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. 09, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 24, 1998
Peter Simpson, Holliston, MA (US);
Kurt Blacker, Oxford, MA (US);
Myles Kimmitt, Shrewsbury, MA (US);
3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A computer network, and preferably a network concentrator, with a bidirectional serial channel. A plurality of devices on the channel are identified by addresses. The devices are divided into device groups and a device in one group can have an address which is identical to a device in another group. A management processor communicates with the individual devices by digital signaling through an analog multiplexer. The management processor decides which device group to communicate with, and then either generates a selection signal, or sends a data packet to a device register to generate a selection signal which causes the analog multiplexer to connect the bidirectional serial channel of the management processor to the bidirectional serial channel of the proper device group.