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:
Aug. 31, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 08, 2007
William H. Howe, Pennsburg, PA (US);
Timothy S. Majewski, New Tripoli, PA (US);
Daniel Curtis Raneri, Bethlehem, PA (US);
Arya Abraham, Bethlehem, PA (US);
R. Paul Stocker, Bethlehem, PA (US);
William H. Howe, Pennsburg, PA (US);
Timothy S. Majewski, New Tripoli, PA (US);
Daniel Curtis Raneri, Bethlehem, PA (US);
Arya Abraham, Bethlehem, PA (US);
R. Paul Stocker, Bethlehem, PA (US);
Lutron Electronics Co., Ltd., Coopersburg, PA (US);
Abstract
A lighting control system having a plurality of control devices coupled to a communication link operates with a communication protocol that allows the system to expeditiously process high-priority events while operating communicate at a low enough baud rate to allow for a free-wiring topology of the communication link. The transmission of regular-priority messages is suspended if any of the control devices has a high-priority message to transmit. To signal that a control device has a high-priority message to transmit, each control device is operable to transmit a break character in a predetermined time period after the transmission of one of the digital messages. After the transmission of the break character, the transmission of the regular-priority messages on the communication link is suspended to allow the high-priority message to be transmitted quickly.