High-reliability computer interface for wireless input devices
First Claim
1. A method for sending messages between computing units of a computing system using radio frequency (RF) communications, comprising:
- a) sending a first RF message from a first unit to a second unit and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer;
b) receiving said first RF message at said second unit and performing a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on said first RF message;
c) sending a second RF message from said second unit to the first unit acknowledging that the first message was received when the CRC performed on said first RF message is good;
d) receiving said second message at the first unit and performing the CRC on the second message; and
e) canceling said ACK timer when the CRC performed on the second message is good.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computing system wherein communication between a host computer and peripheral units, e.g. computer mouse and keyboard, is performed using RF signals. The host computer and the peripheral units each contain a transceiver for managing and transmitting the RF communication messages. An acknowledgement is sent by the receiving transceiver to the sending transceiver to signify that the message was successfully received. If no acknowledgement is received by the sending transceiver, a subsequent RF communication message is sent until an acknowledgement is received. A sleep mode is invoked between messages to conserve battery power in the peripheral units, and the peripheral units send a report message to the host when awaking periodically, or by a user demand, from the sleep mode signifying that the peripheral unit is active and ready to send or receive messages.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method for sending messages between computing units of a computing system using radio frequency (RF) communications, comprising:
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a) sending a first RF message from a first unit to a second unit and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer;
b) receiving said first RF message at said second unit and performing a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on said first RF message;
c) sending a second RF message from said second unit to the first unit acknowledging that the first message was received when the CRC performed on said first RF message is good;
d) receiving said second message at the first unit and performing the CRC on the second message; and
e) canceling said ACK timer when the CRC performed on the second message is good. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for handling a corrupted message sent between computing units of a computing system using radio frequency (RF) communications, comprising:
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a) sending a first RF message from a first unit to a second unit and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer at the first unit;
b) receiving said first RF message at said second unit and performing a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on said first RF message;
c) discarding said first message at the second unit when the CRC determines the first message is corrupted;
d) starting a backoff timer at the first unit when the ACK timer expires;
e) resending said first RF message from said first unit to said second unit and starting said ACK timer at the first unit;
f) receiving said resent first RF message at said second unit and performing a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on said resent first RF message;
g) sending a second RF message from said second unit to said first unit confirming receipt of said resent first RF message when the CRC on the resent first message is good; and
h) receiving said second RF message at said first unit, performing the CRC on the second message, and canceling the ACK timer when the CRC on the second message is good. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for handling a corrupted acknowledgement message sent between computing units of a computing system using radio frequency (RF) communications, comprising:
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a) sending an RF message from a first unit to a second unit and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer at the first unit;
b) receiving said RF message at said second unit and performing a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) on said RF message;
c) sending a first ACK message to said first unit when the CRC determines the RF message is good;
d) receiving said first ACK message at said first unit, determining said ACK message is corrupt using the CRC, and discarding the first ACK message;
e) starting a backoff timer at the first unit when the ACK timer expires;
f) resending said RF message from said first unit to said second unit when the backoff timer expires and starting said ACK timer at the first unit;
g) receiving said resent RF message at said second unit, determining the resent message good with the CRC, discarding the resent RF message;
h) sending a second a second ACK message from said second unit to said first unit confirming receipt of said resent RF message; and
i) receiving said second ACK message at said first unit, performing the CRC on the second ACK message, and canceling the ACK timer when the CRC on the second message is good. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for normal radio frequency (RF) communications between a host computer and a peripheral device awakened from a sleep state, comprising:
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a) awaking a peripheral computing device from a sleep state by an activated function of said peripheral device;
b) coupling to a transceiver of said peripheral computing device a signal representing said activated function;
c) sending an RF message representing said activated function to said transceiver of a host computer and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer;
e) receiving said RF message by said transceiver of said host computer and determining that the RF message is good by a cyclical redundancy check (CRC);
g) sending an ACK message to said peripheral device indicating said RF message was received; and
h) receiving said ACK message at the transceiver of the peripheral device, determining that the ACK message to be good by the CRC;
canceling said ACK timer and returning said transceiver of the peripheral device to said sleep state. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method for lost or garbled communications between a peripheral device and a host computer using radio frequency (RF) communications, comprising:
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a) sending an RF message to a host computer from a peripheral device and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer;
b) receiving said RF message by the host computer, determining that a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) of said RF message is not good and discarding said RF message by the host computer;
c) starting a backoff timer when said ACK timer at the peripheral device expires;
d) resending said RF message to the host computer when the backoff timer expires and starting said ACK timer;
e) receiving said RF message at the host computer, determining that the CRC of said RF message is good and sending an ACK message to the peripheral device;
f) receiving at said peripheral device said ACK message and determining the CRC of the ACK message is good; and
g) canceling said ACK timer and placing said peripheral device into a sleep state. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for a peripheral device sleep sequence, comprising:
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a) awaking a peripheral device when a sleep timer expires;
b) sending a radio frequency (RF) message from the peripheral device to a host computer and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer;
c) receiving said RF message at said host computer and determining by a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) that said RF message is good;
d) sending an ACK message to said peripheral device;
e) receiving said ACK message at said peripheral device, determining said ACK message good with said CRC, and canceling said ACK timer; and
f) starting said sleep timer and returning said peripheral device to sleep mode. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for a peripheral device sleep sequence with lost messages at the peripheral device, comprising:
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a) awaking a peripheral device when a sleep timer expires;
b) sending a radio frequency (RF) message to a host computer from said peripheral device and starting an acknowledgement (ACK) timer at said peripheral device;
c) receiving said RF message at said host computer and determining that a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) of said RF message is good;
d) sending a first host ACK message to said peripheral device;
e) receiving said first host ACK message at said peripheral device wherein said CRC is bad and said first host ACK message is discarded;
f) starting a backoff timer when ACK timer at the peripheral device expires;
g) resending said RF message to the host computer when backoff timer expires and starting said ACK timer at the peripheral device;
h) receiving the resent RF message at the host computer, determining the CRC of the resent RF message to be good, ignoring the resent RF message, and sending a second host ACK message to the peripheral device; and
i) receiving said second host ACK message at the peripheral device, determining the CRC to be good, canceling the ACK timer, starting the sleep timer, and placing the peripheral device into a sleep state. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for a peripheral device sleep sequence with lost messages at a host computer, comprising:
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a) awaking a peripheral device when a sleep timer expires, sending an RF message to the host computer and starting said ACK timer at said peripheral device;
b) receiving said RF message at said host computer, determining said CRC to be good, sending a host ACK message with a command to said peripheral device and starting the ACK timer at the host;
c) receiving said host ACK message with a command at said peripheral device, determining said CRC of the host ACK message with said command to be good, canceling AKC timer at the peripheral device, processing the command, sending a first peripheral device ACK message to the host and starting the ACK timer;
d) receiving said first peripheral device ACK message at the host, determining the CRC of the first peripheral device ACK message to be bad and discarding the first peripheral device ACK message;
e) starting a backoff timer at said host when the ACK timer at host expires;
f) resending to said peripheral device the host ACK with the command when the backoff timer at the host expires and starting the ACK timer at the host;
g) receiving the resent host ACK with the command at the peripheral device, determining the CRC of the resent host ACK with the command to be good, discarding the resent host ACK as a duplicate of previously received host ACK message, sending a second peripheral device ACK message to the host, and starting the ACK timer at the peripheral device;
h) receiving the second peripheral device ACK message at the host, determining the CRC of the second peripheral device ACK message to be good and canceling the ACK timer at the host; and
i) starting a sleep timer at said peripheral device when ACK timer at the peripheral device expires and place peripheral device into a sleep mode. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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Specification