The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 1997
Filed:
Nov. 23, 1993
Timothy E Dailey, Forest, VA (US);
Ericsson Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC (US);
Abstract
A peer-to-peer communication system includes multiple microcontrollers where each microcontroller has a microprocessor, memory, and an asynchronous receiver-transmitter connected by a parallel bus. A serial bus includes transmit, receive, and request lines. Each of the controllers is connected to the transmit and receive lines of the serial bus by way of its asynchronous receiver-transmitter. Each microcontroller is connected to the request line of the serial bus through an I/O port. A microcontroller detects an idle period on the serial bus and seizes control of the serial bus using that request line. The asynchronous receiver-transmitter is preferably a conventional universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART). Thus, peer-to-peer communications are coordinated in a simplified fashion so that each device on the network can independently communicate with any other device on that network using standardized, industry accepted hardware and protocols.