External display peripheral for coupling to a universal serial bus port or hub on a computer
AssigneeSequel Imaging
InventorsNicholas A. Milley, Thomas Lianza, Carl David Lutz
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Abstract
A cable, adapter, or converter device is disclosed that enables a peripheral device (e.g., external display) normally connected only through a non-USB port to communicate with a host computer via a USB port in addition to its non-USB port. DDC-formatted signals from the peripheral device are converted to the appropriate format for input through the USB port, and signals transmitted to the peripheral device from the USB port are converted to the format recognizable by the external peripheral, allowing access to peripheral features via the host system.
Claims11
A signal converter for converting Universal Serial Bus (USB) communication and display peripheral communication between a host and a display peripheral, comprising:
- a power management section for providing power to said signal converter, wherein said power management section employs power scavenging capability to extract power from multiple signal lines as well as standard sources of power;
- a switching section for maintaining standard communications between said display peripheral and said host, wherein said switching section is adapted to switch to a USB interface allowing communication between said host and said display peripheral through said USB interface;
- and
- a controller for managing said switching section and translating said USB communication to said display peripheral communication and translating display peripheral communication to said USB communication.
A converter for enabling a computer display peripheral to connect through a USB interface to a host computer, comprising:
- a cable with non-USB connections adapted for coupling to said computer display peripheral and said host computer;
- a power management section adapted with power scavenging capability;
- a USB connection interconnected to said cable;
- and
- a controller embedded in said cable, and adapted for managing an exchange of data between said computer display peripheral and said host computer, and translating communication between said computer display peripheral and said host computer.
A method for communicating with a display peripheral through a USB interface, wherein said USB interface is linked to a connection between said display peripheral and a computer, and a converter included in the connection carries out the method, the method comprising:
- scavenging power from signal lines as well as standard sources of power to power said converter;
- processing bi-directional communications between said display peripheral and said computer in a normal fashion;
- switching to a master mode when said converter receives USB commands from said computer;
- translating USB communications from said computer to said display peripheral when in said master mode;
- and
- translating display peripheral communications from said display peripheral to said computer when in said master mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.