Industry Patents
Patent: 6545586
Method and Apparatus for Establishing and using Hierarchy among Remotely Controllable Theatre Devices
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| Patent Number: |
6545586 |
| Title: |
Method and Apparatus for Establishing and using Hierarchy among Remotely Controllable Theatre Devices |
| Abstract: |
A theatre system operating in compliance with the DMX512 protocol is also
able to support remote channel assignment of the various theatre devices
included therein as well as other auxiliary operating modes by
establishing a device hierarchy based on unique ID numbers assigned to the
theatre devices when DMX communication is inactive. The theatre devices
communicate with each other bi-directionally to establish a device
hierarchy. Each theatre device has a pre-assigned unique device
identification number, and a hierarchy is established based on these
unique ID numbers. One way to establish a hierarchy is to create a list of
the unique device identification numbers of the bi-directional theatre
devices in the system, and then determine the position of each theatre
device on the list. The list may be assembled by one of the bi-directional
theatre devices and broadcast to all when completed, or each
bi-directional theatre device may itself assemble a complete list.
Determining the positions of the theatre devices may be performed by each
of the bi-directional theatre device for itself, in which case the
bi-directional theatre devices store substantially identical lists and
each of them compares its unique ID number to the list to establish its
position in the list. Alternatively, one of the bi-directional theatre
devices may calculate the respective positions in the list of all of the
bi-directional theatre devices, and then communicate the position
information for a particular theatre device to that device.
|
| Country of Issue: |
US |
| First Named Inventor: |
Belliveau |
| Assignee: |
|
| Continuation or Divisional of: |
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| International Classification: |
H03K 17/00 |
| US Classification: |
340/21 |
| Issue Date: |
04-08-2003 |
| Filing Date: |
11-17-1999 |
| Application : |
09/440303 |
| Notes: |
High End Systems |
| Link to Patent at freepatentsonline.com: |
6545586 at Freepatentsonline |
| Link to World Patent Family1: |
World Patent Family at European Patent Office |
| Link to Google Patents1: |
6545586 at Google Patents |
1. The Google Patents and World Patent Family links will likely not work until a few weeks
after the patent has issued - they take a while to get new patents in their systems.
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