Method and apparatus for configuring plural multimedia audio cards as a local area network
First Claim
1. A computer network including a master system having a first audio card and multiple slave systems each having substantially identical second audio cards, comprising:
- means for commonly interconnecting first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels on said first audio card with respective first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels of said second audio cards in the multiple slave systems;
communication means for controlling the transfer of audio and data information between said master system and said slave systems using said first audio channel to communicate control information and said second audio channel to communicate said audio and data information; and
means for simultaneously processing said audio and data information in said first and second audio cards.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A computer network including a master system having a first audio card and multiple slave systems each having substantially identical second audio cards, comprising:
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means for commonly interconnecting first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels on said first audio card with respective first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels of said second audio cards in the multiple slave systems; communication means for controlling the transfer of audio and data information between said master system and said slave systems using said first audio channel to communicate control information and said second audio channel to communicate said audio and data information; and means for simultaneously processing said audio and data information in said first and second audio cards. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of communicating audio information and data information between a master computer system having a first audio card and multiple slave computer systems each having substantially identical second audio cards, comprising the steps of:
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commonly interconnecting first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels on said first audio card with respective first and second substantially identical analog format audio channels of said second audio cards in the multiple slave systems; controlling the transfer of audio and data information between said master system and said slave systems using said first audio channel to communicate control information and said second audio channel to communicate said audio and data information; and simultaneously processing said audio and data information in said first and second audio cards. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification