Character interval

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Character interval: In a communications system, the total number of unit intervals required to transmit any given character, including synchronizing, information, error checking, or control characters, but not including signals that are not associated with individual characters.

In telecommunication, a communications system or communication system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE) usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. The components of a communications system serve a common purpose, are technically compatible, use common procedures, respond to controls, and operate in union.

In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language.

In telecommunication, the term synchronizing has the following meanings:

  1. Achieving and maintaining synchronism.
  2. In fax, achieving and maintaining predetermined speed relations between the scanning spot and the recording spot within each scanning line.

An example of a time interval that is excluded when determining character interval is any time added between the end of a stop signal and the beginning of the next start signal to accommodate changing transmission conditions, such as a change in data signaling rate or buffering requirements. This added time is defined as a part of the intercharacter interval.

Time dimension in which events can be ordered from the past through the present into the future

Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. Time is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events or the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change of quantities in material reality or in the conscious experience. Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension, along with three spatial dimensions.

In telecommunication, a stop signal is a signal that marks the end of part of a transmission, for example:

  1. In asynchronous serial communication, a signal at the end of a character that prepares the receiving device for the reception of a subsequent character. A stop signal is usually limited to one signal element having any duration equal to or greater than a specified minimum value.
  2. A signal to a receiving mechanism to wait for the next signal.

In telecommunication, a start signal is a signal that prepares a device to receive data or to perform a function.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates  public domain material from the General Services Administration document "Federal Standard 1037C" .

General Services Administration United States government agency

The General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States government, was established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops government-wide cost-minimizing policies and other management tasks.

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