Word for the Day Archive

USB

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.