Editing USB (section)

=== Objectives ===
The Universal Serial Bus was developed to simplify and improve the interface between personal computers and peripheral devices, such as cell phones, computer accessories, and monitors, when compared with previously existing standard or ''ad hoc'' proprietary interfaces.<ref name="JA2015">Axelson, Jan (2015). ''USB Complete: The Developer's Guide, Fifth Edition'', Lakeview Research LLC, {{ISBN|1931448280}}, pp. 1-7.</ref>

From the computer user's perspective, the USB interface improves ease of use in several ways:
* The USB interface is self-configuring, eliminating the need for the user to adjust the device's settings for speed or data format, or configure [[interrupt]]s, input/output addresses, or direct memory access channels.<ref>{{cite web |website=PC |url=https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/44434/how-to-install-a-pc-peripheral |title=Definition of: how to install a PC peripheral |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |access-date=17 February 2018 |archive-date=22 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322020256/https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/44434/how-to-install-a-pc-peripheral |url-status=live}}</ref>
* USB connectors are standardized at the host, so any peripheral can use most available receptacles.
* USB takes full advantage of the additional processing power that can be economically put into peripheral devices so that they can manage themselves. As such, USB devices often do not have user-adjustable interface settings.
* The USB interface is [[hot-swappable]] (devices can be exchanged without shutting the host computer down).
* Small devices can be powered directly from the USB interface, eliminating the need for additional power supply cables.
* Because the use of the USB logo is only permitted after [[compliance testing]], the user can have confidence that a USB device will work as expected without extensive interaction with settings and configuration.
* The USB interface defines protocols for recovery from common errors, improving reliability over previous interfaces.<ref name="JA2015"/>
* Installing a device that relies on the USB standard requires minimal operator action. When a user plugs a device into a port on a running computer, it either entirely automatically configures using existing [[device driver]]s, or the system prompts the user to locate a driver, which it then installs and configures automatically.

The USB standard also provides multiple benefits for hardware manufacturers and software developers, specifically in the relative ease of implementation:
* The USB standard eliminates the requirement to develop proprietary interfaces to new peripherals.
* The wide range of transfer speeds available from a USB interface suits devices ranging from keyboards and mice up to streaming video interfaces.
* A USB interface can be designed to provide the best available [[Latency (engineering)|latency]] for time-critical functions or can be set up to do background transfers of bulk data with little impact on system resources.
* The USB interface is generalized with no signal lines dedicated to only one function of one device.<ref name="JA2015"/>