Universal Serial Bus System Architecture (PC System Architecture Series) (Paperback)

by Inc. MindShare (Author), Don Anderson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Universal Serial Bus System Architecture provides an in-depth discussion of USB and is based on the 1.0 version of the Universal Serial Bus specification. It focuses on the USB protocol, signaling environment, and electrical specifications, along with the hardware/software interaction required to configure and access USB devices. Although this book does not focus on writing USB device drivers, it does contain useful background information that aids in understanding the USB software environment. Key topics include: differential signaling environment, device configuration, suspend/resume operations device descriptors, device requests (commands), transfer mechanisms USB transaction protocols, bus-powered devices, self-powered devices host controller designs (UHC and OHC), error detection and handling device class definitions.

The PC System Architecture Series is a crisply written and comprehensive set of guides to the most important PC hardware standards. Each title is designed to illustrate the relationship between the software and hardware and explains thoroughly the architecture, features, and operations of systems built using one particular type of chip or hardware specification.

From the Inside Flap
The MindShare Architecture Series

The MindShare Architecture book series includes: ISA System Architecture, EISA System Architecture, 80486 System Architecture, PCI System Architecture, Pentium System Architecture, PCMCIA System Architecture, PowerPC System Architecture, Plug-and-Play System Architecture, CardBus System Architecture, Protected Mode Software Architecture, Pentium Pro and Pentium II System Architecture, USB System Architecture, FireWire System Architecture, PCI-X System Architecture, and AGP System Architecture. The book series is published by Addison-Wesley.

Rather than duplicating common information in each book, the series uses the building-block approach. ISA System Architecture is the core book upon which the others build. Table 1 on page 1 illustrates the relationship of the books to each other. Cautionary Note

The reader should keep in mind that MindShare's book series often deals with rapidly-evolving technologies. This being the case, it should be recognized that the book is a "snapshot" of the state of the targeted technology at the time that the book was completed. We attempt to update each book on a timely basis to reflect changes in the targeted technology, but, due to various factors (waiting for the next version of the spec to be "frozen," the time necessary to make the changes, and the time to produce the books and get them out to the distribution channels), there will always be a delay. Specifications This Book is Based On

This book is based on the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 specification. Organization of This Book

The book is divided into six parts and contains the chapters listed below: Part I: Overview of USB 2.0

Chapter 1: This chapter provides an overview of the primary concepts of USB transfers and describes the interaction between USB system software, system hardware, and USB devices for USB 1.x systems and USB 2.0 system. The USB communications process is described, including the concept of the device framework. Each hardware and software element in a USB system is introduced and its primary functions are described.

Chapter 2: This chapter provides an overview of the primary concepts of USB transfers and describes the interaction between USB system software, system hardware, and USB devices for USB 1.x systems and USB 2.0 system. The USB communications process is described, including the concept of the device framework. Each hardware and software element in a USB system is introduced and its primary functions are described.

Chapter 3: USB defines a single connector type for attaching all USB peripherals to the host system. This chapter introduces the physical aspects of USB connectors and cables.

Chapter 4: This chapter discusses USB power distribution, along with issues related to bus powered devices and the operation of self-powered devices. The chapter also discusses the role of host software in detecting and reporting power related problems. Part II: The USB Solution

Chapter 5: USB employs NRZI encoding and differential signaling to transfer information across USB cables. This chapter discusses the low- and full-speed signaling environment, including the differential signaling and NRZI encoding techniques used by the USB. The signaling environment must also support a wide range of other signal-related functions such as: detecting device attachment and removal, suspending and resuming operation, resetting a device, and others all of which are discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 6: USB supports four transfer types: interrupt, bulk, isochronous, and control. These transfer types and the process used to initiate and perform them are described in this chapter.

Chapter 7: Every transfer broadcast over the USB consists of a combination of packets. These packets are combined to define individual transactions that are performed as part of a larger transfer. Each transaction type is defined, along with the individual packets that comprise them.

Chapter 8: Interrupt, Bulk, and Isochronous transfers require that the successful delivery of data be verified by USB. CRC and other error checking is performed to verify data delivery and if errors occur retries of the failed transmission are performed. This chapter discusses the various sources of errors and the error detection mechanisms used by USB to identify them, and the error recovery that is performed to overcome them.

