USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables and connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply between computers, peripheral devices and other computers. Released in 1996, the USB standard is currently maintained by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). There have been three generations of USB specifications: USB 1.x, USB 2.0 and USB 3.x; the fourth called USB4 is scheduled to be published in the middle of 2019. USB was designed to standardize the connection of peripherals to personal computers, both to communicate with and to supply electric power. It has largely replaced interfaces such as serial ports and parallel ports, and has become commonplace on a wide range of devices. USB connectors have been increasingly replacing other types for battery chargers of portable devices. Examples of peripherals that are connected via USB include keyboards, pointing devices, digital still and video cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters.