Initialization method for one-way communications and apparatus for use therewith

A wireless keyboard arrangement, comprising:

• a wireless keyboard having a transmitter and an indicator light, said wireless keyboard being arranged to transmit:
• a. toggle commands, and
• b. a signal indicating a state of said indicator light;
• and
• a receiver connected to a computer, said receiver being arranged to receive said toggle commands from the wireless keyboard to toggle a function, and further to receive said signal indicating said state of said indicator light,
• wherein said keyboard is further arranged to cause said indicator light to toggle in response to pressing a key on said keyboard,
• wherein said computer is arranged to store a list of default states of the function and subsequently to process said toggle commands by changing said states of said function upon receipt of said toggle commands;
• wherein said receiver is further arranged to compare said list of default states of the function with said state of said indicator light, and
• wherein, before processing said toggle commands, said computer is further arranged to:
• c. set an entry in the list of default states to correspond to the state of the indicator light, thereby synchronizing the indicator light with the entry, if said entry in the list of default states does not initially correspond to the state of said indicator light, and
• d. proceed with processing of said toggle commands without changing said entry in the list of default states if said entry in the list of default states already corresponds to the state of said indicator light,
• whereby an initial state of said indicator light is thereby caused to correctly indicate a default state of said function even when said entry in the list of default states does not initially correspond to the state of said indicator light.

Apparatus for causing an indicator on a transmitter side of a one-way communication system between a transmitter and a receiver to reflect a status of a function on a receiver side of the one-way communication system even when the status of the function on the receiver side does not initially correspond to a status of the indicator on the transmitter side, wherein:

• the transmitter is arranged to transmit:
• a. toggle commands, and
• b. a signal indicative of a change in status of the indicator to the receiver;
• and
• the receiver is arranged to receive said toggle commands in order to change of a state of functions toggled by said toggle commands, and further to generate a command for changing an entry in a list of default statuses for said functions toggled by said toggle commands from the transmitter side, said list of default statuses being on the receiver side of the one-way communication system, each time a change in the status of the indicator is transmitted, and
• wherein the receiver is further arranged to compare the initial status of the indicator with an entry on the default status list and, before said toggle commands are processed to toggle said functions, generate said command for changing the entry on the default status list to reflect the initial state of the indicator if said entry on the default status list does not reflect the initial state of the indicator,
• wherein if said entry on the default status list does reflect the initial state of the indicator, said toggle commands are processed without changing said entry on the default status list.