Communication port control module for lighting systems
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for receiving signals from a control computer and for using such signals to control a lighting device, said apparatus comprising:
- a parallel to serial converter for converting said signals from parallel to serial form; and
a lighting device microprocessor, connected to receive said parallel signals over a bus from said parallel to serial converter, to interpret said signals as commands, and to control said lighting device in accordance with said commands.
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Abstract
An improved technique of interfacing a computer lighting device to a control computer is disclosed, wherein a hardware device is interposed between the control computer and the lighting device. The hardware device handles certain functions in hardware, thereby permitting the microprocessor at the lighting device to incur substantially less processing load.
32 Citations
13 Claims
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1. Apparatus for receiving signals from a control computer and for using such signals to control a lighting device, said apparatus comprising:
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a parallel to serial converter for converting said signals from parallel to serial form; and
a lighting device microprocessor, connected to receive said parallel signals over a bus from said parallel to serial converter, to interpret said signals as commands, and to control said lighting device in accordance with said commands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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- 4. A method of receiving and processing lighting control signals, from a central computer, at a lighting device, said method comprising performing parallel to serial conversion and error detection in a hardware circuit, conveying said signals thereafter to a microprocessor, decoding said signals in said microprocessor, and controlling said lighting device with said microprocessor in response to said decoding.
- 7. A hardware device for interposing between a computer controlled lighting device and a control computer that controls said lighting hardware device, comprising means for transmitting and receiving serial signals indicative of commands and data to control said lighting device, means for ensuring, via hardware, that said data and commands include edges at predetermined times, and means for converting said signals to parallel form and conveying said signals, in parallel form, to a microprocessor for decoding and for utilization in controlling said lighting device.
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10. A method of receiving a signal from a central computer to control a lighting device, the method comprising the steps of:
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a. Placing a portion of said signal into a preshift register, and checking said portion for errors;
b. shifting said portion into a shift register if said portion is error free; and
c. repeating steps a and b plural times before shifting said signals out of said shift register to a lighting device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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Specification