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Method and apparatus for conversing over a network

  • US 5,572,677 A
  • Filed: 08/04/1994
  • Issued: 11/05/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/04/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A network sound channel comprising:

  • a local area network (LAN) having a plurality of connection nodes for connecting computer devices and including storage means for storing digital information transmitted over said LAN; and

    plural computer devices connected via respective connection nodes to said LAN, each computer device including a sound processor for converting sound into digital information and digital information into sound, each computer device being operable in (a) a talk mode in which the computer device attempts to grab a network semaphore from the storage means and in which, only if the device grabs the semaphore, the sound processor converts sound into digital information and the digital information is stored in said storage means over said LAN in serialized files having a predetermined naming convention, and (b) a listen mode in which, if certain serialized files having a predetermined naming convention are in said storage means, said certain serialized files are retrieved from said storage means over said LAN, transferred to a local memory and converted by the sound processor into sound in accordance with their serialization.

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