15160 results about "Serial port" patented technology

A system for monitoring and configuring gaming devices interconnected over a high-speed network is disclosed. The system can support a file server, one or more floor controllers, one or more pit terminals, and other terminals all interconnected over the network. Each gaming device includes an electronic module which allows the gaming device to communicate with a floor controller over a current loop network. The electronic module includes a player tracking module and a data communication node. The player tracking module includes a card reader for detecting a player tracking card inserted therein which identifies the player. The data communication node communicates with both the floor controller and the gaming device. The data communication node communicates with the gaming device over a serial interface through which the data communication node transmits reconfiguration commands. The gaming device reconfigures its payout schedule responsive to the reconfiguration commands to provide a variety of promotional bonuses such as multiple jackpot bonuses, mystery jackpot bonuses, progressive jackpot bonuses, or player specific bonuses.

An electrical connector is provided for operation in a point-to-point application. The connector includes an insulated housing having first and second card interfaces configured to mate with associated first and second circuit cards. An electrical wafer is held in the housing and configured to operate in a point-to-point architecture. The signal traces end at signal contact pads located proximate to first and second edges, respectively. The signal contact pads receive a unidirectional signal. Each of the signal traces include a break section at an intermediate point along a length thereof to form a disconnect in the signal traces. The connector further includes an active compensation component bridging the break section in the signal traces. The active compensation component compensates the differential signal incoming from the input contact pads for signal degradation and transmits a compensated signal outward to the output contact pads. The active compensation component transmits the signal only in a single direction within the point-to-point architecture.

The present disclosure includes a medical monitoring hub as the center of monitoring for a monitored patient. The hub includes configurable medical ports and serial ports for communicating with other medical devices in the patient's proximity. Moreover, the hub communicates with a portable patient monitor. The monitor, when docked with the hub provides display graphics different from when undocked, the display graphics including anatomical information. The hub assembles the often vast amount of electronic medical data, associates it with the monitored patient, and in some embodiments, communicates the data to the patient's medical records.

A portable adapter that provides non-repudiable telecommunications services to bar-code reading hand-held computers and palm-top or tablet-type mobile computers is disclosed. The adapter provides supplemental power supply and processing capacity that supports API communications functions, such as interactive voice recognition, conference calling, data encryption, VoIP packetization and other signal-format conversions that are not implemented on mobile computers. In particular, the device automatically logs IP packet identifiers and DOV dialing and status signals, without the user having access to edit this information, thereby providing a "non-repudiation" record of all communications. The adapter also supports intensive use of the host computer's serial port by supplementing the power available from the host computer's battery, or replacing that battery with a connector. For plant inspection and inventory auditing, ground-based cellular communications are implemented for supporting on-site work, including conference calling to discuss apparent pilferage or imminent safety hazards, and removable WORM recording media for documenting these discussions. For repair shop use, a standard phone jack or 10-base-T connector allows the device to upload engine test-data, with reports or estimates dictated by the mechanic to the repair shop's LAN server. For hospital use, the device includes removable WORM media for logging patient test results and examination reports. The hospital device also uses a dedicated local-area RF or IR transmitter, with location-specific encryption, to protect the privacy of lab reports received by the device, and to limit use of these devices to hospital's own premises.

An electro-optical, automatic meter reader for enabling a consumer to view and manage power consumption through a browser. A sensor attached to a bracket is mounted to the outside cover of a utility meter without modification of the meter or removal of its housing. A data-collector stores data obtained from the sensor via a serial port which may also provide power for the sensor, thus avoiding use of a dedicated power supply. The data-collector connects to a computer which provides a centralized object through which to view and manage power consumption. The real-time and combined historic data can be used to forecast whether usage will fall above or below a predetermined usage level at the end of a given period of time. In response to a forecast exceeding the level, the computer displays the appropriate graph in a red colored bar within a quantity vs. time chart. The computer may control power consuming devices. A communication system may be established to the system for remote management by the consumer or by the utility company for its own billing and management purposes.

A radio signal relaying device has a PDA and a wireless modulating module connected to the PDA. The PDA is provided with multiple ports of different specifications such as a memory card slot, a USB interface or a serial port. The wireless modulating module is selectively linked to one of the ports to modulate music files stored in the PDA. The modulated sound files can be transmitted in the form of radio waves and then be demodulated and played by any radio receiving device.

A disk drive and method are disclosed for data transfer initiated by nonstandard disk-drive commands on a serial interface that only supports standard disk-drive commands. In the method, a nonstandard disk-drive command for data transfer is embedded within a first data block accessible using a first standard disk-drive command. The first standard disk-drive command is transmitted through the serial interface causing the first data block to be transferred from the host computer to the disk control system. The embedded command is extracted from the transferred first data block and provided to the disk control system. A status response is transmitted to the host computer based on the extracted command. At least one additional standard disk-drive command is transmitted through the serial interface to the disk control system for transferring the identified data between the host computer and the disk drive.

