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. 28, 2017
Filed:
Feb. 25, 2013
Kevin Kenneth Lint, Seven Valleys, PA (US);
Joseph Robert Reagan, Steelton, PA (US);
Kevin Kenneth Lint, Seven Valleys, PA (US);
Joseph Robert Reagan, Steelton, PA (US);
Dentsply International Inc., York, PA (US);
Abstract
In a dental operatory system a master device coordinates the activity levels of multiple slave devices. The master device coordinates activity via a communication link with all slave devices. A communication protocol incorporates a closed system addresses scheme in which the master device learns all associated addresses of slave devices, and all slave devices learn all associated addresses of the master device. Each communication between master device and any slave device includes both the master device address and the slave device address. The master device scans all slave devices for an activity status and determines which slave device exhibits a threshold level of activity, and whether activity is increasing or decreasing. The master device passes a communication control token to the slave device to be controlled by operation of the master device.