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:
May. 05, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 15, 1996
Jimmy Dean Smith, Stevensville, MI (US);
Mark D Nicol, Stevensville, MI (US);
Brian K Straup, South Bend, IN (US);
Terence Paul O'Brien, Saint Joseph, MI (US);
Mark Layne Herman, Saint Joseph, MI (US);
Terrence A Hussey, Saint Joseph, MI (US);
Packard Bell NEC, Sacramento, CA (US);
Abstract
Manual insertion of hardware jumpers to configure I/O device selection and addressing is eliminated through the implementation of specialized hardware which allows for program control over several addressing paths. A register file is utilized within a programmable device to configure demultiplexers and multiplexers which map I/O address control line signals to set up various communication paths for address I/O exchanges. I/O configuration is entirely removed from add-on cards through the use of the programmable device. Accordingly, such add-on cards only require minimum circuitry, thus facilitating the use of miniature or baby cards as option cards which are much smaller than standard add-on cards.