A secure mobile phone-point of sale (POS) system includes a mobile phone integrated with a secure PED module. The secure PED module is integrated with the mobile phone via the phone's serial port or directly to the phone's Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA). The secure PED module conforms to security standards imposed by the payment card industry. The secure mobile phone-POS system has the functionality of both the secure PED and the mobile phone and the look and feel of the mobile phone.

A disk drive including a method for determining an amplitude for signal transmission over an interconnect is disclosed. The drive includes a processor that is coupled to a signal measurement circuit and is under the control of a program in conjunction with the signal measurement circuit to transmit a first signal to the host over a transmission medium at a first transmission frequency according to a first speed negotiation process, receive a second signal from the host at the first transmission frequency, determine a first voltage amplitude of the second signal, transmit a third signal to the host at a second transmission frequency according to a second speed negotiation process, receive a fourth signal from the host at the second transmission frequency, determine a second voltage amplitude of the fourth signal, and determine an approximate voltage loss in response to the first and second voltage amplitudes.

A disk drive including a disk, a signal measurement circuit to measure amplitudes of signals received from the host, and a processor for controlling operations in the disk drive. The processor under the control of a program in conjunction with the signal measurement circuit: measures an amplitude of a signal from a host during a first speed negotiation process and determines if the amplitude of the signal from the host is above a pre-determined amplitude for the disk drive. If so, the processor commands the disk drive to transmit the signals to the host at the measured amplitude of the first speed negotiation process. However, if the amplitude is below the pre-determined amplitude for the disk drive, a second speed negotiation process is forced using a low frequency signal from the host and calculations are performed to determine appropriate transmit amplitudes for the interconnect.

An integrated circuit contains a microprocessor core, program memory and separate data storage, together with analogue and digital signal processing circuitry. The ALU is 16 bits wide, but a 32-bit shift unit is provided, using a pair of 16-bit registers. The processor has a fixed length instruction format, with an instruction set including multiply and divide operations which use the shift unit over several cycles. No interrupts are provided. External pins of the integrated circuit allow for single stepping and other debug operations, and a serial interface (SIF) which allows external communication of test data or working data as necessary. The serial interface has four wires (SERIN, SEROUT, SER-CLK, SERLOADB), allowing handshaking with a master apparatus, and allowing direct access to the memory space of the processor core, without specific program control. Within each processor cycle, the processor circuitry is divided into plural stages, and latches are interposed between the stages to minimize power consumption.

The invention discloses a multisensory robot used for family intelligent monitoring service. The robot comprises a main control device, wherein the main control device is externally connected with a camera, a sound collector, a cellphone alarm device and a loudspeaker; the main control device is also externally connected with a chassis moving device and a head gesture device; the chassis moving device consists of a chassis controller, a motor driver, an obstacle avoiding sensor and a smoke sensor; the chassis moving device is provided with a lithium battery and wheels required by a mobile platform; the main control device sends a control command to the chassis controller by a serial port to control the corresponding action of a motor and process an obstacle avoiding signal; the head gesture device consists of three steering engines and one relay; and the main control device sends a control command to a head controller by a serial port to control the head and the eyeballs of the robot to rotate and control the mouth of the robot to open and close. The multisensory robot is used for the family intelligent monitoring field, can be used for multisensory fusion and can realize the multifunction family monitoring such as face identification and anomalous event monitoring.

A method for determining an amplitude for signal transmission over an interconnect is disclosed. The method includes transmitting a first signal to a host over a transmission medium at a first transmission frequency according to a first speed negotiation process and receiving a second signal from the host at the first transmission frequency. The method also includes measuring a first voltage amplitude of the second signal and transmitting a third signal to the host at a second transmission frequency according to a second speed negotiation process. The method further includes receiving a fourth signal from the host at the second transmission frequency, measuring a second voltage amplitude of the fourth signal, and determining an approximate voltage loss in response to the first and second voltage amplitudes.

Systems for connecting PSTN lines to telephones, handsets, computers, telecopy machines and other end user interfaces or consumer electronics devices in a residence or business. Systems according to the present invention include Network Control Units which form the center of a star topology and which communicate via RF link with Wireless Access Units and handsets. Wireless Access Units feature an interface, such as, for example, a standard telephone jack, for accommodating a telephone, a fax machine, a compute modem or other device. Computers or other devices may also be accommodated by Wireless Access Units having other physical and virtual interfaces, including, for instance, serial ports or network interfaces. The Wireless Access Units may also be digital to accommodate ISDN for any other digital standard. Wireless control / monitoring accessories may also be employed to communicate with the Network Control Unit and provide additional functionality such as entrance monitoring, baby monitoring, HVAC control and other services. Such systems may monitor various bands of interest, process, store and change their operation according to information associated with signals or noise in such bands, and, if desired, report such information upstream to management nodes for various purposes.

