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:
Jan. 02, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 30, 1998
Applicant:
Inventor:
Kurt R. Browning, Newbury Park, CA (US);
Assignee:
Xircom, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G08B 2/300 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G08B 2/300 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for detecting a connection to a data transmission network functions by detecting the network signal energy on a network cable while avoiding the problems of excessive power consumption and generation of excessive electrical noise. By monitoring the receive network lines and determining if there is electrical energy on the cable in the form particular to the type of network supported by the network adapter card, the host computing device can power-down the transceiver associated with the network adapter card until an active network connection is detected.