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:
Feb. 02, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 03, 2004
Johannes Hendrik Wessels, Eindhoven, NL;
Marcel Beij, Eindhoven, NL;
Ling Wang, Chicago, IL (US);
Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
A communication network includes a plurality of devices and a control unit for generating control signals to control the operation of the devices. Each device includes: a device operating circuit, a communication interface for receiving command signals for controlling operation of the devices, a control circuit coupled between the device operating circuit and the communication interface for controlling the operation of the device operating circuit part in dependency of said command signals, and a master integral to the device for receiving the control signals, for generating the command signals in response to the received control signals, and for transferring the command signals to the communication interfaces of the plurality of devices. The communication network activates one of the masters as an active master, and in case the active master fails, then it activates another master to take over as the active master.