MXPA98008055A - A method and apparatus for incorporating an appliance unit into a computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method and apparatus for incorporating an appliance into a computer system. One embodiment of the invention has a computer with a first digital wireless transceiver, and an appliance unit with a second digital wireless transceiver for communicatively coupling to the first wireless transceiver. This appliance unit also has (1) an output device, communicatively coupled to the second wireless transceiver, for presenting an output presentation based on signals received from the computer via the wireless transceivers, and (2) an input device, communicatively coupled to the second wireless transceiver, for receiving input signals from an operator of the appliance unit.

Description

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING A DEVICE UNIT IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For several years there have been some controversies regarding the Smart Homes, in which the computers are connected to devices to control the operation of the devices. For example, these computers are said to be typically to turn on / off these devices and to control their operational settings. These systems do not incorporate devices into the computer system that allow the device to serve as an input / output ("I / O") interconnection of the computer. Also, these systems are typically said to connect computers and devices through wired communication connections. Such wired communication connections are disadvantageous because they are expensive and difficult to install. Figures 1 and 2 show the recent systems of the prior art that connect a computer to a television ("TV") or a video cassette player ("VCR") through a scan or Ref. 28544 television converter. These converters are connected to the TV or VCR through a wired or wireless connection or link. However, these systems differ in that the system 100 only used the processor 115 to generate RGB data for the screen, while the system 200 uses a graphics accelerator 215 intended to generate display or display data. As shown in these figures, these prior systems typically include a display device 140 and a computer 105, which includes a bus 110, a processor 115, and a storage 120. The bus 110 connects several internal modules of the computer . For example, bus 110 couples processor 115 and storage 120. Physical storage elements store data, such as (1) an application program 125 to perform certain tasks, (2) an operating system 130 to control the allocation and use of the resources of the physical and computer programming elements, and the I / O controller programs 135 to provide the set of instructions necessary to control the I / O devices, such as the display device 140 .

Through the bus 110, the processor 115 recovers the data stored in the storage 120. The processor then processes the data. Sometimes, the results of this processing are displayed on the screen device 140, to which the bus bar 110 is also connected. This screen device is typically a PC monitor, such as a cathode ray tube (CTR), for the display of information to a computer user. Other systems of the prior art use a liquid crystal display (LCD) for their display device. Both display devices 140 of Figures 1 and 2 receive the RGB data from the screen of the Y-tap connectors or similar devices through which they have to be passed (not shown). Also, in both of these systems, a digital-to-analog converter (a DAC, which is not shown) converts the digital RGB signals to analog RGB signals for display on the display devices 140. This DAC may be a part of the computer 105, the inclusion or addition card 210, a screen device 140, or the converters 145.

The Y-bypass connector also supplies the RGB data to the converters 145, which convert the received signals into analog PAL or NTSC signals supplied to the television or VCR. Depending on the location of the DACs, these converters can be either scan converters or TV converters. Specifically, if the computer 105 or the graphics machine 215 contains a DAC, and therefore supplies analog RGB data to the converter 145, then the converters are scan converters for converting the analog RGB data to NTSC or PAL encoded signals. On the other hand, when the display device 140 and a convertx 145 contain the DACS, the converters are TV converters for converting the digital RGB data to digital YCrCb data, which are then encoded to NTSC or PAL encoded signals. Some prior art systems use digital wireless connections to connect a converter (such as converters 145) to a TV. These analog wireless connections are typically radio frequency ("RF") connections operating in the 900 MHz frequency range. Also, a prior art system establishes a bidirectional connection or link between the converter and the television. The downstream connection or link used by this prior art system (i.e., the connection or link to send communications from the computer to the television) is also an analogue RF connection or link. There are several disadvantages associated with the use of analog RF connections. For example, a receiver receives a degraded signal through such a connection or link because the received signal is composed of several signals that correspond to the same signal transmitted but reach the receiver through a variety of routes. In other words, such a connection or link does not offer protection against signal degradation due to the phenomenon of multiple paths or trajectories. In addition, such communication connections are susceptible to intercell interference from the noise generated in the communication cell formed around the periphery of the computer and television. Intercell interference noise can be generated by other devices or by a normal home activity. The interference noise intercell, in turn, can deteriorate the quality of the data transmitted, and therefore deteriorates the quality of the presentation of the TV.

Analog communication connectiare susceptible to intercell interference. Such interference may be noise interference from external noise sources to the communication cell by the computer and television. For example, such interference noise may be attributable to RF communicatifrom the communication cells (perhaps formed by other computers and televisi adjacent to the cell formed by the computer and television. These intercell interference noises may further deteriorate the quality of the transmitted data and the presentation. Intercell interference also refers to furtive listening on communicatifrom the computer to television. The connection or analog communication link between the computer and the television is typically not a secure connection or communication link, because such a connection or link is often difficult. Therefore, a furtive listener external to the communication cell can make a derivation in the signals transmitted from the computer to the television. Figure 3 presents the general operating flow 300 of the systems of the prior art 100 and 200. As shown in this figure, a graphics command is first generated by an application program 305. This command is then passed to the machine. graphics 320 (i.e., processor 115 or graphics machine 215) by means of the operating system and the display driver circuit. In turn, based on the received graphics command, the graphics machine 320 generates the RGB data. This RGB data is then directed to the PC 140 monitor for display. The converter 325 also receives the RGB data and converts it into an analog NTSC or PAL signal supplied to the television or VCR. Accordingly, as described in Figure 3, these prior art systems (1) intercept the RGB signals prepared for the display on the monitor 140, and then (2) convert these RGB data to NTSC analog encoded data. or PAL for a TV screen. Because the signals advanced or sent to the television or VCR are derived at such an advanced operational stage, these systems have several disadvantages. For example, the quality of your TV presentation is somewhat defective, because the TV images are generated based on the composite RGB data for the PC monitor. In other words, the quality of the display deteriorates once it has been reassigned in its coordinates to the analog NTSC after it is composed for the PC monitor. This reassignment of coordinates is also disadvantageous because it is inefficient and computationally expensive. Numerous calculatiperformed downstream from the control circuits to compose the RGB data for the PC monitor have to be recalculated to obtain the graphic images for the television or the VCR. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for incorporating a device into a computer system. There is also a need for a wireless computer system which ufci-lice - the digital, superior, wireless communication connecti In addition, a computer system is necessary which composes the output presentatibased on the type of output devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method and apparatus for incorporating a device into a computer system. One embodiment of the invention includes a computer and a device unit communicatively coupled to the computer through the digital wireless connection or link. The device unit includes an output device with a display screen for displaying the representatibased on the signals transmitted from the computer to the device through the connection or link. In an embodiment of the invention, the output device is a television. One such modality communicatively couples the device unit and the computer through a broad-spectrum connection or link. Still another embodiment of the invention has a computer with a first digital wireless transceiver, and a device unit with a second digital t-xa-nsceptx-wireless for communicative gathering with the first wireless transceiver. This device unit has (1) an output device, communicatively coupled to the second wireless transceiver, to present an output output with base-in the signals-it is received from the computer by means of the wireless transceivers, and (2) a - outgoing device, communicatively coupled with the second wireless transceiver, to receive the input signals from an operator of the device unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The novel features of the invention are described in the appended claims. However, for purposes of explanation, various embodiments of the invention are described in the following figures. Figure 1 presents a prior art system for connecting a computer to television or a VCR. Figure 2 presents another prior art system for connecting a computer to television or a VCR. Figure 3 presents the general operating flow of the prior art system of Figures 1 and 2. Figure 4 presents a modality of the computer system of the invention. Figure 5 presents another embodiment of the computer system of the invention. Figure 6 presents yet another modality of the - computer system of the invention. Figure 7 presents an embodiment of an ASIC of the computer system of Figure 6. Figure 8 presents an embodiment of the I / O control unit of the invention.

Figure 9 presents an embodiment of an ASIC of Figure 8. Figure 10 presents a modality of a digital transceiver of the invention. Figure 11 presents a flow diagram of one embodiment of the invention. Figure 12 presents a general operative flow for an embodiment of the invention. Figure 13 describes. the architecture of the programming elements of a modality of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention provides a method and apparatus for incorporating a device into a computer system. In the following description, numerous details are described for the purpose of explanation. However, a person with ordinary skill in the art could assume that the invention can be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other cases, well-known structures and devices are shown in the form of a block diagram so as not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary details.

