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:
Mar. 02, 2010
Filed:
Nov. 17, 2006
Thomas D. Hite, Rockwall, TX (US);
Ronald W. Barber, Plano, TX (US);
Charles W. Partridge, Wylie, TX (US);
Mark R. Lee, Richardson, TX (US);
William B. Mcgrane, Dallas, TX (US);
Aaron L. Myer, Draper, UT (US);
Mark S. Lewno, Garland, TX (US);
Thomas D. Hite, Rockwall, TX (US);
Ronald W. Barber, Plano, TX (US);
Charles W. Partridge, Wylie, TX (US);
Mark R. Lee, Richardson, TX (US);
William B. McGrane, Dallas, TX (US);
Aaron L. Myer, Draper, UT (US);
Mark S. Lewno, Garland, TX (US);
AMX LLC, Richardson, TX (US);
Abstract
A control system, method and computer program are provided for communicating control information in a control system. The control system includes a master controller and a plurality of devices. Each of the plurality of devices have a number of channels. Each channel has an identifying number and a plurality of channel states. The method includes at least initially directing one or more messages sent to and from each device to the master controller, sending a first type of control message from the master controller to respective devices, and sending a second type of control message and a third type of control message from the master controller to respective devices. A control message of the first type directs the respective device to place one of its channels in a specified channel state. A control message of the second type directs the respective device to set the level of a specified parameter to a certain value, and a control message of the third type comprises a character string of variable length.