PARTICIPANT RESPONSE SYSTEM WITH FACILITATED COMMUNICATIONS BANDWIDTH
First Claim
1. In a participant response system comprising at least one host computer and a plurality of wireless, remote units communicating wirelessly with said host computer using a radio packet protocol, a method of reducing communications bandwidth during transmission of data messages between said host computer and said remote units, said method comprising:
- bundling data messages destined for substantially all remote units in general broadcast frames and transmitting said general broadcast frames to all of said remote units for processing by said remote units;
transmitting data messages destined for one or more selected remote units in message frames addressed to said one or more selected remote units asynchronously; and
transmitting data messages from remote units destined for said host computer in message frames asynchronously.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A participant response system (50) comprises at least one host computer (52) and a plurality of remote units (62) communicating wirelessly with the host computer using a radio packet protocol. During communications between the host computer (52) and the remote units (62), data messages from the host computer (52) to be processed by substantially all of the remote units (62) are transmitted to the remote units in general broadcast frames (BF) destined for all of the remote units and data messages from the host computer (52) to be processed by selected ones of the remote units (62) are transmitted to the selected ones of the remote units in message frames destined for those selected ones of the remote units (62) outside of the period of each general broadcast frame. Data messages from remote units (62) destined for the host computer (52) are also transmitted in message frames beyond the period of each general broadcast frame.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. In a participant response system comprising at least one host computer and a plurality of wireless, remote units communicating wirelessly with said host computer using a radio packet protocol, a method of reducing communications bandwidth during transmission of data messages between said host computer and said remote units, said method comprising:
- bundling data messages destined for substantially all remote units in general broadcast frames and transmitting said general broadcast frames to all of said remote units for processing by said remote units;
transmitting data messages destined for one or more selected remote units in message frames addressed to said one or more selected remote units asynchronously; and
transmitting data messages from remote units destined for said host computer in message frames asynchronously. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
- bundling data messages destined for substantially all remote units in general broadcast frames and transmitting said general broadcast frames to all of said remote units for processing by said remote units;
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7. The method of wherein said message frames are transmitted according to a carrier sensed, multiple access and collision avoidance scheme.
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11. A method of transmitting data messages between a base unit and a plurality of hand-held units over a wireless communications link, said method comprising:
- embedding data messages addressed to substantially all of said handheld units into synchronization frames and broadcasting the synchronization frames at intervals to said hand-held units;
transmitting data messages addressed to selected hand-held units in message frames asynchronously; and
transmitting data messages from remote units addressed to said host computer in message frames asynchronously. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
- embedding data messages addressed to substantially all of said handheld units into synchronization frames and broadcasting the synchronization frames at intervals to said hand-held units;
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17. In a system comprising a base unit and a plurality of remote units communicating wirelessly with said base unit, a data transmission method comprising:
- examining each data message to be transmitted by said base unit to determine if the data message is to be processed by substantially all of said remote units;
if so, incorporating the data message into a synchronization frame destined for transmission to all of said remote units and transmitting said synchronization frame;
if not, transmitting the data message in a message frame addressed to the remote unit(s) that is(are) to process the data message asynchronously; and
transmitting the response data message(s) from the remote unit(s) addressed to said host computer in a message frame asynchronously. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
- examining each data message to be transmitted by said base unit to determine if the data message is to be processed by substantially all of said remote units;
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24. A participant response system comprising:
- at least one host computer; and
a plurality of remote units communicating wirelessly with said host computer using a radio packet protocol, wherein during communications between said host computer and said remote units, data messages from said host computer to be processed by substantially all of said remote units are transmitted to said remote units in general broadcast frames destined for all of said remote units and data messages from said host computer to be processed by selected ones of said remote units are transmitted to the selected ones of said remote units in message frames destined for those selected ones of said remote units asynchronously and wherein data messages from said remote units to be processed by said host computer are transmitted in message frames asynchronously. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- at least one host computer; and
Specification