For the purposes of this application, a computer is a general-purpose machine that processes data according to a set of instructions stored internally either temporarily or permanently. An important feature of a computer is its ability to store its own instructions, which allows you to carry out operations without the need of a person or another device. In other words, it is a general-purpose machine that can store a variety of instructions, and therefore can perform a variety of tasks, typically a computer that is programmable to perform various tasks; purpose of your -Gio prog-branch. -Examples of a computer include a computer from a network, a personal computer (such as an Intel®-based computer), a workstation (such as a SPARC® station). , ULTRA-SPARC®, MIPS®, 0 HP®), etc. A peripheral device -is a device of physical elements that performs one or more main tasks and several auxiliary tasks related to the main tasks.This device is connected to a computer to perform any of its main tasks and typically any of its auxiliary tasks, it can not achieve its main purpose or function without connecting to the computer. it is designed so that it has no utilitarian "purpose" When it is not used with the computer, and therefore it has to be connected to a computer before it can perform any of its functions. The examples of the pe-ri-fér-icos -in-Gluyen eleme-nto-s -terminals, tape or disk controllers, printers, monitors, keyboards, plotters, graphics tablets, scanners, joysticks, "wheels or 'pallets, cursor controllers, orms, credit card readers, barcode readers, X terminals, silent terminals, icroteléfonos-. A device, on the other hand, is a fixed-function device. It can perform some main functions (finite set), independent tasks, and various auxiliary tasks related to these unrelated independent tasks. Unlike a peripheral element, it has been specifically designed to have a utilitarian purpose even when it is not connected to a computer. Therefore, it can perform at least one of its main tasks without the help of a computer. Unlike the computer, it can not perform an infinite number of unrelated tasks because it can not be programmed with an infinite number of sets of unrelated instructions to perform an infinite number of unrelated tasks. Examples include audio-visual equipment (such as televisions, cameras, VCRs, telephones), utility devices, kitchen appliances (such as refrigerators, microwave ovens), etc. Various embodiments of the invention include a computer and a remote device unit. { that is, a remote device node) communicatively coupled to the computer through a digital wireless link or connection. The device unit includes a device. Also, in various modalities of the device -invention -includes a -outgoing device to present an output presentation for a user, an input device to receive the commands from the user, "the logical control device 1 / 0 for communicatively coupling the input and output devices to a digital wireless transceiver In certain embodiments of the invention, a device serves as the output device and / or the input device One such modality includes a television co or the device output, a wireless keyboard as the input device, and an upper adjustment box as the logical 1/0 control device An example of the upper adjustment box includes a digital wireless transceiver which communicates with a wireless transceiver of the computer, and for which it communicatively couples the unit of the device to the computer, Figure 4 describes a modality of a computer system of the invention. The computer system 400 includes a computer 405, an input / output node 410 ("I / O") of the computer, local, and a device 415. The computer 405 can be a computer of a network, a personal computer ( such as an Intel® based computer), a workstation (such as a -S £ ARC®, UT-RA-SEARC®, MIPS®, or HP® station), etc. A modality of this computer composes the audiovisual data for the presentation in the input / output node 410 of the computer, which is connected to the computer either through a connection or - hard wire link or a connection or wireless link . Also, in one embodiment of the invention, the computer 405 composes the audiovisual data, and transmits this data via a digital wireless link or connection for presentation.

In an alternative mode, the 405 computer does not compose the audiovisual data for it, but instead transmits the audio-visual commands to the unit of the device, which composes the audiovisual data. For example, in one such embodiment, the computer 405 transmits the ASCII code to the unit of the device, which then generates an output text displayed based on this transmitted code. In still another embodiment of the invention, the computer 405 transmits "particular" audiovisual commands (such as multiple media commands including graphics, video, and primitive audio signals) to the device unit, while at the same time composing and transmitting - audiovisual data with -base in other audiovisual commands.As shown in Figure 4, computer 405 includes busbar 420, general-purpose processor 425, processor destined 430, storage 435, and digital transceiver 440. The busbar 420 collectively represents the totality of the communicating-Gion lines that connect the numerous internal modules of the computer, although Figure 4 does not show the busbar controller, a person with ordinary experience. in the art he will appreciate a mode of the 405 computer that includes a variety of busbar controllers to control the operation of The collectible bar 420 connects the processors 425 and 430, which process the digital data, and the storage 435, which stores the digital data. A storage mode 435 stores the application programs 445 (such as a word processing program, a multi-media game program, a computer-aided design program, etc.) to perform certain types of tasks that manipulate texts. , numbers, and / or graphics. The storage 435 also stores an operating system 450 (such as Windows 95® sold by Microsoft Corporation), An operating system ("OS") serves as the foundation upon which the application programs operate and control the allocation and use of the resources of the physical elements and of programming such as the memory, the processor, the storage space, the peripheral devices, the control circuits, etc. ) »-The storage 435 also stores -the programs of the driver circuits 455, which provide the set of instructions necessary to operate (for example, control) the particular I / O devices (such as the devices in the input node) / output 410 or devices of device unit 415). An example of the operation of the driver circuits, the operating system, and the application programs is described below with reference to Figures 11-13. A storage mode 435 includes a read and write memory (e.g., a RAM). This memory stores the data and instructions of the program for execution by the processors 425 and 430, and "stores" the temporary variables or other intermediate information during the operation of the processor. A storage mode 435 also includes a read-only memory (ROM) for storing static information and instructions for processors. A storage mode 435 further includes a mass data storage device, such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk control circuit In one embodiment of the invention, the source code necessary for the The operation of the invention is downloaded from the mass data storage device (for example, downloaded from a control circuit or hard disk, or a flexible magnetic disk) to the read / write memory during the operation of the computer. The computer then uses the programming elements that reside in the "read / write memory to direct the operation of the processors. Nevertheless, microprogramming instructions (-that is, -the source code that lies in the memory only for reading) can also direct the operation of -the processors. In one embodiment of the invention, the processor 425 plus the instructions stored in the storage 435 serves as the "I / O machine for the node of 1/0 410, while the processor destined for 435 (which may be a processor of multiple means allocated) plus the instructions stored in the storage 435 serves as the 1/0 machine for the device unit 415. In an alternative embodiment of the invention described in Figure 5, a second processor intended for 510 is used, instead of the processor 425, to form the I / O machine for the local 1/0 node In still another embodiment of the invention, a single processor (such as the processor destined 430 or the general purpose processor 425) serves as the I / O machine for both the I / O node and the device unit Still another embodiment of the invention uses an I / O ASIC machine intended for some or all of the 1/0 functions (such as he communication control, signal formatting, audio / graphics processing, compression, filtering, etc.) either for either or both of the 1/0 node and the unit of the device. One such modality is described later by reference to Figure 6. In different embodiments of the invention, the 1/0 machines of the computer perform several different tasks. For example, in one embodiment, the computer I / O machine for the device unit controls just the communication between the computer and the device unit (for example, the I / O machine simply controls the transmission of the commands audiovisuals to the device unit, and / or the I / O machine formats the signals for transmission to the unit of the equipment). Another mode of the 1/0 machine of the computer device transmits particular audiovisual commands (eg, multiple media commands that include primitive audio signals or primitive graphics signals, such as primitive graphics, text, or of video) to the device unit, while also composing and transmitting the audiovisual data based on other audiovisual commands for the device unit.

In another embodiment of the invention, the I / O machine of the local node serves as an audiovisual processing machine "and processes the audiovisual Instructions (from application 445, operating system 450, and / or control circuits 455) to the I / O node 410 of the computer, while the I / O machine of the device unit serves as an audiovisual processing machine and processes the audiovisual instructions (from application 445, operating system 450, and / or control circuits 455) for device unit 415. Other embodiments of the computer I / O machines include (1) a compression machine that performs compression of the signal, (2) a coding machine that performs the coding of the digital signal, (3) a digital filtering machine that performs digital filtering, and / or (4) and a cycle synchronization machine that synchronizes the audiovisual cycle. In Figure 4, the busbar 420 also connects the computer 405 to a -red 460 through a -la adapter. -red (not-shown).

