Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices.
USB was designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals, such as keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles. USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices.
As of 2008, approximately 6 billion USB ports and interfaces were in the global marketplace, and about 2 billion were being sold each year.
Read more about Universal Serial Bus: History, System Design, Device Classes, Physical Appearance, Cabling, Power, Signaling, Transmission Rates, Latency, Communication, Interoperability, Related Standards
Famous quotes containing the words universal, serial and/or bus:
“The universal regard for money is the one hopeful fact in our civilisation. Money is the most important thing in the world. It represents health, strength, honour, generosity and beauty.... Not the least of its virtues is that it destroys base people as certainly as it fortifies and dignifies noble people.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“And the serial continues:
Pain, expiation, delight, more pain,
A frieze that lengthens continually, in the lucky way
Friezes do, and no plot is produced,
Nothing you could hang an identifying question on.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“David: All the reporters are on the bus.
Lucas: Okay, start the bus then. And drive them over a cliff.”
—Jeremy Larner, U.S. screenwriter, and Michael Ritchie. David (Chris Prey)