Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim
147 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of interrogation signals each at a different frequency; receiver means for receiving reply signals; means for producing a train of clock pulses; means for producing binary control signals; and modulator means for modulating the interrogation signal at one of the frequencies with said train of clock pulses and the interrogation signals at the other frequencies with said binary control signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising transmitter means for transmitting serial data bit signals back to the master station; frequency selective detector means responsive to received master station interrogation signals for individually reproducing the clock pulses and the binary control signal; and control circuit means responsive to the reproduced clock pulses for controlling the timing of the data bits and the transmitted reply signals.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
147 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for simultaneously transmitting a plurality of interrogation signals each at a different frequency; receiver means for receiving reply signals; means for producing a train of clock pulses; means for producing binary control signals; and modulator means for modulating the interrogation signal at one of the frequencies with said train of clock pulses and the interrogation signals at the other frequencies with said binary control signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising transmitter means for transmitting serial data bit signals back to the master station; frequency selective detector means responsive to received master station interrogation signals for individually reproducing the clock pulses and the binary control signal; and control circuit means responsive to the reproduced clock pulses for controlling the timing of the data bits and the transmitted reply signals.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
156 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies; receiver means for receiving reply signals; and modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals to produce a master reset signal pattern at recurrent time intervals in the interrogation signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing control signals in response thereto; and control circuit means responsive to the control signals produced by the detector means for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means, said remote unit control circuit including reset circuit means responsive to the control signals produced by the remote unit detector means for detecting the occurrence of a master reset signal pattern and resetting the remote unit control circuit means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
156 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies; receiver means for receiving reply signals; and modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals to produce a master reset signal pattern at recurrent time intervals in the interrogation signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing control signals in response thereto; and control circuit means responsive to the control signals produced by the detector means for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means, said remote unit control circuit including reset circuit means responsive to the control signals produced by the remote unit detector means for detecting the occurrence of a master reset signal pattern and resetting the remote unit control circuit means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
113 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 2 wherein: the master station modulating means includes means for producing control code signal patterns at recurrent time intervals in the interrogation signals, said control code signal patterns representing different code values; the remote unit includes a plurality of control mechanisms, each such mechanism being responsive to one or more operation control signals for performing a certain operation, each such operation control signal corresponding to a different one of said code values; and decoder means responsive to the control signals produced by the frequency selective detector means for determining the code value of a received control code signal pattern and generating the corresponding opEration control signal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
64 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 3 wherein: the decoder means includes means for producing a monitor signal each time an operation control signal is generated, said monitor signal identifying the generated operation control signal; and the control circuit means further includes readout circuit means for controlling the signals transmitted by the remote unit transmitter means in accordance with the monitor signals produced.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
165 words
A communications system comprising: a master station including transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals having remote unit identification signal patterns and control signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein; a plurality of remote units for receiving signals transmitted by the master station, each comprising: first decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for detecting the occurrence of a certain identification signal pattern therein and for generating an enabling signal upon such detection, the identification signal pattern detected by the first decoder means being different from the identification signal patterns detected by the first decoder means of any other remote unit; one or more control mechanisms; and second decoder means including means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for generating operation control signals corresponding to the control signal pattern in the received interrogation signals and means responsive to said enabling signal for applying said operation control signals to selected ones of said control mechanisms specified by the applied operation control signals.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
165 words
A communications system comprising: a master station including transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals having remote unit identification signal patterns and control signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein; a plurality of remote units for receiving signals transmitted by the master station, each comprising: first decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for detecting the occurrence of a certain identification signal pattern therein and for generating an enabling signal upon such detection, the identification signal pattern detected by the first decoder means being different from the identification signal patterns detected by the first decoder means of any other remote unit; one or more control mechanisms; and second decoder means including means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for generating operation control signals corresponding to the control signal pattern in the received interrogation signals and means responsive to said enabling signal for applying said operation control signals to selected ones of said control mechanisms specified by the applied operation control signals.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
147 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals for producing function selector signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein and for enabling such function selector signal patterns to represent different code values; and receiver means for receiving reply signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; and decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for determining the code value of a received function selector signal pattern and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means to control the operation of the remote unit transmitter means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
147 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals for producing function selector signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein and for enabling such function selector signal patterns to represent different code values; and receiver means for receiving reply signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; and decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for determining the code value of a received function selector signal pattern and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means to control the operation of the remote unit transmitter means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
