Controllerless modem
US5864710A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 22, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jan 26, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 22, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/105
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A computer system implements a standard modem without the use of a microcontroller. Instead, a digital signal processor is provided on an expansion card, but with direct links to the computer system itself. The code usually implemented in the microcontroller is instead implemented as a virtual modem controller to be called by the operating system of the computer itself. Further, this virtual modem controller includes a virtualized UART, that appears to the operating system software as a hardware UART, with entry points for calls to replace input/output instructions. In this way, standard device driver code written to execute input/output operations is easily converted to operate with the "virtualized" UART.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.