Chapter 9: USB devices support power conservation by entering a suspended state. This chapter discusses the ways that devices are placed into the suspended state under software control. It also discusses how software re-awakens devices, and how a device such as a modem can initiate a wakeup remotely. Part III: High Speed Device Operation

Chapter 10: This chapter provides a brief introduction to high-speed device operation and set the stage for a detailed discussion of the high-speed environment.

Chapter 11: High-speed capable devices must also be able to communicate in the full-speed signaling environment. High-speed devices add many extensions to the full-speed environment to permit reliable signaling at a 480Mb/s rate. This chapter introduces the principles associated with USB high-speed signalling and the methods used to switch between full- and high-speed operation.

Chapter 12: This chapter introduces the changes brought about by high-speed transmission rates. The transfers defined in USB 1.0 have the same primary characteristics in the high-speed environment. However, packet sizes and differences in signaling change accounts for some change. Also, new features have been added to the high-speed environment such as high-bandwidth transfers and ping protocol. These and other changes are review in this chapter.

Chapter 13: Error detection and handling during high-speed transactions is very similar in concept to the low- and full-speed error detection methods. However, due to the faster clock rates several of the timing parameters must be changed to support error detection implementations such as timout values and babble detect.

Chapter 14: This chapter discusses the changes required for high-speed devices to use the full-speed suspend and resume protocol and signaling conventions. Part IV: USB 2.0 Hub Operation with LS/FS/HS Devices

Chapter 15: This chapter introduces the primary characteristic of a high-speed hub. It must be able to operate when attached to both full-speed and high-speed ports, and must support all device speeds on its ports.

Chapter 16: This chapter discusses the 2.0 hubs behavior when it receives high-speed packets on its upstream and downstream ports. This chapter details the operation of the high-speed repeater and discusses the delays associated with forwarding high-speed packets across the hub.

Chapter 17: This chapter introduces the concept of split transactions that allow high-speed hubs to support low- and full-speed devices without sacrificing large amounts of bus time required to access the slower devices. The operation of the transaction translator is described, along with the various forms of split transaction and the specific sequences employed by each. Part V: USB Configuration

Chapter 18: This chapter provides an overview of the configuration process. Each of the major steps involved in USB device enumeration are defined and discussed.

Chapter 19: This chapter discusses configuration of USB devices that are attached to any USB port. The process is virtually the same for devices of any speed. Device descriptors and other characteristics and features that relate to configuring the device are also detailed and discussed.

Chapter 20: Hub devices are configured like any other device attached to a USB port. Hub configuration differs in that it involves reporting whether or not other devices are attached to the downstream ports. This chapter review the hub configuration process with the focus on the issues related to extending the bus through the hub's downstream facing ports.

Chapter 21: This chapter introduces the concept of device classes and discusses their role within the USB. This chapter discusses the first five class types that were defined. These class are discussed to provide the reader with a sense of the information defined for each class and the USB mechanisms that they use. A detailed discussion of device classes requires in-depth knowledge in the associated field such as telephony and audio. Part VI: USB Software

Chapter 22: Host software consists of three types of components: the USB Device Drivers, the USB Driver, and the Host Controller Driver. This chapter discusses the role of each of these layers and describes the requirements of their programming interface. Who Should Read this Book

This book is intended for use by hardware and software design and support personnel. Those individuals working outside of the design field may also find the text useful. Prerequisite Knowledge

The reader should be familiar with PC Architectures and legacy hardware and software issues. MindShare's ISA System Architecture book provides foundation material that describes the legacy issues. Visit Our Web Page

Our web site contains a listing of all of our courses and books. In addition, it contains errata for a number of the books, a hot link to our publisher's web site, as well as course outlines. mindshare

Our publisher's web page contains a listing or our currently-available books and includes pricing and ordering information. Their home page is accessible at: aw/cseng

0201309750P04062001 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (January 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201461374
• ISBN-13: 978-0201461374
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,402,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst computer books I've ever read, November 5, 2001

By	Quinn "The Eskimo!" (Glasgow, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Universal Serial Bus System Architecture (2nd Edition) (PC System Architecture Series) (Paperback)

I bought this book on the strength of recommendations of other MindShare books. Big mistake. This is a terrible book. I've never written an Amazon review before but this book's has so many problems that I feel obligated to warn others.

DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!

Here's a list of some of my gripes.

o Which version -- The authors can't decide whether it wants to be a USB 1.x book with a USB 2.0 addenda, or a full USB 2.0 book. So in some places you get USB 2.0 deltas, and in other places you get an explanation of how USB 2.0 works with a parenthetical remarks about USB 1.1.

o Basic concepts are assumed before they are explained -- I read this book from start to finish and so I really notice this sort of problem. For example, Table 4-3 (page 86) is an extract from Table 19-9 but a) you have to go back two pages to the text on page 84 to even find out that it's an extract, and b) you have to manually search for the full table because neither the text nor the diagram reference it.

o Bad English -- For example, page 204 says "Resume is signalled to all downstream ports that are enabled and back to the suspended port." A classic example of passive voice resulting in unparseable English. It's the hub doing the signalling! This is just a small example of an endemic problem.

o The diagrams suck -- They look like they were taken from a PowerPoint presentation (which they probably were) but it's worse than that. There's little consistency about how tables and diagrams are organised. For example, I expect that every diagram that illustrates a USB packet interchange would use the same basic format. Not so! Take a look at Figure 7-20 and Figure 8-5. They explain a roughly similar concept but with a totally different type of diagram. Finally, some of the diagrams are just weird. For example, are Figures 12-12 and 12-13 state diagrams (which is what they look like), or pseudo-frowcharts? I still can't decide.

o Lack of smooth layer-to-layer transitions -- My particular problem was with the various requests on the control endpoint (endpoint 0).

- There's no up-front listing of all of the possibly requests on a control endpoint.

- Values are referenced inconsistently -- In the text on page 354 it's "GetDescriptor" but in the Table 19-6 it's "GET_DESCRIPTOR". And, better yet, sometimes we just leave out the numeric values of symbols so that you can't correlate between the inconsistent identifiers (for example, the bulletted list on p 379).

- Table 19-6 describes the packaging of the request but then fails to describe how the response is packaged. Table 19-7 lists the structure of the response, but there's no description of how that structure is embedded in the packets on the control endpoint. Or maybe there is. I'm still not sure whether the "Data" field in Table 19-6 is the response or something left over from the SetDescriptor request, which uses the same format.

o The authors have no network experience -- Coming from a network background it's obvious to me that you can draw a bunch of analogies between USB and standard networking terms. For example, USB's data toggle is simply a one-bit sliding window. Somehow this has escaped the author's attention.

o 'Small' things -- Like every figure reference in the text includes a page number, rather than saying "on this page" or "on the next page". And the fact that the index is woeful. Look up some basic USB concepts in the index and see what you get. For example, "endpoints" has a single reference to page 19, which is the wrong page (should've been page 18) and doesn't recognise the fact that endpoints are discussed in many other places in the book. On the other hand, the reference for "descriptors" points you to page 376, which is within 20 pages of the in-depth discussion of descriptors on page 353, but *completely ignores* the introductory material on page 60. Or try to learn moreabout "Think Time", shown in Table 20-12 but not even listed in the index!

I could go on, but this is taken too much time.

Unfortunately, this is the first USB book I've read so I can't recommend a better book. However, other reviewers have provided some alternatives and I strongly recommend you explore them. My guess is that reading the USB standard would be more productive than reading this book!

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars USB design, April 27, 2001

By	Janos Nagy (Budapest Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Universal Serial Bus System Architecture (2nd Edition) (PC System Architecture Series) (Paperback)

The USB specification can be downloaded from USB ORG web page free. This book contains a part of the spec. If you want to start design USB hardware and software then I would suggest "USB Design by Example" written by John Hyde. "USB Design by Example" is an excellent book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars USB spec revisited. BORING!, July 7, 1998

By A Customer

This book was not very good. In fact, it was almost as boring as reading the spec itself. Sure it does have alot of information but it is presented in a factual and abstract way. It does not help clarify the spec any. It is just like a synopsis. It is better than reading the spec but still, not quite the book you want to get if you want to actually design something.