Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Can you imagine the dinosaur era of computers without plug and play USB ports? Can you imagine counting pins on connectors, depending on your peripheral device, collecting the connectors with two little screws on each side of the bus and thick cables in a large box, and then figuring out whether such a port even existed on your computer and whether you could actually use that device concurrently with another device using the same connection port, that is, for example, whether you could print and retrieve a document from an external drive at the same time, or connect your modem (prior to modem cards) ? Well, maybe your grandparents remember…
The invention of the universal USB port enabling you to connect any peripheral to your computer, changed all of that! Just plug and play any device, and daisy-chain them if you like, up to 16 devices, or even 127!… Your computer really only needs just a single USB port! You still have to be careful about tripping over the wires, but at least the peripheral connection problem is of another era! It is now just as easy to use a peripheral as it is to use a wall socket, which is exactly the type of connection that inspired the invention team of electronic engineers from Intel Corporation.
Your peripheral is on when plugged via USB port, and off when unplugged! And, the same port can be used for both asynchronous and isosynchronous peripherals, that is: your monitor, printer, router/modem, extra storage devices, telephone or tablet, scanner, speakers, microphone, video and keyboard/mouse/joystick devices. Easy!
Well, certainly on the surface, and from the user’s perspective. This invention belongs to the domain electronic engineering. Just take a peek at the title of the patent awarded to the team of inventors: SHAUN KNOLL, JEFF CHARLES MORRISS, SHELAGH CALLAHAN, AJAY V. HATT, SUDARSHAN BALA CADAMBI, and you will get the gist of it: M & A FOR DYNAMICALLY DETERMINING AND MANAGING CONNECTION TOPOLOGY OF A HIERARCHICAL SERIAL BUS ASSEMBLY
Well, certainly on the surface, and from the user’s perspective. This invention belongs to the domain electronic engineering. Just take a peek at the title of the patent awarded to the team of inventors: SHAUN KNOLL, JEFF CHARLES MORRISS, SHELAGH CALLAHAN, AJAY V. HATT, SUDARSHAN BALA CADAMBI, and you will get the gist of it: M & A FOR DYNAMICALLY DETERMINING AND MANAGING CONNECTION TOPOLOGY OF A HIERARCHICAL SERIAL BUS ASSEMBLY
Ok… M means Method and A means Apparatus! And this invention, patented in 1996, was nominated for the 2013 European Inventor Awards. 
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