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:
Nov. 23, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 27, 1998
James B Williams, Lowell, MA (US);
Giga Net, Inc., Concord, MA (US);
Abstract
A system comprises a plurality of devices which communicate over a network. At least one of the devices transmits information to at least one other of the devices in information messages over a virtual circuit established therebetween using the network. The other device can transmit information concerning, for example, predetermined conditions in the other device in connection with the virtual circuit using signalling messages, which are transmitted by the other device over the virtual circuit to the one device. The one device includes a plurality of mailboxes associated with the virtual circuit, and the other device, that is, the device that is to transmit signalling messages, includes a transmit signal queue including a plurality of entries each associated with one of the mailboxes. A processor on the other device, to enable transmission of a signalling message including the condition information to be transferred to a mailbox, loads the condition information to be transferred into the transmit signal queue entry associated with the mailbox. The other device, in turn, transmits the signalling message to the one device, which loads the condition information in the appropriate mailbox. A processor on the one device retrieves the condition information from the mailbox to determine the condition information as communicated thereto by the other device.