In this way, the computer can be a part of a computer network (such as a local area network) ("LAN"), a wide area network ("WAM"), or an inTranet) or a network of networks (such as the Internet). Through this network connection, one mode of the computer is a network computer. The computer 405 also communicatively couples to an I / O node 410 of a local computer through a wired connection or a wireless connection or link. This node includes a display device 465, loudspeakers 470, an alphanumeric input device 475, a cursor controller 480, and a hard copy device 485. The display device (such as a cathode ray tube (CTR) or a liquid crystal display (LCD)) is coupled to the busbar 420, and displays the information to a computer user. The busbar 420 also engages or connects to the speakers 470 which reproduce the audio data output by the computer 405. The alphanumeric input device 475 (e.g., a keyboard) is coupled or connected to the busbar 420 to allow a user advance the information and commands to the computer 405. Another user input device coupled to the busbar 420 is the cursor driver 480. This device can take many different forms such as a mouse or slider, a rolling ball , a style tablet, a touch-sensitive input device (for example, a keypad), etc. Another device which can be coupled to the bus bar 420 is a hard copy device 485 for printing on a hard copy on paper. The computer 405 also communicatively couples or connects to a device unit 415. As shown in Figure 4, the device unit includes the I / O control unit 492, the digital wireless transceiver 490, the input device 496 , and the output device 494. A device unit includes a device, such as audiovisual equipment (such as televisions, cameras, VCRs), utility and kitchen appliances (such as refrigerators, microwaves), etc. As mentioned above, a device performs some independent, primary, and several auxiliary tasks related to these independent tasks, without connecting to the computer. Unlike peripheral elements, it has been specifically designed to have a utilitarian purpose even when it does not connect to a computer. Therefore, he can perform at least one of his primary tasks without the help of a computer. These independent tasks of a device are carried out by physical elements which are not shown in Figure 4 so as not to obscure the description of the invention with unnecessary details. Therefore, this figure only describes the circuits necessary to incorporate a device into a computer system (i.e., it only presents the transceiver 490, the control unit 492, and the I / O devices 494 and 496). The I / O interconnection of the device unit is coupled to the components of the physical and programming elements of the computer by means of the 1/0 492 control unit, the digital wireless transceivers 490 and 440, and the bar collector 420. The I / O interconnection of the device unit includes (1) the input device 496 for receiving the input commands from the operators of the device unit, and (2) the output device 494 for presenting a Exit presentation to the observers in this unit. The input device 496 allows a user of the device unit to input signals. Certain input signals are advanced or sent to the computer 405. Examples of such an input device include a keyboard, a cursor controller, a remote controller, a board, a joystick, or a game controller.

The output device 494, on the other hand, allows the audio data and / or the visual data to be presented (eg, presented on a display screen or by means of loudspeakers) to the user of the device unit. The particular output presentations are based on the signals received from the computer through the digital wireless link. Examples of such an output device include a television, a PC monitor, an LCD screen, a loudspeaker, etc. Although Figure 4 only shows an input device and an output device communicatively coupled to the computer, a person of ordinary skill in the art will assume that the different modes of the device unit do not include any of the input or output devices, or include additional input and output devices. Also, different modalities of the device unit do not connect or connect the input device to the computer communicatively, or they do not connect or connect the output device to the computer communicatively. The input and output devices 496 and 494 are coupled or connected to the computer 405 by means of the transceiver 490 and the I / O control unit 492 of the equipment unit. The transceiver 490 is a digital wireless communication device for communication over a wireless channel to the digital transceiver 440 of the computer. In one embodiment of the invention, transceivers 440 and 490 are broad spectrum transceivers. Wide-spectrum transceivers use wide-spectrum modulation to modulate the signals. Broad-spectrum modulation diffuses a relatively narrow band of frequencies over an extended band (which, for example, can be as much as ten times as wide as the narrow band) with a lower energy content to minimize noise and interference. More specifically, wide-spectrum transceivers use a form of radio transmission in which the signal is distributed over a wide frequency range. This distribution configuration is based on either direct sequence coding or frequency hopping or transfer. In direct sequence coding, the information to be transmitted is modified by the binary multiple bit fragmentation code, which broadcasts the signal over a wider frequency range. Only the receiver knows the code, and therefore only he can decode the received signal. Alternatively, in the jump or transfer of the frequency, a transmitter transmits at a particular frequency for a short time interval, then switches to another frequency during another short interval, and so on. Only the receiver knows the sequencing of random frequency selection. In addition, a mode of the transceivers 440 and 490 communicates through an isochronous connection (ie, time sensitive). The operation of an isochronous communication connection or link depends on constant time intervals. Such a connection ensures that there is always an integral number of time slots between any two transmissions, either synchronous or asynchronous. This type of transmission capacity is beneficial for transmitting audio and video signals in real time. Accordingly, one embodiment of transceivers 440 and 490 are the broad-spectrum transceivers that communicate through an isochronous connection or link. The 1/0 control unit serves as an interconnect unit between the 1/0 devices of the device unit and its transceiver. This control unit is either (1) a programmable computer or a logic control circuit of the device or the transceiver, or (2) a specific application integrated circuit coupled or connected to the device. The control unit 1/0 492 couples or connects the transceiver 490 to receive the information supplied from the computer by means of the transceiver 440. The control unit transforms the received information into a format capable of presentation in the unit of the device, and then supplies this data to this output device of the unit (for example, to a television, a monitor, a speaker, etc.) for presentation to a user. For example, when computer 405 composes the audiovisual data and transmits an encoded stream (eg, encoded MPEG) of audiovisual data to the device unit, a 1/0 control unit mode samples and decodes the data stream. encoded received to extract the composite audiovisual data. For the mode that has a computer that transmits the audiovisual commands to the unit of the device 415, the control unit of 1/0 492 samples the received signal to extract the commands and composes the audiovisual data based on the extracted commands. In still other modalities which have a computer that transmits the particular audiovisual commands as well as the audiovisual data based on other audiovisual commands, the 1/0 control unit extracts the commands and composes the additional audiovisual data based on the extracted commands. The control unit then supplies the composite audiovisual data to this output device of the unit for presentation. Prior to the provision of the data to the output device, a mode of the I / O control unit also encodes the extracted audiovisual data in a single format for presentations to the output device (for example, an NTSC or PAL format for a television presentation). The I / O control unit 492 also engages or connects to the input device 496 to receive the input data from the user of this unit I / O. This coupling or connection can be through a wireless channel (such as an infrared or radio frequency, digital or analog channel) or a wired channel. The control unit goes forward or sends this data to the computer via the transceivers 490 and 440. The computer decodes the communication and extracts the data from the decoded communication. The computer then processes the data and, if necessary, responds to the unit of the device. For example, after extracting the input data, the computer could call an application program, which then instructs the processor to process the input data, and, if necessary, responds to the device unit. In this way, the computer system 400 allows a user to interact with a 405 computer from a remote device node. From this remote node, the user can have access to a program run on the computer, control the operation of the computer, and / or control the operation of a device coupled to the computer (such as another computer, a network of computers, a peripheral device, or a device). The user also receives output presentations in the remote I / O unit from the computer. Some modalities of the unit of the device are stationary, while others are not. A portable device unit includes a portable I / O control unit and a portable output device. A person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any or all of the components of the computer system 400 can be used in conjunction with the invention, and that alternative system configurations can be used in conjunction with the invention. For example, alternative embodiments of the invention do not include a local 1/0 node, and / or do not connect to a network 460. Also, although Figure 4 shows a device unit with an I / O control unit. separate 492, transceiver 490, output device 494, and input device 496, a person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that alternative embodiments of the invention have the I / O control unit and / or the transceiver as part of the circuits of these input and / or output devices of the unit. Figure 6 describes a block diagram of another embodiment of the computer system of the invention. This computer system uses an I / O processing machine designed for the processing of some or all of the functions (such as processing audio / graphics signals, compression, filtering, etc.) for the unit of the device. This destined machine is formed on an inclusion or addition card 615, which is inserted into a PCI connection receptacle of the computer and by which it is coupled or connected to the PCI busbar of the computer to communicate with the resources of the computer (for example, its processor). This system includes a digital transceiver 635, a specific integrated circuit for the application (ASIC) 620, a random access memory 625, and a memory only for reading 630. Through an antenna, the digital transceiver 635 transmits and receives the data to and from the digital transceiver of the device unit. One embodiment of this digital transceiver is an extensive spectrum radio transceiver and is provided in the Prism® microcircuit array of Harris Corporation. Other vendors that provide extended-spectrum, digital transceivers are Hewlett-Packard, AMI, Motorola. Other modes of this transceiver include digital PCS or digital cellular transceivers. Several embodiments of the invention use digital transceivers which encode their signals to protect them from furtive listeners. In addition, several of the embodiments of the invention effect the encoding and decoding of the errors on the transmitted and received signals to protect against errors due to the transmission noise.

