Bit stuffing

nounStandard termTelecom & IT

The practice of inserting non-information digits into a data stream to break up long sequences.

A protocol mechanism that forces a state change on a transmission line by injecting a dummy bit after a certain number of identical consecutive bits. This prevents long runs of continuous zeros or ones from causing the receiver to lose clock synchronization. The receiving hardware automatically strips these extra bits out before passing the payload to the upper layers.

Heard on the job

The logic analyzer shows a framing error right where the hardware should be doing its bit stuffing.