What Is A Usb Port

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

In today’s new world of technology we are very lucky to be having USB ports, many of us ask ourselves about what USB ports are and why they play an important role in a technicians life.

What is a USB port and what is the purpose of using a USB port?

The name USB port stands officially for Universal Serial Bus, you can find USB ports in many electronics devices such as computers, laptop, Mp3 player etc. A USB port is a connection interface on a device such as a computer. It is simply designed to bring PnP capability for attaching peripherals externally to the Computer.

The purpose of using a USB port is to transfer and receive different types of data; this can also include communication of data using USB port. In this 21st century nearly every computer or laptop comes with at least 1 or more USB ports. As you can see USB is a standard feature on all computers and laptops and is used for general purpose, high – speed external interfacing. We use USB ports for connecting accessories this includes printers, keyboards, mouse and even mobile phone USB cables. USB is also designed to eliminate separate devices drivers; "It was designed primarily to replace serial and parallel ports on personal computers to eliminate the need of developing separate device drivers" (Andy, 2008).

In today’s world of technology every PC is able to automatically recognise and configure the USB as soon as they are physically attached, this means that the PC does not need to reboot or run a setup program.

The USB can run up to 127 devices simultaneously; "USB allows up to 127 devices to run simultaneously on a single bus." (Scott, 2012). This is an excellent example of how compatible the device USB is, I think 127 devices are a lot, and I am surprised.

I sometimes ask myself why we use USB ports and the answer that I always get is that it’s an easy way to make connection, transferring files, having a hard copy of our resources. I personally use USB a lot for several of different purposes such as transferring files, music, work etc.

It is very easy to identify a USB; it has an icon as shown below;

File:USB Icon.svg (Mobius, 2006)

You will find this icon on any USB device.

3.2 Historic development of computer I/O ports

The I/O stands for input and output, it’s known as a device used to connect into computer. If we look at the history development of computer I/O ports we can certainly say that we should be very satisfied about how we have improved over the past years, thanks to the latest technology.

The technology has improved so much that we as a human can relax and let things happen as quickly and easily possible for example we are creating laptops with touch screen. As you can see just like every year we humans are creating new devices and better more advanced computers and laptops.

An example of this can be known as the operating system Windows they have so many different generations of the software every year they launch a newer and more advanced operating system.

The history of computer I/O ports tells us that as time as has passed, we have created more advanced ports. Humans have created more different types of ports each of it has its own purpose. An example of this is that they have a different speed and some are more advanced than others.

History was made by Intel engineers as they developed the USB in 1990’s to replace the older serial and parallel ports, and IEEE 1394. The design of the USB was transferred to the "USB Implementers Forum to further develop, support and promote USB architecture."(Scott, 2012) this USB-IF was consisted by Intel and six other companies (Intel Corporation, 2013)

The USB-IF has formally released 4 different USB versions, and every which was more advanced than the older, as shown below:

USB 1.0 (January 1996)- Speed : 12 Mbit per second

USB 1.1 (September 1998) - Speed : 12 Mbit per second

USB 2.0 (April 2000) - Speed : 480 Mbit per second

USB 3.0 (November 2008) - Speed : 5 Gbit per second

(R.A.M, 2010)

The USB has developed so much that there are several different types of usb and usb cables for different purposes, such as the following;

USB or USB Cable

Use of purpose

HDMi cable

Now days we have a lot of HD channels on television, so in order to make the most of these we use HDMi cables which are connected from the receiver to the television.

Wi-Fi-USB

We use this to connect internet on either pc or laptop.

USB hub

This USB is used to see live video streaming

As you can see USB has developed a lot, and it’s still growing who knows maybe in 30 years’ time we will be using USB for other purposes that we have never expected.

If we look at the business side of the USB, it can be easily said that it has been growing and doing really well. A statement in the case study of USB by Intel is shown; "As of 2008, there are 6 billion USB products in the install base and the industry is shipping more than 2 billion units per year – and this number continues to grow." (Intel Corporation). This shows how much it has improved and how much they have developed during the years.

3.3 Main applications of USB ports

There are many different types of applications of USB ports; however the main applications are as following:

Types of devices

Description of the use of USB port

Mouse

Mouse can be used as an alternative option for laptops for a better use.

Keyboards

Can be used for anything to do with computing can be connected to laptops and computers

Printers

Allows data to transfer using USB cable which is connected into a USB port. After data is transferred and received you can print paper. Very easy way of connecting.

Scanners

Also connected using a USB cable into a USB port, the scanner gets the data transferred to the computer through the USB port, as it creates a graphical image inside the computer.

Mp3 players

Mp3 players are connected directly into the USB port it communicates with the connected device then transfers data such as Music.

Mobile Phones

Nearly every mobile phone comes with a USB cable which is used to connect to computer or laptop through USB ports. These cables are used for different purposes such as charging, transferring data, importing pictures, software updating etc.

Camera

Cameras are also used to transferring data such as pictures or videos. However, some new cameras come with a memory card which can be connected directly into a computer to transfer data.

Table - Shows main applications of USB ports

Study of the programming methods to read data from/write data to a USB port

4.1Working principle of a USB port

The working principle of a USB port is extremely easy; all you need is a computer that has a USB port which all computers have. All USB ports can have a single connection of up to 127 devices to the computer (Mitchel, 2013).

In the past decades we used parallel and serial interfaces to connect different types of devices with the computer, which was a headache for most users. USB port is now the modern way to connect any device to your computer, the main reason for this is because it’s very easy and simple.

The way USB port functions is very simple for any user; first of all you need to find the USB interface on your computer, you then insert your device to the port of the USB, as you insert it your operating system will automatically install and detect the device and show it on the driver. However, if you have had used the device previously on the computer then the operating system will automatically activate the device and show it on the screen (Cindy, 2012). When finishing using the device most users decide to pull out the USB device, which can sometimes damage the device interface; this means that you can lose your data. It is always a good idea to safely remove your USB device from the port, you can do this by clicking on the safely remove option on your ‘My computer’.

Figure - showing that the USB is now installed

As you can see above in Figure 1 I inserted the USB device and it automatically detected the device and then displayed it on the driver to show us that it’s ready to use. The USB is a 2.0 version known as Hi-Speed; this means that the speed of the device is 240 Mbit per second.

USB ICON

Figure - Option 1 for safely removing the device

In Figure 2 above is shown that you can remove the USB 2.0 device by safely removing it using the option shown. In order to do this you right-click on the USB icon shown above in Figure 2 then chose safely remove USB 2.0 or whatever the name of the device is.

Figure - showing its safe to remove the USB device

The Figure 3 is showing that it is now safe to remove the USB device, the name of the USB is ‘NABEEL USB’ as shown above, I used his USB to demonstrate this working principle.

Click on ‘Eject’ to safely remove the USB device.

Figure - showing option 2 for safely removing USB device

Figure - showing USB Port HUB (INTEL)In Figure 4 I have shown another way of safely removing your USB device, in this procedure you have to go to ‘My Computer’, then right-click on the USB device and then click on ‘Eject’.

4.2 Technical specification of a USB port