The transceiver 635 is coupled or connected to the ASIC 620 through a bidirectional connection or link for data transmission, address, and control signals. Through this coupling or bidirectional connection, the ASIC 620 communicates with the processor of the digital transceiver 635 to transmit and receive the data to and from the unit of the device. The ASIC 620 serves as an interconnection between the I / O controller circuits and the device unit. Several modalities of these ASICs make up the audiovisual data from the graphic and audio commands of high level, and forward or send (through the 635 transceiver) the digital data composed to their unit of the device for presentation. In particular, several of the modalities of ASIC 620 compose the graphic data based on the type of device output device unit. For example, one such modality composes the graphic data in a YCrCb screen format, which is advantageous when the remote output device is a television. Other modalities of the ASIC 620 use other digital graphic formats, such as RGB, YUV, cmyk, etc., to represent the color space. Several modalities of the ASIC 620 also compress or encode the audiovisual data prior to transmission to their device units. ASIC 620 is also coupled or connected to RAM 625, which uses it as a composition separator circuit for storing audiovisual information for presentation, and as a short-term memory for other ASIC functions. For example, when the application program advances the instructions to the ASIC for the display, one modality of the ASIC composes a cycle, compresses it, and then stores it in the RAM. In this way, the ASIC uses the RAMs as an intermediate storage to store the compressed cycles prior to transmission to the unit of the device. Once the ASIC is ready to transmit the compressed data, the ASIC retrieves the compressed data from the RAM and advances it or sends it to the digital transceiver for transmission to the device unit. The ASIC 620 is also coupled or connected to the ROM 630. This memory stores the microprogram instructions necessary for the operation of the ASIC. In addition, this memory can store look-up tables used by the ASIC at the time when it is compressed and the digital filtering functions.

Figure 7 shows an embodiment of the ASIC 620 of Figure 6. As shown in this figure, the ASIC 700 includes an interconnecting bridge of the peripheral component ("PCI") 705, the control spacing circuits and the data 710, a graphics machine 715, an audio machine 720, a compression machine 725, a cycle preparation engine 730, a media access controller ("MAC") 735, and a memory controller 740. The bridge PCI provides an interconnection between the ASIC and the PCI bus. For example, the PCI bridge provides PCI-compatible signaling for the card. The PCI bridge is coupled or connected to a number of internal buffer circuits 710 which temporarily store the data and commands. One of these separator circuits is the wireless separator circuit 710c, which receives the commands to control the MAC. The PCI bridge is also coupled or connected to a control separator circuit 710d, which serves as a temporary storage location for the control commands that control compression and the machines for preparing the recurring pulse cycles. These control commands include reset commands, as well as other control commands and configuration information (such as the commands to adjust the compression ratio, the size of the image, and the transmission speed of the recurring pulse cycle). The PCI bridge 705 also couples or connects to the graphic separation circuits 710a. This separator circuit temporarily stores high-level graphics and commands (such as line tracing commands), transmitted from the application control circuit. The graphics machine 715 retrieves the data and commands stored from the separator circuit 710a to compose the graphics recurring pulse cycles. An embodiment of the graphics machine 715 composes the graphic data in a YCrCb display format from the graphic primitive signals. Such a display format is advantageous when the output device of the device unit is a television. Other forms of the graphics machine use other digital graphic formats, such as RGB, YUV, cmyk, etc., to represent the color space. After performing its operations, the graphics machine stores the recurring pulse cycle comprised in the RAM by means of the memory controller 740, which serves as an arbitrator controlling the access of different resources to the RAM.

Similarly, the PCI bridge 705 is coupled or connected to the audio splitter circuit 710b, which temporarily stores the audio data and commands transmitted from the application control circuit. In turn, the audio machine 720 recovers the stored data and the commands from the separator circuit 710b and, based on them, composes the audio data that accompanies the graphic pulse cycles generated. The audio machine 720 also stores its audio data generated in the RAM 625 (which can be a DRAM) by means of the memory controller 740. The memory controller 740 also couples or connects the RAM 625 to the host machine. preparation 725 of the recurrent pulse cycle and the compression machine 730. Through this coupling or connection, the recurrent pulse cycle preparation machine 725 recovers the graphics recurring pulse cycles and performs the digital filtering operations, such as operations of correction of audiovisual artifacts, image scaling operation, and operations to reduce oscillations. After the recurrent pulse cycle preparation machine completes its operations, either (1) it supplies the cycle of recurring pulses to the compression machine, if its machine is traveling idle, or (2) it stores the rear part of the cycle in the RAM that is going to be recovered by the compression machine at a later time. The compression machine compresses the graphics recurring impulse cycles. In an embodiment of the invention, this machine uses a known compression technique (such as an MPEG compression technique) to compress the compound data cycles for transmission. The compression machine then either 81) supplies the compressed pulse cycles to the MAC 735 if the MAC needs a cycle of graphics data pulses, or (2) stores the compressed cycles in the memory to be retrieved at a later time by the MAC. The MAC places a flag in the RAM to inform the compression machine that it is ready for a cycle of graphical data pulses. Therefore, if the MAC flag is placed (indicating that the MAC is ready for the data) then the compression machine sends the compressed data (for example, the first compressed bits) to the MAC, which will then feed it to the radio Transceiver for transmission. If the flag is not placed, the compression machine determines that the MAC is not ready to receive the graphic data, and therefore stores the data in the RAM. The MAC also retrieves the stored audio data from the memory for transmission by means of the digital transceiver. This controller synchronizes the components of the visual and audio data, so that they are presented synchronously in the unit of the device. Specifically, the MAC connects or links the visual and audio data (it unites the two generated graphic and audio pulse cycles), to allow the computer system to provide a multi-media presentation. The connection or linking of the two types of data is an important function because otherwise the video and audio signals might not be displayed in a synchronous manner (ie, they lead to synchronization errors such as slip errors in synchronization). The MAC 735 also interconnects with the digital transceiver to supply data to, and to receive data from, it. In one embodiment of the invention, the MAC 735 implements an isochronous protocol and is called an isochronous means access controller ("IMAC"). An IMAC is a communication controller that can handle time-dependent data, such as audio and visual data. Isochronous data is typically transmitted through a connection oriented network (such as a point-to-point, fixed network, or circuit switched network). This protocol of the controller is the opposite to the other protocols of the medium access controller, which processes the transmission of network data without guaranteeing delivery times or packet orders; Non-isochronous protocols typically use a packet-switched network. The MAC, in a manner similar to several other ASIC modules (such as the separator circuits 710, the graphics machine 715, the audio machine 720, the pulse cycle preparation machine 725, and the compression machine 739), it is coupled or connected to the interrupt line (IRQ) 745. The signal on this line is activated at any time when the MAC needs to inform the 1/0 control circuit of the computer that it has received a command from input from the device unit. This signal is also active at any time when the system needs to be notified that the PCI card needs service. An interrupt controller (not shown) could then respond to the interrupt signal.

The operation of the ASIC is as follows. Initially, the circuits of the ASIC are readjusted by maintaining or holding an active signal on a reset line (not shown) coupled to all of the ASIC circuits. During the reset, the RAM is erased and the memory controller is reset to a reset state. Also during readjustment, the insertion programming elements for the reproduction of the PCI (storage in the storage 435) ensure the appropriate IRQ coordinate assignment and the appropriate space allocation of the PCI address space, for the 615 card An application program then transmits a high-level graphic command for the presentations in the I / O node of the computer and / or the unit of the device. This command is intercepted by an output regulator circuit (such as a VODF virtual output control circuit described later with reference to Figure 13. If this intercepted command is also for the presentations on the device unit, this control circuit advances then a copy of it to the graphics separator circuit with coordinates assigned in PCU by means of the PCI bridge.The graphics machine then moved the display data command (such as a BTL bit command) to compose an image, which is then stored in the RAM Once the graphics machine stores a complete recurring pulse cycle in the RAM (which serves as a separator cycle of the impeller cycle), a flag is placed in the ASIC. , the machine of the cycle preparations checks this flag to determine if the RAM stores a compound cycle.After this flag is placed, The cycle preparation machine starts reading the cycle line by line to perform its digital filtering operations, such as audiovisual artifact correction operations, image scaling operations, and fluctuations reduction operations. After the operations of preparation of the cycle, the compression machine obtains the cycle of recurring graphical impulses to compress it. One embodiment of the compression machine, which uses an MPEGI coding scheme, maintains a recurring compound cycle of uncompressed RAM. It then uses the uncompressed cycle to compress the subsequent cycles. After compression, the MAC obtains the compressed cycle, prepares it for transmission, and supplies it to the digital transceiver for transmission to the device unit. The ASIC 700 processes the audio data in a similar way. Specifically, in the case where the application program (running on the 600 computer system) has audio components, the control circuits or controllers 435 receive the audio commands and forward or send these commands to the ASIC audio splitter circuit. . In turn, the audio machine takes these audio commands, generates audio data from these commands, and then stores this data in RAM. The audio data is then recovered by the MAC, which synchronizes them with the graphic data, and supplies them to the transceiver. Figure 8 presents a mode of the 1/0 492 control unit of the device unit of Figures 4-6. This mode can be coupled or connected to a television and the speakers in the device unit. In one embodiment of the invention, the logic control unit 800 is part of an upper adjustment box which is connected to the television. One such upper adjustment box is accompanied by the wireless keyboard and the cursor controller, which serves as the input devices for the device unit.

