Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Peripheral adapting
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-05
2002-04-09
Lee, Thomas (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Peripheral adapting
C710S056000, C710S062000, C710S063000, C710S120000, C710S120000, C709S220000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06370603
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to digital communications and, more particularly, to effecting communications between devices operating with disparate protocols (e.g., USB, Ethernet, etc.).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There is often a need or a desire to permit the digital electronic communication between two or more digital electronic devices and apparatus. For example, it is often desirable to have a personal computer interfaced with a local area network (LAN). To implement the digital electronic communication between the computer and the network, various communication protocols have been developed. For example, Ethernet is a common communication protocol used in many local area networks.
In practice, in order to network a personal computer, a network card is installed in the computer. Often, the network card includes an Ethernet port. A cable assembly, typically including Ethernet connectors at both ends, can be used to connect the Ethernet port of the network card into the network system.
A problem can sometimes arise when two or more apparatus are configured to communicate with different communication protocols. For example, laptop computers are not often provided with Ethernet cards, and therefore cannot directly communicate with Ethernet networks or other apparatus communicating using Ethernet protocols. One solution is to add a PCMCIA Ethernet card to the portable computer to allow its connection to an Ethernet network. However, standard PCMCIA Ethernet cards have considerable associated overhead from both a hardware and a software point of view. Further, the speed of the Ethernet connection is limited by the speed of the PCMCIA interface. External devices that add Ethernet capabilities to lap-tops undesirably add size and weight to the overall system.
This communication problem will be further explained with reference to
FIGS. 1A-1C
. In
FIG. 1A
, a first apparatus
10
is coupled to a second apparatus
12
by a cable assembly
14
. Apparatus
10
can be, for example, a personal computer provided with a network card
16
having an Ethernet port (connector)
18
. The apparatus
12
can be any number of other types of computer equipment including a network hub, a personal computer, a printer, etc., and is provided with its own network card
20
with Ethernet port (connector)
21
. It should be noted that the circuitry of network cards
16
or
20
can be integrated into the electronics of the apparatus
10
or
12
, respectively. For example, the circuitry of network card
16
can be provided on the mother board of a personal computer apparatus
10
.
The cable assembly
14
includes a first connector
22
, a second connector
24
, and a cable
26
extending between the two connectors. Connector
22
engages with connector
18
of Ethernet card
16
, and connector
24
engages with connector
21
of Ethernet card
20
. Since both apparatus
10
and apparatus
12
are communicating with the same communication protocol, i.e. with an Ethernet protocol, a simple connection by cable assembly
14
suffices to place the two pieces of apparatus into digital electronic communication.
A problem arises when two apparatus attempt to communicate using two different communication protocols. For example, in
FIG. 1B
, it may be desirable to have a first apparatus
10
communicate with a second apparatus
12
which communicates by a different communication protocol. That is, the apparatus
10
might be provided with an Ethernet ported network card
16
while apparatus
12
might be provided with a serial communications (e.g. an RS-232) card
28
. In such instances, a translator box
30
can be provided which communicates with an Ethernet communication protocol at a first port
32
and with a serial communication protocol at a second port
34
. Devices including interface cards are examples of such translator boxes
30
.
In
FIG. 1C
, a first apparatus
10
is coupled to a second apparatus
12
by a “smart” cable
36
. In an example, the apparatus
10
has a card
38
communicating with a first communication protocol, and apparatus
12
has a card
40
communicating with a second communication protocol. However, instead of having a separate translator box
30
as explained with reference to
FIG. 1B
, the smart cable
36
of
FIG. 1C
includes embedded circuitry for translating the communication protocol of apparatus
10
into the communication protocol for apparatus
12
. For example, apparatus
10
can be a personal computer having a USB card
38
and apparatus
12
can be a printer having a parallel or Centronics port
40
. The smart cable
36
then translates the USB protocols of apparatus
10
into Centronics protocols of apparatus
12
and vice versa. The digital circuitry of the smart cable can be located within a connector
42
or a connector
44
of the cable or can be part of the cable
46
, e.g. in the form of a dongle
48
.
There are several examples of smart cables that are commercially available. For example, Methode New England provides smart cables with built-in termination, hot swap circuitry, and dongle integration. The Smart Cable Company of Tacoma, Wash. produces a FC819/825 smart serial to parallel cable which automatically adjusts itself for serial to parallel or parallel to serial conversion. Logic Control, Inc. markets the IW 2000 Intelligent Wedge Cable which converts RS232 or decoded TTL serial data to keyboard data. Also, B&B Electronics Manufacturing Company markets the model USBP10 cable which allows USB ports to be coupled to parallel printers.
The problem with the current generation of smart cables is that they are only available for a limited number of rather simple protocol conversions, and they are not easily upgradable. Also, many of these devices require software drivers to be loaded onto a host computer in order to operate properly. Further, most of these devices require either a relatively large connector (such as Centronics connector), or a bulky dongle, to house the translation circuitry. This is because the translation circuitry as associated printed circuit (PC) board tends to be quite bulky.
In addition, even “smart” cables are not typically “plug-and-play”. That is, typically drivers are required on the host computer to which the cable is attached to properly operate the smart cable. Therefore, the smart cables of the prior art tend not to be “transparent” from the user's point of view.
Glossary
Unless otherwise noted, or as may be evident from the context of their usage, any terms, abbreviations, acronyms or scientific symbols and notations used herein are to be given their ordinary meaning in the technical discipline to which the invention most nearly pertains. The following terms, abbreviations and acronyms may be used in the description contained herein:
A/D:
Analog-to-Digital (converter).
ALU:
Arithmetic Logic Unit.
ASIC:
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit.
bit:
binary digit.
byte:
eight contiguous bits.
CAM:
Content-Addressable Memory.
CMOS:
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor.
CODEC:
Encoder/De-Coder. In hardware, a combination of A/D
and D/A converters. In software, an algorithm pair.
CPU:
Central Processing Unit.
D/A:
Digital-to-Analog (converter).
DRAM:
Dynamic Random Access Memory
DSP:
Digital Signal Processing (or Processor)
EEPROM:
Also E2PROM. An electrically-erasable EPROM.
EPROM:
Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory.
Flash:
Also known as Flash ROM. A form of EPROM based
upon conventional UV EPROM technology but which is
provided with a mechanism for electrically pre-
charging selected sections of the capacitive storage
array, thereby effectively “erasing” all capacitive
storage cells to a known state.
FPGA:
Field-Programmable Gate Array
g:
or (giga), 1,000,000,000
Gbyte:
gigabyte(s).
GPIO:
General Purpose Input/Output.
HDL:
Hardware Description Language.
IC:
Integrated Circuit.
I/O:
Input/Output.
IEEE:
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
JPEG:
Joint Photographic Experts Group
k:
(or kilo), 1000.
KHz:
KiloHertz (1,000 cycles per second).
MAC:
Media Access Control.
Ma
Rostoker Michael D.
Silverman Joel
Kawasaki Microelectronics Inc.
Lee Thomas
Linden Gerald E.
Perveen Rehana
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