单位，它可以分配给计算机中正在操作的程序。具有较高优先权的程序可以比较低优先权的程序分配更多的量程（即时间量）。