As shown in Figure 8, this control unit includes the ASIC 805, the RAM 805, the NTSC / PAL encoder 815, the input aperture 820. This control unit is coupled or connected to the digital transceiver 490, which in one embodiment of the invention is an extended spectrum radio transceiver. This transceiver transmits the signals to, and receives the signals from, the digital transceiver 635 of the computer 605. In turn, this transceiver receives the signals from, and supplies the signals to, the ASIC 805. More specifically, the transceiver supplies the signals received to the ASIC 805. In one embodiment of the invention, the transceiver receives the composite and compressed audiovisual data. In this modality, the ASIC decompresses the audiovisual data prior to the presentation. As mentioned above, the compression machine of one embodiment of the invention uses an MPEG1 coding scheme. Accordingly, for this embodiment of the invention, the ASIC 805 obtains the audiovisual data by performing an MPEG1 decoding operation. The ASIC 805 also couples or connects to the RAM 810 and the input aperture 820. It uses the RAM to store the signals received from the transceiver 490 and the input aperture 820. In addition, through the entry port, the ASIC receives the information of a user from the unit of the device. In particular, this opening receives signals from the input devices of the device unit (such as a cursor controller, the keyboard, etc.), converts these signals into the digital data, and then supplies them to the ASIC. In one embodiment of the invention, this interconnection is either a wireless transceiver (such as a radio or infrared transceiver) or a wired opening. The ASIC then formats for transmission the information it received from the input opening, and supplies the formatted data to the transceiver 490 for transmission through the wireless channel to the computer 605. The transmitted information causes the computer to perform certain operations, which in turn can affect the audiovisual presentation observed by the user in the unit of the device. The ASIC 805 is additionally connected to the encoder 815. This encoder (1) receives the digital visual information previously decoded by the ASIC 805, and (2) converts this digital information into an analog format. Specifically, in one embodiment of the invention, the encoder performs a matrix encoding process by taking digital YCrCb representations and obtaining complex coding from either the NTSC or PAL standard. This encoder is coupled or connected to the ASIC by means of the connection of the unidirectional signal 825 and the bidirectional control connection 830. Through the unidirectional connection, the ASIC provides the data to the encoder 815. The ASIC uses the control connection for transmit and receive control signals (such as horizontal synchronization, vertical synchronization, recurring even / odd pulse cycle, etc.) to and from the encoder. The ASIC 805 is also coupled or connected to the audio data connection 835, which provides the audio output of the ASIC. This audio connection is also connected to a digital-to-analog converter ("DAC") 845, which converts the received digital audio signal to an analog form and thereby provides an analog audio output. Figure 9 shows an embodiment of ASIC 805 of Figure 8. As shown in Figure 9, ASIC 900 includes MAC 905, memory controller 910, decompression machine 915, digital filtering machine 920, the audio processing machine 925, the controller interconnection of the NTSC 930, the command spacer circuit 935, the peripheral controller 940, and the input aperture 945. The MAC 905 controls the flow of information to and from the digital transceiver 940 to through a bidirectional connection. One modality of the MAC 905 is an IMAC. The MAC deposits the signals transmitted in, or extracts the received signals out of,, the RAM 810 through the memory controller 910, which acts as an interconnection between the RAM 810 and the circuits of the ASIC 900. More specifically, in certain cases, the MAC retrieves the information from the RAM 810, and supplies the information retrieved to transceiver 490 for retrotransmission to computer 605. For example, if a user of the device unit transmits a signal to the 1/0 control unit, the MAC obtains the transmitted information stored in RAM 810 and the forward or send to computer 605 via transceiver 490. As mentioned above, input aperture 820 (which can be a wireless infrared transceiver) receives the signals transmitted by the user from the device unit. This opening then supplies the signal transmitted to the input interconnection 945. In one embodiment, this interconnection is an association interconnection of the infrared devices ("IRDA"). This device uses a standard protocol for the infrared devices to identify the input device of the unit of the device that transmitted the signal, and to convert the infrared signal transmitted to the digital data readable by the AS1C 900. The digital data is then supplied to the peripheral controller 940, which can be either a fixed-function logic device or a microcontroller for interpreting the data and for identifying the input signal (for example, by identifying the movement of the mouse or the path of the keys). The controller then stores the input signal identified in the separator circuit of the command 935, which under the control of the memory controller 910 eventually advances the received input signal to the RAM 810. The command separator circuit is provided right in the if the received input signals can not be stored immediately in the RAM (for example, in case the RAM is being queried by the other unit, such as when a cycle of recurring pulses is being stored in the RAM) . Once an input signal is fed into the RAM, a flag is placed (by the peripheral controller) to alert the MAC that it needs to recover the input commands from the RAM 810 and forward them or send them to the 490 transceiver. The MAC 905 also sends all the information transmitted from the digital transceiver 490 to the memory 810 by means of the memory controller 910. Once the MAC stores a complete recurring pulse cycle in the memory, it places a flag in the memory. memory to indicate that a complete pulse cycle has been received from the transceiver. The decompression machine then detects the placement of the flag and accesses the RAM by means of the memory controller to retrieve the compressed, received information. The decompression engine then decompresses this information, performing the inverse function of the compression function (e.g., performing the MPEG decompression) used in the 605 computer. The decompression machine then supplies the decompressed information to a 920 digital filtering machine. , which uses one or more digital filtering processes to correct any audiovisual artifacts introduced during transmission. A version of the digitally filtered and decompressed information is then stored back in the DRAM. The decompression machine uses this version to decompress the subsequent pulse cycles. Other information of the decompressed and digitally filtered pulse cycle is supplied to the interconnection 930 of the controller, which serves as a control interconnection with the encoder 815. This output of the digital filtering machine 920 is then placed on the connection 840, as described above. The decompression machine it also connects to the audio processing machine 925. The audio processing machine extracts the audio sequence and corrects the errors in the audio stream. The output of the audio processing machine is then supplied to the interconnection of the controller. The interconnection of the controller ensures that the signals it supplies to the encoder 815 comply with these encoder specifications. This interconnection also maintains the synchronization between the output of the audio pulse cycle of the audio machine and the output of the video pulse cycle of the digital filtration machine, using the synchronization control signal 950 supplied by the encoder 815. The synchronization control signal is a basic set of timing signals consistent with the encoder specification 815 (for example, with the NTSC specification). The operation of the ASIC 900 during the reception of the signals from the 605 computer will now be described. When the I / O control unit is reset, the storage locations in the RAM are reset to clear states. The control interconnection could then begin to receive simultaneous synchronizations for the display device allowing the audio sample clock to be aligned for the first final audio reception. (the audio could remain silent until such time). The synchronization signals begin the operation of ASIC 900, causing the decompression machine to start searching the RAM to determine if a flag has been placed by the MAC to indicate that a complete recurring pulse cycle has been received and stored. Once a flag is placed, the decompression machine could recover a pulse cycle to decompress it. After a predetermined amount of information has been decompressed, the digital filtering process begins. The digital filter generates a first type of information for the screen having access to the information of the current coming from the decompression machine and the stored parameters (from the memory) needed to reconstruct the impulse cycle for the display. Similarly, after a predetermined amount of information has been decompressed, the audio machine begins processing the decompressed audio information, which it supplies to the interconnection of the controller. This process could continue in a pipe mode from beginning to end of the reception of the pulse cycle, whereby the MAC stores the compressed information in the memory, the decompression machine has access to this information and decompresses it, the filtering processes the visual portion of the decompressed information with the parameters that it obtains from the memory, and the audio machine processes the audio portion of the decompressed information. Figure 10 shows an embodiment of the digital transceivers used in the invention. As shown in this figure, one embodiment of the digital transceiver 1000 includes the power amplifier 1005, the frequency converter 1010, the modulator / demodulator 1015, and the baseband processor 1020. The baseband processor is connected or it couples to the MAC, which implements the wireless protocol of the transceiver. This controller transmits the data to, and receives data from, the baseband processor, which prepares the data stream for transmission. For the modalities of the transceiver 1000 which uses the extended spectrum technology, the processor 1020 effects the diffusion of the pseudo-noise code. It also provides demodulation for rejection of interference, diversity of antennas for better coverage, and indication of the strength of the received signal. The output of the baseband processor is supplied to the modulator 1015. This intermediate frequency modulator ("IF") then encodes and modulates the baseband data to place the data in the intermediate frequency range (e.g. QPSK coding to modulate the data between 200 MHz and 400 MHz). The modulated and encoded data is then pushed to a higher frequency range (e.g., 2.4 GHz, which is the unlicensed spread spectrum frequency band, allowed) by the upper converter 1010. The high frequency data is then amplified by the power amplifier 1005 and transmitted by means of an antenna.

