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:
Oct. 14, 1997
Filed:
Feb. 18, 1994
Velraj Ramaswamy, Middletown, NJ (US);
Michael David Rauchwerk, Holmdel, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A personal computer's microprocessor is time-shared to provide the functions formerly provided by a microprocessor dedicated to a modem. This technique is transparent to software applications programs which interact with a modem. The personal computer utilizes an operating system, such as the Microsoft Windows operating system, in which a portion of the operating system, known as the communications driver, provides the interface between the operating system and the personal computer's serial and parallel communication ports. All communications between the communications driver and the rest of the operating system are examined. Those communications destined for a particular port associated with a modem not having a dedicated microprocessor are redirected while other communications destined for other ports are passed to the Microsoft Windows communications driver. The redirected communications are coupled to a software application program which utilizes the PC microprocessor to carry out the functions formerly provided by the modem microprocessor. As a result, the modem's microprocessor and associated RAM and ROM can be eliminated. The software application program can be loaded into the personal computer's memory only when required.