The IEEE 1394a High-Performance Serial Bus standard is radically altering this model by giving a range of end products, including peripherals, consumer electronics and telecom devices a flexible, cost-effective and seamless way to transfer data. For consumers, this is the fundamental capability that will redefine the role of their PC - from a stand-alone appliance to the heart of a seamless digital home environment populated by rich, interactive multimedia applications.
1394 is building a bridge between the consumer and computer markets, creating fully interoperable computers, computer peripherals, consumer electronics and networking environments. As the backbone of this new multimedia environment, 1394 silicon solutions from Texas Instruments are enabling the creation of new markets and new products that will meet consumer demand in the emerging interactive home environment.
Creating a new paradigm with 1394
The IEEE-approved 1394 standard was born out of a need for a flexible and cost-effective way to share real-time (isochronous) information among data-intensive applications such as digital camcorders, digital VCRs, and digital video disks (DVD). As an
all-digital interface, 1394 was first used in digital cameras to replace existing analog transmission interfaces that significantly degrade the quality of the picture.
The standard is creating a new paradigm of interactivity as PC, peripheral and consumer electronics manufacturers rush to integrate 1394's extensive capabilities. Many digital applications, including camcorders, VCRs, DVDs, cameras, set-top boxes, stereos, digital TVs, printers and hard-disk drives have already adopted 1394 as the high-performance highway to interoperability.
1394's features
- Real-time transmission
of data
- Small, durable, and flexible
cable and connectors
- Seamless I/O interconnect
- Peer-to-peer communication
structure
- Memory-mapped architecture
- Backwards compatible
speeds
- Bus is dynamically
reconfigurable and active
termination is not needed
- Hot Plugging
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