The transceiver 1000 operates in a complementary manner when it receives a signal. Specifically, the antenna supplies the received signal to the low noise amplifier 1005 to amplify the signal. The amplified, high frequency signal is then converted to an intermediate frequency range by the down converter 1010. The IF modulator / demodulator 1015 demodulates and decodes the intermediate frequency signal, filtered, to obtain a baseband signal, the which it supplies to the 1020 processor of the baseband. After the processing of this signal, this processor then notifies the MAC that it received the data. Figure 11 presents a flow diagram of the programming elements for an embodiment of the invention. This process can be implemented as part of the application program, the operating system, and / or 1/0 regulator circuits. The process 1100 of Figure 11 starts at step 1105 when the computer is activated. The process then proceeds to step 1110, where a determination is made that if a new audio-visual instruction has been received. For example, a mode of the 1100 process makes this determination by verifying the placement of a flag in a memory location. If a new instruction has not been received, the process goes back to step 1110 to verify new instructions arrived in the next time interval. However, if a new instruction has been received, the process then determines, in step 1115, whether a presentation is being presented at the local I / O node. If not, the process proceeds to step 1125. If so, the process advances or sends the instruction to the processing machine of the local I / O node, in step 1120. Based on the audiovisual instruction, the machine The processing of the local I / O node then composes an audiovisual data stream for presentation at the local node. Next, the process proceeds to step 1125.

In this step, a determination is made about whether a presentation is being presented in the remote device unit. If not, the process returns to step 1110 to verify the arrival of new instructions in the next time interval. On the other hand, if the audio-visual instruction received is also for a presentation in the unit of the device 415, the process sends the instruction to the processing machine of the unit of the device, in step 1130. The processing machine of the unit of the The device then composes a stream of audiovisual data (based on the audiovisual instruction) for presentation in the unit of the device. As described above, this processing machine is either a part of the computer (for example, it is part of a processor or an ASIC) or it is a part of the logical device in the unit of the device (for example, it is part of the control unit of 1/0 492). From step 1130, the process goes to the step " 1135 where it ends this cycle. In the next cycle, process 1100 returns to step 1110 to verify the arrival of a new instruction in the next time interval. The process continues until the computer or the remote node is disconnected. Figure 12 shows the general operational flow of an embodiment of the invention, in which the process 1100 described above of Figure 11 is performed by the I / O driver circuits. In this embodiment, the application program 1205 first generates the high-level audiovisual command, which it supplies to the operating system 1210. The operating system then converts the high-level command to the primitive audio-visual signals, and advances or sends these signals primitives to the 1/0 1215 regulator circuits. The 1/0 regulator circuits then decide whether a presentation is being presented at the local 1/0 node, if the audiovisual instructions are directed to the local 1/0 node, the 1215 regulatory circuits direct this instruction to the local 1/0 processing machine. This machine, in turn, composes the audiovisual data based on the instructions and advances or sends the data to the local node for presentation in the local output device. For example, based on the high-level graphics commands received, the local I / O machine can prepare the digital RGB pulse cycles, which are then converted to analog RGB data to drive or activate the tube gun. cathode ray ("CRT") of a PC monitor at the local node. If the instruction is not directed to a presentation in the local I / O node (that is, if no presentation is being presented in the local 1/0 node) or if it is also directed to a presentation in the unit of the device, the regulator circuits 1215 then direct it to the processing machine of the device unit. A person with ordinary skill in the art could realize that, even though Figure 12 pictorially presents two different I / O processing machines, in one embodiment of the invention these two processing machines share the same machine of physical elements although they use different programming elements (that is, although they use different sequence of instructions). Based on the received audio-visual command, a modality of the processing machine 415 of the device unit composes the audiovisual data for presentation in the unit of the device. For example, based on the instructions received, a modality of the I / O machine of the device unit composes the digital YCrCb data. The digital transceiver of the computer then transmits the composite audiovisual data to the unit of the device. The transceiver of the device unit then receives the transmitted data, which it passes to the I / O control unit of the device unit. This control unit decodes the received signal to extract the composite audiovisual data. One mode of the 1/0 control unit also encodes the extracted audiovisual data in a unique format for the presentations on the remote output device. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the 1/0 control unit receives the YCrCb signals, and converts these signals to the signals encoded by NTSC or PAL for display on the television. An alternative mode of the 1/0 processing machine of the device unit does not make up the audiovisual data for the unit of the device, but instead transmits the audiovisual commands to the unit of the device. In this mode, the I / O control unit 492 first decodes the received signal, and then composes the audiovisual data based thereon. In still another embodiment of the invention, the 1/0 processing machine of the device unit transmits the particular audiovisual commands with respect to the 1/0 control unit of the device unit, while also composing and transmitting the audiovisual data based on the other audiovisual commands. In this mode, the 1/0 control unit extracts the received commands and data, and composes the additional audiovisual data based on the extracted commands. Accordingly, as shown in Figure 12, one embodiment of the invention designates the information for the unit of the device at an earlier operational stage than the prior art systems of Figures 1 and 2. Therefore, unlike Prior art systems, one embodiment of the invention does not generate the I / O data for display in the unit of the device by interception and conversion of the I / O data for display in the local node. Instead of this, one embodiment of the invention intercepts the audiovisual commands before they have been processed for the local node, and send them to the unique I / O processing machine of the device unit. In this way, the presentation presented in the unit of the device has a superior quality, because it is composed in a way sensitive to the type of output. Specifically, the presentation in the unit of the device has not been generated based on a presentation for the particular output devices, but instead has been adapted specifically for the output devices in the device unit. For example, when the output device of the local node is a PC monitor and the output device of the device unit is television, the NTSC or PAL presentation of the television is not based on the analog RGB signals generated for the television. the PC monitor. Instead of this, this screen has been composed specifically from the audiovisual commands for television. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the 1/0 machine of the device unit composes the YCrCb digital screen data from the graphic instructions, for a television presentation. Figure 13 describes the architecture of the programming elements of an embodiment of the invention. This mode influences the functionality found in existing operating systems (such as Windows 95®), using its natural screen, sound, keyboard, and mouse or slider controllers. This embodiment includes an application program 1305, an operating system 1310, a number of I / O controllers, and a dynamic link library 1315. The application program performs certain types of tasks by manipulating text, numbers, and / or the graphics. Examples of such a program include word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word®, or a multi-media game program, such as Nascas Auto-Racing®. The 1305 application program interfaces with the components and modules of the computer through the 1310 operating system. Examples of such an operating system include Microsoft Windows 95® and Microsoft NT®. The operating system serves as the foundation on which the application programs operate and controls the allocation and use of the resources of the physical and programming elements (such as memory, processor, storage space, peripheral devices, the drivers, etc.). As shown in Figure 13, the operating system 1310 serves as the interconnection between the application program 1305 and the I / O controllers. Accordingly, the application program transmits and receives the instructions to and from the controllers by means of the operating system. The programming elements to perform the 1/0 tasks are usually organized in the device's controllers. Controllers with control programs that make it possible for a computer to work with the output devices (that is, provide the necessary instructions to control the I / O devices). They are called by the application program at the time when I / O processing is required. Although Figure 13 presents the controllers as separate modules of the operating system, a person with ordinary skill in the art could assume that, in one embodiment of the invention, some or all of these device drivers are subroutines of the operating system. Also, a person with ordinary skill in the art could suppose that certain controllers accompany the application programs. The controllers include an output set of the controllers 1320 to regulate the operation of the output devices, such as the display devices and the printers, and the input set of the controllers 1325 to regulate the operation of the input devices, such as the keyboard and the cursor controllers.

