Hoover bus : an input bus optimized for multiple real-time data streams

The growth in demand for high bandwidth, real-time multimedia applications has resulted in the development of several bus standards in the computer industry. Differing design objectives, operating environments, and cost constraints have yielded many designs with varying engineering tradeoffs and optimizations. This document covers the design and implementation of the Hoover Bus, an inexpensive, dedicated input bus optimized for the transmission of multiple real-time virtual channels of media across a single physical channel. By carefully limiting the scope of the expected applications of this bus protocol, optimizations can be made in the datapaths, arbitration mechanisms, and flow control mechanisms which increase usable throughput in heavy bus traffic conditions. A test configuration of the Hoover Bus will be constructed, and a detailed specification delineating the design tradeoffs and their motivations will be constructed to aid the further development of this standard. Thesis Supervisor: V. Michael Bove Jr. Title: Associate Professor of Media Technology This work was supported by the Television of Tomorrow consortium. This thesis is dedicated to Moy-Shee Chin (1904-1996)