An abbreviation
for Universal Serial Bus.
USB is an emerging standard for interconnecting PCs with peripheral devices.
The USB standard was developed by Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC,
and Northern Telecom to provide an intelligent serial bus
for low to mid-speed peripherals. The USB standard allows new peripherals
to be configured automatically upon attachment without the need to reboot
or run setups. USB will also allow up to 127 devices to run simultaneously
on a computer with the capability to perform isochronous
data transfers, which can be assigned to meet specific bandwidth targets to
support audio and/or phone and data conversations. There is not enough bandwidth,
however, to do video as FireWire does. USB
is a real boon to the Windows based PC community because it all but eliminates
frustrating set up issues historically encountered when new peripherals must
be connected. Further, as a standard it reduces the overall cost and confusion
of getting devices connected to any computer.
Not only is
USB a new standard for interfacing computer hardware, but it also stands
for Upper Side Band. This is the name given to the by-product of the new
signal created when modulating a signal
with another signal, as happens in broadcast and FM
synthesis. The Upper Side Band is the result of summing the two signals
together.