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. 14, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 15, 1997
Erik J Van Dort, Eindhoven, NL;
U.S. Philips Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to an information distribution system with a plurality of stations (100, 102, 104) and at least one shared resource (120, 122), such as an audio channel. Access to a shared resource is managed in a distributed manner. Each station comprises a controller 154. If a station requires a shared resource, the controller 154 of the station checks resource status information stored in a local memory 156 to determine whether the shared resource is available. If the resource is available, the controller 154 selects the available shared resource and uses communication means 150 to send a status message informing other ones of the stations that the station uses the selected resource. Next, the controller 154 uses access means 152, such as an audio selector, to access the selected resource. Upon receiving the status message, controllers 154 of the other stations update the resource status information stored in the local memory 156 according to a received status message.