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Data Packets

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There are two basic data packets, DATA0 and DATA1. Both consist of a DATAx PID field, 0–1023 bytes of data payload (up to 1024 in high speed, at most 8 at low speed), and a 16-bit CRC. They must always be preceded by an address token, and are usually followed by a handshake token from the receiver back to the transmitter. The two packet types provide the 1-bit sequence number required by Stop-and-wait ARQ. If a USB host does not receive a response (such as an ACK) for data it has transmitted, it does not know if the data was received or not; the data might have been lost in transit, or it might have been received but the handshake response was lost.
To solve this problem, the device keeps track of the type of DATAx packet it last accepted. If it receives another DATAx packet of the same type, it is acknowledged but ignored as a duplicate. Only a DATAx packet of the opposite type is actually received.
When a device is reset with a SETUP packet, it expects a DATA0 packet next.
USB 2.0 added DATA2 and MDATA packet types as well. They are used only by high-speed devices doing high-bandwidth isochronous transfers which need to transfer more than 1024 bytes per 125 µs "microframe" (8192 kB/s).
[edit] PRE "packet"
Low-speed devices are supported with a special PID value, PRE. This marks the beginning of a low-speed packet, and is used by hubs which normally do not send full-speed packets to low-speed devices. Since all PID bytes include four 0 bits, they leave the bus in the full-speed K state, which is the same as the low-speed J state. It is followed by a brief pause during which hubs enable their low-speed outputs, already idling in the J state, then a low-speed packet follows, beginning with a sync sequence and PID byte, and ending with a brief period of SE0. Full-speed devices other than hubs can simply ignore the PRE packet and its low-speed contents, until the final SE0 indicates that a new packet follows.