Table of Contents
Advertisement
196 Appendix F: Glossary
• ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit. An integrated circuit custom-made to meet
the requirements of a specific application. It integrates several digital and/or analog
functions into a single die. This results in a reduction in cost, board area, and
power consumption, while improving performance when compared to an
equivalent implementation using off-the-shelf components.
• Band
One of the surfaces of a buffer. A grayscale image requires one band. A color image
requires three bands, one for each color component.
• Bandwidth
A term describing the capacity to transfer data. Greater bandwidth is needed to
sustain a higher transfer rate. Greater bandwidth can be achieved, for example, by
using a wider bus.
• BIOS
The interface between the operating system and the hardware. It is also responsible
for booting the operating system when a unit is turned on.
• Blocking cache
A type of cache that allows for one information request at a time. If the cache does
not contain the information needed by the processor, it will be "blocked," or
unavailable for use until the required information is obtained from memory.
See also non-blocking cache.
• Bus
A pathway along which signals are sent, generally in two directions, for
communication of data.
Advertisement
Table of Contents
