"Asymmetric" refers to adherence to a
master-slave topology; a member
 on the bus is either a controller or a slave.  What ties this with
 "polled nature" is that there is no way for a slave to initiate a
 transfer--all conversations are initiated by the controller.  In
 other words, conversation between slave and controller is "speak only
 when spoken to".  Thus, to determine the status of an operation, the
 host must periodically poll the slave asking "Is it soup yet?". 
Is there no equivalent of a 'service request' in USB? (I;ve not read the
stnadard seriously)?
-tony