Versions of the present invention have many advantages, including providing communication devices that can transact on a universal peripheral device with a host device that may have different serial interface connectors, proprietary communication protocols or mechanical shapes. Among the many other advantages include that the peripheral device does not need a power source aside from the power supplied to it by the host device.One embodiment is a communication device comprising a host device comprised of software and an audio connector input; a peripheral device comprised of an analog and digital processor, a card reader and an audio connector output; and an audio connector line connecting said audio connector output and said audio connector input.

Systems for connecting telecommunications infrastructure lines to telephones, handsets, computers, telecopy machines and other end user interfaces or consumer electronics devices in a residence or business. Systems according to the present invention include Network Control Units which form the center of a star topology and which communicate via RF link with Wireless Access Units and handsets. Wireless Access Units feature an interface, such as, for example, a standard telephone jack, for accommodating a telephone, a fax machine, a compute modem or other device. Computers or other devices may also be accommodated by Wireless Access Units having other physical and virtual interfaces, including, for instance, serial ports or network interfaces. The Wireless Access Units may also be digital to accommodate ISDN or any other digital standard. Wireless control / monitoring accessories may also be employed to communicate with the Network Control Unit and provide additional functionality such as entrance monitoring, baby monitoring, HVAC control and other services. Personal Communication Links provide wireless handset and speakerphone services. The Personal Communication Links include independent talk / listen paths from the unit to the Network Control Unit. In addition, each Personal Communication Link includes circuitry for automatically adjusting from high-volume / high-microphone sensitivity for speakerphone operation to low-volume / low-microphone sensitivity for conventional handset operation.

A processor provides trace capability. Trace information can be provided over a communication port that is operable both as a trace port and as a parallel debug port. The trace port provides trace information indicating instruction execution flow in the processor core. The operation of the communication port as a trace port and as a parallel debug port is mutually exclusive. The parallel debug port provides for transmission of debug information between a debug host controller and the processor. The parallel debug port and the trace port physically share pins. Bus request and grant signals are provided between the parallel debug port and a debug host controller to ensure that collisions do not occur between use by the trace port and the debug host controller. A separate serial debug port is also provided which can be used to enable the parallel debug port.

Ultrasound bulk wave transducers and bulk wave transducer arrays for wide band or multi frequency band operation, in which the bulk wave is radiated from a front surface and the transducer is mounted on a backing material with sufficiently high absorption that reflected waves in the backing material can be neglected. The transducer is formed of layers that include a high impedance section comprised of at least one piezoelectric layer covered with electrodes to form an electric port, and at least one additional elastic layer, with all of the layers of the high impedance section having substantially the same characteristic impedance to yield negligible reflection between the layers. The transducer further includes a load matching section comprised of a set of elastic layers for impedance matching between the high impedance section and the load material and, optionally, impedance matching layers between the high impedance section and the backing material for shaping the transducer frequency response. For multiband operation, the high impedance section includes multiple piezoelectric layers covered with electrodes to form multiple electric ports that can further be combined by electric parallel, anti-parallel, serial, or anti-serial galvanic coupling to form electric ports with selected frequency transfer functions. Each electric port may be separately transceiver-connected to obtain parallel, anti-parallel, serial or anti-serial port coupling for multi-band transmission, and extremely wide-band reception.

Systems for connecting telecommunications infrastructure lines to telephones, handsets, computers, telecopy machines and other end user interfaces or consumer electronics devices in a residence or business. Systems according to the present invention include Network Control Units which form the center of a star topology and which communicate via RF link with Wireless Access Units and handsets. Wireless Access Units feature an interface, such as, for example, a standard telephone jack, for accommodating a telephone, a fax machine, a compute modem or other device. Computers or other devices may also be accommodated by Wireless Access Units having other physical and virtual interfaces, including, for instance, serial ports or network interfaces. The Wireless Access Units may also be digital to accommodate ISDN or any other digital standard. Wireless control / monitoring accessories may also be employed to communicate with the Network Control Unit and provide additional functionality such as entrance monitoring, baby monitoring, HVAC control and other services.

A portable vital sign monitor is provided which has a palm vital sign monitor unit carried by the patient, the unit comprising an optical probe positioned in the palm of the patient which measures at least one vital sign including SpO2 and pulse rate but not exclusively and only those vital signs. The detected vital signs are stored in memory and transmitted by wireless inter-connection to a communication base unit, which transmits the vital sign by a phone line, LAN, Internet, serial interface or the like to a data processing device / centre.