Controller Output Set For the embodiment shown in Figure 13, the output set of the conductors includes the VODF 1330, VDD 1335, and VSD 1340. The VOFD represents the controller of the virtual output filter. This controller is responsible for passing a copy of the audio and graphics calls, which the operating system invokes for the audiovisual presentations on the local node, with respect to the I / O processing machine of the device unit, if the instruction receives also it is for a representation in the unit of the device.

The VDD and the VSD respectively, mean the controller of the virtual screen and the driver of the virtual sound, and are specific control programs for the device, to respectively regulate the operation of the display device and the loudspeakers. In one embodiment of the invention, VDD and VSD are standard device drivers that accompany the Windows 95® operating system. The operation of the output controllers will now be described. Initially, the application program issues a high-level audiovisual instruction (for example, the drawing of a line) for a presentation in the local I / O node and / or the unit of the device. Depending on the instruction is an audio instruction or a video instruction, the operating system will then output an audio call or a graphics call to invoke either VSD or VDD to write to the audio machine or to the machine graphics of the 1/0 processing machine. In an embodiment of the invention, these calls, in turn, first cause the VOFD controller to be invoked. For this modality, the pseudo code that is related to a VOFD modality is described below.

Sudio Code for VOFD if Graphics_Call then start If TextOut then start Read Text_Attribute VxDcall Prez_TextRemap and Type Remote_Display_Reg and also if Audio_Event then start If MIDI then read MIDI_Interface also read Audio_Attribute Type Remote_Audio_Reg and end cléar_flags RET The VOFD sends the graphics call (for example, the interconnect of the graphics device, GDI, calls Windows®) or the audio call for the graphics machine or the audio machine of the local node. As is evident from the pseudo code recited above, this controller also sends copies of the graphics and audio calls to the graphics and audio machines of the device unit. In addition, if this driver detects calls from graphic text strips (for example, calls from GDI text strips), it invokes Prez.dll for postprocessing the text to prepare it for display over the terminal of the remote screen ( for example, the "p.processing of the text for the display adapted for the TV." Specifically, the command VxDcall Prez_TextRemap invokes Prez.dll so that the postprocessing of the text is in accordance with the display standards of the terminal of the screen Therefore, once the VOFD determines that the application command is a graphics text strip call, it invokes Prez.dll to perform the reassignment of coordinates that is necessary to display the proposed text for the local display device on the remote display device.This reassignment of coordinates may include the reassignment of color coordinates of the source, the reallocation of the n coordinate font type, font rescaling of, etc. Prez.dll then writes the instructions with reassigned coordinates in the graphics processing machine. VODF then writes a copy of the graphics call to the graphics machine of the 1/0 processing machine of the device unit. On the other hand, if VOFD determines that the OS call is an audio instruction, and if the controller determines that the audio instructions are in a MIDI format (ie, a "digital interconnection of the musical instrument", it reads the MIDI_Interface to obtain the audio content, otherwise it reads the audio attribute contained in the Audio_Event instruction In any case, VOFD then writes the audio content (obtained from the MIDI Interconnect or the audio instruction) on the audio machine of the I / O processing machine of the device unit Finally, VOFD erases the flags (for example, the flag that causes the VOFD) be called) and readjust to wait for additional audiovisual instructions.

Input Controllers For the mode shown in Figure 13, the controller input set includes VID 1345, VKD 1355, and VMD 1350. VID represents the virtual input driver. This driver provides services to the remote input devices, by passing the data from the device units to the application program via VKD, VDM, and the operating system. Data from the local I / O node 'are provided directly by VKD and VMD. VKD and VDM respectively represent the virtual keyboard controller and the mouse controller or virtual slider, and are device specific control programs for respectively regulating the operation of the keyboard and the mouse. In one embodiment of the invention, VKD and VMD represent the device drivers that accompany the Windows 95® operating system. The operation of the input controllers will now be described by reference to the pseudo code for a mode of the VID controller described below.

Pseudo Code for VID if PCCARD_IRQ then start Read Remote_IQ_reg if Keyboard_Activity then start Read ScanCode Read RepeatCount Read ShiftState VxDcall VKD_API_Force_Key and also if Mouse_Activity then start Read AbsoluteX Read AbsoluteY Read ButtonStatus VxDcall VMD_Post_Absolute_Pointer_Message and end clear_flags RET As described in the pseudo code described above, a VID mode starts once the PCCARD_IRQ signal is active. The VID then reads the data in the 1/0 recorder of the remote processing machine. If this data belongs to a keyboard activity in the unit of the device (for example, a flag has been placed to indicate that the data is related to a keyboard activity), the controller then extracts the scan code, the repeated count, and the state of displacement of the keyboard data. This extracted information is then advanced or sent to the application program via "the VKD and the operating system." In other words, VID invokes VKD to use the standard application programming interconnections (APIs) exported by the VKD to overtake On the other hand, if the data in the I / O logger of the remote processing machine belongs to a mouse or slider activity, the VID extracts the data from the cursor position ( Absolute X and Absolute Y) and the button value data from the I / O logger data This controller then invokes the VDM to use its standard APIs to send the extracted data to the application program. the flags (for example, the flag that causes the VID to be called) and readjusted to wait for additional input commands As is evident from the previous description, the invention Advantageous because it provides a method and apparatus for incorporating a device into a computer system through a wireless connection or link. It uses superior digital wireless communication links. Several modalities of the invention use, the extended spectrum link, direct sequence coding.

Such a connection or link is immune to interference noise (such as the intercell interference noise generated in the communication cell formed around the periphery of the computer and the unit of the device, or the intercell noise generated by the external noise sources to the communication cell formed by the computer and the unit of the device An extended-spectrum direct-sequence coding connection or connection provides protection against the phenomenon of multiple paths or paths, because the multipath signals appear as an uncorrelated noise with respect to the receiver of the extended spectrum., when a connection or link is used, the quality of the 1/0 data transmitted and the output presentation are not deteriorated. The embodiments of the invention using other digital transceivers protect against signal degradation due to noise when encoding and decoding errors are made. Many embodiments of the invention also provide a secure digital communications connection or link. For example, the embodiments of the invention using the connections or links of the spread spectrum of the direct sequence coding, used coding codes to spread the signals over the available bandwidth, and transmit the data in this encoded mode. Only the receiver has the code of the coding, and thus only the receiver can decode the transmitted data. Therefore, furtive listeners can not derive communications between the computer and the device unit. Protection against poachers is also an advantage of the embodiments of the invention using digital transceivers which transmit and receive encoded data. Also, one embodiment of the invention derives the information for the device unit at the command level and not at the level of the prior art data. Accordingly, unlike prior art systems, one embodiment of the invention does not generate the 1/0 data for display in the unit of the device (eg, it does not generate analog NTSC or PAL encoded signals for a television ) intercepting and converting 1/0 data for presentation at the local node (for example, intercepting and converting RGB signals for a PC monitor). Instead, for the unit of the device, an embodiment of the invention intercepts the audio-visual commands before they have been 'processed by the local node, and sends them to the unit's unique I / O processing machine. Of the device. In this way, the presentation presented in the unit of the device has a superior quality, because it is composed in a mode sensitive to the type of output. Specifically, the presentation in the unit of the device has not been generated based on a presentation for the particular output devices in the local node, but has been adapted specifically for the output devices in the unit of the device. For example, when the output device of the local node is a PC monitor and the device output device is television, the television screen is not based on the analog RGB signals generated by the PC monitor . Instead of this, this screen has been composed specifically of graphic commands for television. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the 1/0 machine of the device unit composes the YCrCb digital screen data from the graphic instructions. Although the invention has been described with reference to numerous specific details, a person of ordinary skill in the art could recognize that the invention can take shape in other specific forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, even if some of the modalities described above (for example, the modality described in Figure 4) have been described as to process commands and audiovisual data, a person with ordinary skill in the art could appreciate that the alternative modalities of the invention process other data types and multiple media commands (such as commands and tactile data). Furthermore, although Figure 7 presents a specific example of the ASIC of Figure 6, other embodiments of the ASIC of Figure 6 perform different tasks than the first performed by the ASIC 700. For example, the compression operation can be performed outside the ASIC. 620. Consequently, a person with ordinary skill in the art could understand that the invention will not be limited by the preceding illustrative details, but rather will be defined by the appended claims.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following

Claims (56)

1. A method for incorporating a device unit into a computer system, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) establish a digital wireless communication connection or link between a device unit and a computer; (b) providing an output display presentation on a display screen of the device unit, based on the signals transmitted from the computer through the connection or link.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link comprises the step of establishing an extended spectrum wireless connection or link.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link comprises the step of establishing a wireless connection or extended-spectrum link between the computer and an audiovisual equipment.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link comprises the step of establishing a wireless connection or extended-spectrum link between the computer and a television.

