Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for configuring plural multimedia audio cards as a local area network

US5519641A · kind A · utility

153Cited by
9References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 20, 1994
Grant dateMay 21, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 20, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/403
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method makes use of the line-in, line-out connectors for each right and left stereo channel of an audio card to provide a communications network. The distributed computers are connected in a master/slave configuration. All of the slave systems have the line-in ports, and the line-out ports, connected together. The master system line-out is connected to each slave system line-in port, and the slave system line-out ports are connected to the master line-in port, for each channel. A communications protocol is provided wherein the master system allows audio and data information to be simultaneously transferred between the master and slave systems. The master provides a clock signal and performs arbitration in order to facilitate the information transfer.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.