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. 05, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 22, 2000
Kazue Sadanaka, Tokyo, JP;
Yuji Kimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An IEEE 1394 I/F circuit detects, through a digital I/O terminal, pieces of information each peculiar to one of electronic apparatuses connected to an information-outputting apparatus by using a digital bus and supplies the information to a control unit. The control unit reports the pieces of peculiar information to the user by displaying the information on a screen of a display unit employed in the information-outputting apparatus. By referring to the pieces of peculiar information displayed, the user operates a remote commander to select one of the electronic apparatuses that is most likely connected to an analog input terminal of the information-outputting apparatus for each of the pieces of information. The piece of information peculiar to the selected electronic apparatus is associated with the analog input terminal most likely connected to the selected electronic apparatus. The associations are then stored in a connection management memory as an analog-connection state under control. As a result, it is possible to provide an information-outputting apparatus capable of flexibly keeping up with dynamic switching from an analog signal to a digital signal supplied thereto and vice versa in an environment of coexisting analog and digital connections, and to provide a connection-relation management method adopted in the information-outputting apparatus.