5. A method for incorporating a device unit into a computer system, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) establish a digital wireless communication connection or link between a device unit and the computer; (b) receiving the input commands from an input device of the device unit; (c) forward or send the received input signals to the computer through the digital wireless connection or link.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that it also comprises the steps of: (a) process the input signals on the computer, (b) in response to the processing of the input signals, transmit the signals from the computer to the unit of the device through the digital wireless connection or link; (c) providing an output display on an output device device unit based on the signals transmitted from the computer.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that it also comprises the steps of: (a) processing the input signals in the computer; (b) in response to the processing of the input signals, modify an operation performed on the computer.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the modification steps comprise the step of modifying the operation of a device coupled or connected to the computer.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the modification steps comprise the step of modifying the operation of a peripheral device coupled or connected to the computer.

10. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the modification steps comprise the step of modifying the operation of another device unit coupled or connected to the computer.

11. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the steps of the modification comprise the step of modifying the operation of a second computer.

12. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that it also comprises the steps of: (a) transmit the signals from the "computer to the device through the connection or link; (b) presenting an output presentation on an output device device based on the signals transmitted from the computer.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the step of the presentation comprises the step of presenting an output display presentation on an output display screen of the device.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the presentation step further comprises the step of presenting an output audio presentation on an output audio device device.

15. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the presentation step comprises the step of presenting an output audio presentation in a device * of the output audio of the device.

16. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises the step of composing graphic data prior to the passage of the transmission, wherein the step of the transmission includes the step of transmitting graphic data.

17. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises the step of composing the audio data prior to the passage of the transmission, wherein the step of the transmission includes the step of transmitting the audio data.

18. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it also comprises the step of composing the audiovisual data prior to the transmission step, wherein the step of the transmission includes the step of transmitting audiovisual data.

19. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises the step of compressing the signals for the transmission prior to the passage of the transmission, wherein the passage of the transmission includes the step of transmitting compressed signals.

20. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of digitally encoding the signals prior to the passage of the transmission, wherein the step of the transmission includes the step of transmitting the digitally encoded signals.

21. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link includes the step of establishing a digital radiofrequency ("RF") connection or link.

22. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link includes the step of establishing an extended spectrum connection or link.

23. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link includes the step of establishing an isochronous connection or link.

24. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link includes the step of establishing a real time connection or link.

25. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the step of establishing the connection or link includes the step of establishing a connection or multiple media link.

26. An apparatus for incorporating a device unit in a computer system, the unit of the device has a display screen, the apparatus is characterized in that it comprises: (a) a first digital transceiver for communicative coupling with the computer; (b) a second digital transceiver for communicatively coupling with the unit of the device, said transceivers for establishing a digital wireless link or connection between the device and the computer; (c) wherein, when a digital communication connection or link is established, the computer transmits the signals to the unit of the device, and the device unit provides a presentation on the display screen based on the transmitted signals.

27. The apparatus according to claim 26, characterized in that the transceivers are extended spectrum transceivers.

28. The apparatus according to claim 26, characterized in that the unit of the device is an audiovisual equipment.

29. The apparatus according to claim 26, characterized in that the unit of the device is a television.

30. An apparatus for incorporating a device unit into a computer system, the unit of the device having an input device, the apparatus is characterized in that it comprises: (a) a first digital transceiver for communicative coupling with the computer; (b) a second digital transceiver for communicatively coupling with the device unit, said transceivers for establishing a digital wireless link or connection between the computer and the device; (c) wherein, when a digital communication connection or link is established, the device unit advances or sends the input signals received in the input device to the computer by means of the connection or link.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, characterized in that it further comprises a control unit for communicatively coupling with the second transceiver and the input device, the control unit for controlling communications between the input device and the second transceiver.

32. The apparatus according to claim 31, characterized in that when the control unit receives the signals from the input device, it formats them for transmission.

33. The apparatus according to claim 30, characterized in that the computer processes the input signals, and in response to this processing, modifies an operation.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, characterized in that the computer modifies an operation of a device coupled to it.

35. The apparatus according to claim 33, characterized in that the computer modifies an operation of a peripheral device coupled or connected to it.

36. The apparatus according to claim 33, characterized in that the computer modifies an operation of another device coupled or connected to it.

37. The apparatus according to claim 33, characterized in that the computer modifies an operation of a second computer.

38. The apparatus according to claim 30, characterized in that the unit of the device further has an output device, wherein the computer processes the input signals, and in response to this processing, transmits the signals to the unit of the device, the unit The device provides an output presentation to your output device based on the signals transmitted from the computer.

39. The apparatus according to claim 30, characterized in that the unit of the device further has an output device, wherein the computer transmits the signals to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link, and the unit of the device provides a presentation of 'output on your output device based on the transmitted signals.

40. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises an input control unit 7 output for communicatively coupling with the second transceiver, the input device, and the output device, the control unit for controlling communications between the devices and the second transceiver.

41. The apparatus according to claim 40, characterized in that, when the control unit receives the signals from the second transceiver, it formats them for presentation in the output device, and when the control unit receives the signals from the input device, it formats them for transmission.

42. The apparatus according to claim 40, characterized in that the control unit has a decoding machine for digitally decoding the signals it receives from the second transceiver.

43. The apparatus according to claim 40, characterized in that the control unit has a decompression machine for decompressing the signals it receives from the second transceiver.

44. The apparatus according to claim 40, characterized in that the control unit has a digital filtering machine to filter the signals it receives from the second transceiver.

45. The apparatus according to claim 40, characterized in that the device is a television, the control unit has an encoder for encoding the signals it receives from the second transceiver in a format for television display. *

46. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises a digital coding machine coupled communicatively with the first transceiver, the digital coding machine for digitally encoding the signals prior to transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link.

47. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises a compression machine coupled or communicatively connected to the first transceiver, the compression machine to compress the signals prior to transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link .

48. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises a digital filtering machine communicatively coupled with the first transceiver, the digital filtering machine for filtering the signals prior to transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link .

49. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises a graphics machine communicatively coupled with the first transceiver, the graphics machine for composing graphic data for transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link.

50. The compliance apparatus 1 with claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises an audio machine communicatively coupled with the first transceiver, the audio machine for composing the audio data prior to transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link .

51. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it further comprises a synchronization machine of the recurrent pulse cycle communicatively coupled with the first transceiver, the synchronization machine of the recurring pulse cycle that synchronizes the visual and audio data prior to transmission to the unit of the device by means of the connection or link.

52. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that it also comprises a media access controller communicatively coupled with the first transceiver.

53. The apparatus according to claim 52, characterized in that the medium access controller uses an isochronous connection or link protocol.

54. The apparatus according to claim 39, characterized in that the transceivers are extended spectrum transceivers.

55. A computer system, characterized because it comprises: (a) a computer that has a first digital wireless transceiver; Y (b) a unit of the device comprising: (1) a second digital wireless transceiver for coupling in a manner 5 communicative with the first wireless transceiver, (2) an output device communicatively coupled 10 with the second transceiver, 'the output device to present an output presentation based on the signals 15 received from the computer through the transceivers, (3) an input device 20 communicatively coupled with the second transceiver, the input device for receiving the input signals from a user 25 interconnected with the unit of the device, the input signals advanced to the computer by means of the transceivers, and (4) an input / output control unit that communicatively couples the second transceiver with the input and output devices.

56. For a computer system having (i) a computer with a first digital transceiver, and (ii) a device unit with an input device and an output device, an apparatus for wirelessly coupling or connecting the unit to the computer, the apparatus is characterized because it comprises: (a) an input / output control unit for communicatively coupling with the input and output devices; and (b) a second digital transceiver communicatively coupled to the input / output control unit, to the second transceiver (i) to receive the signals from the first transceiver and pass the signals to the output device by means of the control unit , and (ii) to receive the signals from the input device by means of the control unit and transmit the signals to the first transceiver, wherein the output device provides an output presentation based on the signals received from the computer.