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US 4,399,502 AGranted
Instrument control system
AssigneeAltex Scientific, Inc.
InventorsScott N. MacDonald, Haakon T. Magnussen, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for remotely controlling one or more instruments from a control terminal. Each instrument includes a stored menu of operations it can perform under control of the terminal and an accumulator for producing an index number which selects a particular operation from the menu. The terminal includes means for transmitting commands to direct the instrument to increment the index number and to transmit back to the terminal a textual description of the currently selected menu entry. The terminal further includes means for directing the instrument to perform the operation designated by the current menu entry.
Claims8
Apparatus for controlling an instrument to perform one or more predetermined operations, comprising:
- an instrument having means for receiving an "increment" signal and an "execute" signal;
- means for accumulating the number of "increment" signals that are received by the instrument and storing an index number representing the result of the accumulation;
- memory means for storing data for the one or more predetermined operations, the data for each such operation including an identifier representing the descriptive name of the respective operation;
- means for selecting, from the stored data, selected data relating to a specified one of the one or more predetermined operations as a function of the current value of the index number;
- means for transmitting an identification signal encoded to represent alphanumeric characters determined by the identifier included in the currently selected data;
- and means for performing the operation related to the selected data each time the instrument receives the "execute" signal;
- and
- a control terminal having transmitting means for selectably producing and transmitting the "increment" signal and the "execute" signal, means for receiving the identification signal, and means for displaying the encoded alphanumeric characters.
5 more elements
Apparatus for controlling a plurality of instruments to perform one or more predetermined operations, wherein:
- each instrument comprises means for receiving an "increment" signal and an "execute" signal;
- means for accumulating the number of "increment" signals that are received by the instrument and storing an index number representing the result of said accumulation;
- memory means for storing data for the one or more predetermined operations, the data for each such operation including an identifier representing the descriptive name of the respective operation;
- means for selecting from the stored data the data relating to a specified one of the one or more predetermined operations as a function of the current value of the index number;
- means for transmitting an identification signal encoded to represent alphanumeric characters determined by the identifier included in the currently selected data;
- and means for performing the operation related to the selected data each time the instrument receives an "execute" signal;
- and
- the apparatus further comprises a control terminal having means for selectably producing and transmitting to a selected instrument the "increment" signal and the "execute" signal, means for receiving the identification signal, and means for displaying the encoded alphanumeric characters.
5 more elements
Apparatus for controlling at least one instrument to perform one or more predetermined operations, comprising:
- each at least one instrument having means for receiving an "increment" signal and an "execute" signal;
- means for accumulating the number of "increment" signals that are received by the instrument and storing an index number representing the result of the accumulation;
- memory means for storing data for the one or more predetermined operations, the data for each such operation including an identifier representing the descriptive name of the respective operation;
- means for selecting, from the stored data, selected data relating to a specified one of the one or more predetermined operations as a function of the current value of the index number;
- means for receiving an input numerical value signal;
- means for decoding the input numerical value signal and for storing the decoded input numerical value signal into the memory means as a portion of the selected data such that the decoded input numerical value is stored for performing the operation related to the currently selected data;
- means for storing an output numerical value into the memory means as a portion of the selected data, the output numerical value representing a result obtained by the operation related to the selected data;
- means for transmitting an output numerical value signal encoded to represent alphanumeric characters determined by the output numerical value included in the currently selected data;
- means for transmitting an identification signal encoded to represent alphanumeric characters determined by the identifier included in the selected data;
- and means for performing the operation related to the selected data each time the instrument receives an "execute" signal;
- and
- a control terminal having transmitting means for selectively producing and transmitting to a selected one of the at least one instrument the "increment" signal and the "execute" signal;
- means for receiving the identification signal;
- means for receiving the output numerical value signal;
- means for displaying the encoded alphanumeric characters representing the output numerical value and the identifier;
- keyboard means for manually entering an input numerical value, the display means further including means for displaying the input numerical value;
- and means for transmitting the input numerical value signal encoded to represent the input numerical value.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.