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"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."
Sir William Preece, chief engineer, British Post Office ; 1878
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5644790 | Universal CD ROM interface using single interface connection The present invention relates to a universal peripheral interface comprised of control logic circuits for a plurality of peripherals carrying different signals on different pins of respective peripheral connectors, a single interface connector for mating ... | 07/01/1997 |
| 5635952 | Adaptor enabling computer sensing of monitor resolution An adaptor for coupling a display monitor to a computer that controls the monitor generates any selected one of a number of codes that can be sensed by the computer and which identify the image resolution at which the particular monitor operates or a reso... | 06/03/1997 |
| 5632019 | Output buffer with digitally controlled power handling characteristics A programmable output buffer has source/sink characteristics that may be programmed to match the capacitive load to be driven. The programmable output buffer comprises a plurality of individually-enableable unit buffers, and a programmable unit buffer dri... | 05/20/1997 |
| 5630174 | Adapter for detecting whether a peripheral is standard or multimedia type format and selectively switching the peripheral to couple or bypass the system bus A computer system including one or more PCMCIA expansion slots allows video and/or audio capabilities to be added to the system through a standard PCMCIA interface, utilizing multimedia type PCMCIA peripheral cards. A PCMCIA host adapter integrated circui... | 05/13/1997 |
| 5630171 | Translating from a PIO protocol to DMA protocol with a peripheral interface circuit A high performance Local Bus Peripheral Interface (LBPI) for a computer local bus and its high performance peripheral interface(s) uses a pipelined architecture to increase the use of the available data transfer bandwidth. In one embodiment, the LBPI can ... | 05/13/1997 |
| 5623696 | System for formatting a request into a packet which can be read by plurality of operating systems for providing a driver for a storage device The present invention constructs SCSI device support code so that it can be ported to multiple operating system environments. The present invention also allows support for a device to be coded only once, and yet be supported on multiple operating system e... | 04/22/1997 |
| 5619659 | System for extending ISA bus without using dedicated device driver software by using E2 P2 interface which provides multiplexed bus signal through standard parallel port connector A bus interface system for expanding the I/O capability of a portable computer utilizes a parallel port connector with master interface circuitry connected to the internal ISA I/O bus of the portable computer and driving a 25-conductor Centronics-type cab... | 04/08/1997 |
| 5586324 | Computer system having system feature extension software containing a self-describing feature table for accessing I/O devices according to machine independent format A computer system with self-describing feature table accessible by device drivers. Thus a simple process can access these feature tables to fully customize the device drivers at installation, or at boot: or the device driver can branch on the data in the ... | 12/17/1996 |
| 5574859 | Method and apparatus for using a software configurable connector to connect a palmtop computer having a custom port to a host having a standard port A portable information storage and transfer device for use with IC memory card-based portable computers performs many data transfer operations. The floppy disk drive in the information storage and transfer device allows large amount of data and software p... | 11/12/1996 |
| 5574946 | Data transmission system using independent adaptation processes associated with storage unit types for directly converting operating system requests to SCSI commands A data transmission system between a computer bus and a large number of data storage units connected to one another by a specific connection to which the system is physically connected, including a central microprocessor running an operating system; and f... | 11/12/1996 |
| 5553101 | Demodulation logic unit adaptable to multiple data protocols A data demodulation logic unit (200) and method used therein, adaptable to multiple data protocols, including an arithmetic logic unit (205) that is architecturally optimized to demodulate multiple data protocols under the control of a hardware based stat... | 09/03/1996 |
| 5553311 | Customer premise device for controlling data transmissions by storing a limited number of operation algorithms and receiving operation instructions from external sources Customer Premise Devices (CPDs) and associated methods according to the invention allow subscribers to send diverse subscriber requests and to receive incoming information such as movies, videogames, educational, business and consumer information, and sci... | 09/03/1996 |
| 5530845 | Storage control subsystem implemented with an application program on a computer A storage controller is disclosed which may emulate several types of specialized host specific and/or storage device specific storage controllers. The storage controlling system can transfer information between one or more different types of target units ... | 06/25/1996 |
| 5508821 | Image scanner and image forming apparatus with an interface for connection with an external computer An image scanner is occasionally used with an external host computer and includes an optical system and a CCD image sensor for reading an image of a document placed on a document platform. The image scanner further includes a small computer system interfa... | 04/16/1996 |
| 5506692 | Image handling apparatus having file system emulation means An image forming apparatus which is used with an external host computer. The image forming apparatus includes an interface for connecting the image forming apparatus to the external host computer. The image forming apparatus further includes a file system... | 04/09/1996 |
| 5504928 | Method and apparatus for providing multi-command support in a rendering adapter A method and apparatus for supporting multiple command sets in a single rendering adapter. A device driver operating in tandem with a rendering adapter and its associated microcode interprets disparate command sets without separate control/interpretation ... | 04/02/1996 |
| 5459867 | Kernels, description tables, and device drivers Description tables can be linked to a kernel to form a device driver. The description tables can be device description tables and adapter description tables. The kernel is operating system dependent. The description tables are operating system independent... | 10/17/1995 |
| 5457785 | CPU-independent and device-driver transparent system for translating a computer's internal bus signals onto an intermediate bus and further translating onto an expansion bus A bus interface system for expanding the I/O capability of a portable computer utilizes a parallel port connector with master interface circuitry connected to the internal ISA I/O bus of the portable computer and driving a 25-conductor Centronics-type cab... | 10/10/1995 |
