52 Appendix A: Glossary
Glossary
• 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 or by increasing the clock frequency at which an interface or a
core operates (for example, increasing the DDR3 SDRAM clock frequency).
• Blanking period
The portion of a video signal after the end of a line or frame, and before the
beginning of a new line or frame. During this period, the video signal is "blank"
so that a scan line can be brought back to the beginning of the new line or frame.
The portion of a video signal after the end of a line and before the beginning of
a new line is known as the
horizontal blanking period
. The portion of a video signal
after the end of a frame and before the beginning of a new frame is known as the
vertical blanking period
.
• Contiguous memory
A block of memory occupying a single, unbroken series of addresses.
• Data valid synchronization signal
The signal that indicates the valid pixels in a line (row).
See also
line valid
and
frame valid synchronization signal
.
• DCF
Digitizer Configuration Format
. A file format that defines the input data format
and, for example, how to accept or generate video timing signals, such as horizontal
sync, vertical sync, and pixel clock.
Such files have a .
dcf
extension.
