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. 31, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 29, 1998
Peter Buhring, Hamburg, DE;
Egon Johnk, Norderstedt, DE;
U.S. Philips Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
Short-circuits are liable to occur between the two conductors in a system in which data and/or energy is transmitted to a plurality of receivers/users via two conductors. Transmission is then interrupted and the supply source is inadmissibly over-loaded. The invention provides disconnecting units which recognize occurrence of short-circuits between the conductors and, in response thereto, isolate the part of the system in which the short-circuit has occurred from the supply of data and/or energy, so that the remainder of the system remains operational. After removal of the short-circuit, the isolated part is automatically re-connected to the system. The potential on the conductors ahead of and following a disconnecting unit is monitored via current limiting circuit elements which bridge a switch in the disconnecting unit. One or more monitoring units in a disconnecting unit sense the potential of the conductors and based thereon determine whether to render the switch in such disconnecting unit conductive or non-conductive.