| 5440697 | Method and apparatus for simulating I/O devices A computer system comprises a CPU, a main memory, and plurality of I/O Processors (IOPs), coupled to each other by a system I/O bus. The IOPs perform slave processing functions relating to I/O devices. A simulation protocol is defined for the IOPs, whereb... | 08/08/1995 |
| 5434982 | Electronically configurable connection device The use of electromechanical devices for the configuration of the address for access to a peripheral unit in a data-processing system is avoided by replacing them with a non-volatile EEPROM-type memory. The dam in non-volatile memory is read as soon as th... | 07/18/1995 |
| 5379382 | Uni and bi-directional signal transfer modes in peripheral controller and method of operating same A peripheral controller is described which is suitable for connecting a selected one of a plurality of peripheral devices to a computer system. The peripheral controller comprises programmable bidirectional line driver/receiver devices which can be operat... | 01/03/1995 |
| 5367646 | Universal device for coupling a computer bus to a controller of a group of peripherals An universal device (GPUI) for coupling a computer bus (PSB) to a controller (DEA) of a group of peripherals connected to one another by a specific link (FDDI) to which the controller is physically connected, includes a microprocessor (CPU) associated wit... | 11/22/1994 |
| 5289580 | Programmable multiple I/O interface controller An I/O interface controller is disclosed which can be programmed to interact with a variety of interface protocols. The host side and the peripheral side of the interface controller are independently programmable. All significant operations are performed ... | 02/22/1994 |
| 5287460 | Bus interface circuit for dual personal computer architecture peripheral adapter board A peripheral adapter board and circuit which is capable for operation with two different personal computer bus architectures is disclosed. The preferred peripheral function for the board and circuit is a terminal emulator, which allows a personal computer... | 02/15/1994 |
| 5230059 | Software - configurable adaptive computer interface An interface to adapt a computer to a real-time environment and that allows the adaptation procedures to be controlled using software. By allowing multiple adaptation parameters, a variety of clock rates and processor configurations can be supported. Sinc... | 07/20/1993 |
| 5224216 | Computer diskette drive communication interface A coupler of the present invention advantageously renders the read/write head of a diskette drive of a computer a data transfer port and preferably an input/output port suitable for connection with a peripheral device. The coupler includes a data transfer... | 06/29/1993 |
| 5202963 | Method and apparatus for adapting a remote communications controller to a variety of types of communications modems A data processing system includes at least one modem connected from a communications link to the remote devices and at least one modem controller. A modem adaptor stores scripts for directing modem control related operation, each script being a sequence o... | 04/13/1993 |
| 5197128 | Modular interface A packet-based communication system is described for linking a peripheral unit (PU) to the outside world via a communications link. The system includes a modular interface unit (MIU) which has a memory shared by processors in both the PU and MIU. The syst... | 03/23/1993 |
| 5165022 | Channel and control unit having a first I/O program protocol for communication with a main processor and a second universal I/O program protocol for communication with a plurality of I/O adapters A computer system has a universal channel and control unit to interface, with a minimum complexity, to a plurality of different I/O adapters such as a Token Ring adapter or an Ethernet adapter. The system comprises a main processor with main memory, an I/... | 11/17/1992 |
| 5025412 | Universal bus interface A universal bus interface compatible with a number of different bus interface protocols is disclosed. In any given application, the control lines carrying signals by a processor are connected to the appropriate interface signal pins of the bus interface w... | 06/18/1991 |
| 4751634 | Multiple port communications adapter apparatus A multi-port communications controller and variable protocol adapter is described. The adapter utilizes a user programmable pluggable programming cartridge for defining individual communications port data service characteristics. The port data service cha... | 06/14/1988 |
| 4641261 | Universal interface circuit for microprocessor peripherals A universal interface adaptor circuit (UIAC) for connecting any one of a plurality of either of two general microprocessor types to a peripheral device using the same interface connections to selectively generate and supply either a WRITE ENABLE signal or... | 02/03/1987 |
| 4500933 | Universal interface unit A universal interface unit for providing output signals in any one of a plurality of different signal formats stores information relating to each of the different available formats. When signals are to be provided to a particular device, personality data ... | 02/19/1985 |
| 4485439 | Standard hardware-software interface for connecting any instrument which provides a digital output stream with any digital host computer A microprocessor-controlled interface for permitting any digital host computer to receive serial digital data from any instrument wherein (a) the time at which digital data from the instrument is to enter the host computer and (b) the logical structure of... | 11/27/1984 |
| 4342081 | Tape device adapter A tape device adapter logic control system is disclosed for accommodating the transfer of control information and data of variable formats, densities, and logic level conventions between a medium performance device controller (MPDC) and mass storage devic... | 07/27/1982 |
| 4254462 | Hardware/firmware communication line adapter A hardware/firmware control system is disclosed for accommodating the concurrent bi-directional transfer of information between a communications channel such as a telephone line and a communications processor in a data processing system.... | 03/03/1981 |
| 4250563 | Expandable programmable controller A programmable controller with a processor module, one or more I/O modules and a rack in which the modules are supported, is expanded by replacing the processor module in a lead slot with a rack adapter module that connectes to a separate processor unit. ... | 02/10/1981 |
| 4180860 | Display station having universal module for interface with different single loop controllers A universal module serves as the basis for creating a plurality of different embodiments of electrical display stations. The universal module is adapted to be connected to remotely located process control instrumentation from which it may receive and to w... | 12/25/1979 |
| 4041473 | Computer input/output control apparatus Apparatus for the flexible coupling of peripheral units to a digital computer system, wherein any input/output port of the system is capable of communicating with a peripheral unit over various forms of interface.... | 08/09/1977 |