A computer system includes a flash memory device for storing BIOS code. The BIOS code is stored in an unprotected area of the flash memory. A boot block, stored in a protected area of the flash memory, is used for rebooting the computer system in the event that the flash memory device becomes corrupted. During normal operation, the BIOS code is updated using a radio link. If the BIOS is corrupted while being updated, a recovery routine stored in the boot block is executed. The recovery routine permits the corrupted BIOS to be reprogrammed using a serial interface instead of the radio link.

The invention provides a system for continuously monitoring a patient during hemodialysis. The system includes a hemodialysis machine for performing the hemodialysis process that features a controller, a pump, a dialyzer filter, a lumen, and an interface to a body-worn monitor. A patient attaches to the dialysis machine through the lumen, and wears a body-worn monitor for continuously measuring blood pressure. The monitor includes an optical system for measuring an optical waveform, an electrical system for measuring an electrical waveform, and a processing component for determining a transit time between the optical and electrical waveforms and then calculating a blood pressure value from the transit time. The body-worn monitor features an interface (e.g. a wired serial interface, or a wireless interface) to transmit the blood pressure value to the controller within the hemodialysis machine. The controller is configured to receive the blood pressure value, analyze it, and in response adjust the dialysis process.

An integrated audio transducer with associated signal processing electronics is disclosed. A silicon audio transducer, such as a MEMS microphone or speaker, can be integrated with audio processing electronics in a single package. The audio processing electronics can be configured using control signals. The audio processing electronics can provide a single line serial data interface and a single line control interface. The audio transducers can be integrated with associated processing electronics. A silicon microphone can be integrated with an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). The ADC output can be a single line serial interface. The ADC can be configured using a single line serial control interface. A speaker may be integrated with a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC). Audio transducers can also be integrated with more complex processing electronics. Audio processing parameters such as gain, dynamic range, and filter characteristics may be configured using the serial interface.

A wireless wearable video headset device useful for viewing and listening to multimedia content. In one embodiment, the device operates by receiving a digital encoded audio / video signal from a host device of a Bluetooth™ wireless connection, the Bluetooth™ connection established via a Serial Port Profile (SPP), and the digital video signal having been previously compressed with Windows Media Video (WMV) or H. 264 compliant compression. The received digital audio / video signal is then forwarded over a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection to an internal processor which then decompressed video content in the digital video signal to generate a component video signal that is suitable for handling by a display driver.

A method and apparatus implements patient data downloading for multiple different meter types, such as multiple different blood glucose meters. A plurality of serial ports is provided, each arranged for connection to a respective meter of the multiple different meter types. Information is displayed and user selections are identified. Responsive to user entry identifying a particular meter type, a connection port / cable number for the meter connection is displayed for viewing by the user. Predefined instructions for the particular meter type are displayed. A data collection computer system is provided as an integral unit including a unitary housing containing a processor device, a printer, and a display touch screen. When a meter connection is identified, information is displayed, patient data is downloaded from the meter and is printed in a selected format together with selected reports generated from the downloaded patient data.

The present invention is directed toward providing a system for registering, locating, and identifying network servers within a data center containing many such servers. Parallel and serial port couplers with an erasable, programable read-only memory are encoded with a unique ID number, and a label with a bar code corresponding to the ID number is affixed to each coupler. A server to be installed in a data center has an encoded coupler attached to one of its communication ports, and information related to that particular server is stored in a system database. Upon encountering a problem with a network server, the system displays the logical name of the server at issue. The location and identification information for the server are retrieved from the system database and displayed to a technician responsible for the server at issue. Using the displayed location information, the technician reads the label on the coupler connected to the suspected server and verifies that the ID number on the coupler matches the ID number displayed for the server requiring service.

A controller for controlling the reverse-bias voltage of an avalanche photodiode in a transceiver or receiver. The controller includes memory for storing information related to the avalanche photodiode, and analog to digital conversion circuitry for receiving an analog signal corresponding to the temperature of the avalanche photodiode, converting the received analog signal into a digital value, and storing the digital value in a predefined location within the memory. Control circuitry in the controller controls the operation of the avalanche photodiode in accordance with the digital value corresponding to the temperature of the avalanche photodiode and a temperature lookup table stored in the memory. A serial interface is provided to enable a host device to read from and write to locations within the memory. The invention is also implemented as a method for controlling the reverse-bias voltage of an avalanche photodiode in a transceiver or receiver and a method for calibrating a transceiver or receiver having an avalanche photodiode.