71 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 6 wherein: the remote unit includes test circuit means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to assume a predetermined test condition; and the remote unit decoder means is further responsive to the received interrogation signals for enabling operation of the test circuit means following receipt of a predetermined function selector signal pattern which is different from those employed for the data transducer means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
275 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting parallel interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies; and modulator means for individually modulating the interrogation signals at the different frequencies for producing a serial sequence of signal period each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selector code interval and a data readout control interval; and receiver means for receiving reply signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing parallel control signals in accordance with the modulation of the individual ones of the parallel interrogation signals; identification decoder means responsive to the control signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval and thereafter generating an enabling signal for enabling the remote unit transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the control signals for determining the selector code value during the following function selector code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the control signals during the following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to transmit corresponding data signals back to the master station.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
275 words
A communications system comprising: a master station comprising: transmitter means for transmitting parallel interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies; and modulator means for individually modulating the interrogation signals at the different frequencies for producing a serial sequence of signal period each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selector code interval and a data readout control interval; and receiver means for receiving reply signals; and a remote unit for receiving signals transmitted by the master station and comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing parallel control signals in accordance with the modulation of the individual ones of the parallel interrogation signals; identification decoder means responsive to the control signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval and thereafter generating an enabling signal for enabling the remote unit transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the control signals for determining the selector code value during the following function selector code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the control signals during the following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to transmit corresponding data signals back to the master station.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
78 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the master station modulator means includes means for producing a serial sequence of signal periods each further having a control code interval; and the remote unit includes control code decoder means responsive to the control signals for producing an operation control signal specified by the control code value during the control code interval, and a control mechanism responsive to said operation control signal for carrying out a certain operation.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
81 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein the master station modulator means includes means for producing a serial sequence of signal periods wherein said remote unit identification code interval and said function selector code interval precede said data readout control interval in each period and wherein said signal period each further has an interval following said ID code interval and function selector code interval and preceding said data readout control interval in which the interrogation signals are not modulated.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
59 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein the master station modulator means includes means for producing data bit intervals of a first duration in said remote unit identification code intervals and said function selector code intervals, and for producing data bit intervals of a second duration, longer than said first duration, in said data readout control intervals.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
137 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the master station transmitter means includes means for simultaneously transmitting three interrogation signals at three different frequencies; the master station modulator means includes means for modulating the interrogation signal at one of the frequencies with a train of clock pulses and the interrogation signals at the other two frequencies with binary control signals; the remote unit transmitter means includes means for transmitting serial data bit signals back to the master station; the remote unit frequency selective detector means includes means for individually reproducing the clock pulses and the binary control signals as different ones of the parallel control signals; and the remote unit data readout circuit means includes means responsive to the reproduced clock pulses for controlling the timing of the data bits in the transmitted reply signals.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
60 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the master station modulator means includes digital data processor means; the remote unit transmitter means comprises means for transmitting reply signals in the form of digital data signals; and the master station includes receiver means for receiving the remote unit data signals And supplying same to the digital data processor means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
57 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the master station modulator means includes means for producing a master reset signal pattern during each signal period; and the remote unit includes reset circuit means responsive to the control signals for resetting the identification decoder means, the function selector decoder means and the data readout circuit means.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
74 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the remote unit further includes test circuit means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to assume a predetermined test condition; and the function selector decoder means is further responsive to the control signals for enabling operation of the test circuit means following receipt of a predetermined function selector code value which is different from the function selector code values for the data transducer means.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
52 words
A communications system in accordance with claim 8 and including a plurality of separate remote units each constructed in accordance with the remote unit defined in claim 15 with the exception that the identification decoder means in the different remote units are constructed to detect the occurrence of different identification code patterns.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
205 words
A cable television communications system comprising a master station, a plurality of remote subscriber units and a cable network for coupling the remote subscriber units to the master station wherein: the master station comprises: television signal transmitter means for transmitting television signals in a first frequency range; interrogation signal transmitter means for simultaneously transmitting three interrogation signals at different frequencies in a second frequency range; means for producing a train of clock pulses; means for producing binary control signal; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signal at one of the frequencies with said train of clock pulses and the interrogation signals at the other two frequencies with said binary control signals; and receiver means for receiving reply signals in a certain frequency range; and each remote subscriber unit comprises: television receiver means responsive to the transmitted television signals for reproducing television programs at the remote unit location; reply signal transmitter means for transmitting serial data bit signals back to the master station in the third frequency range; frequency selective detector means for individually reproducing the clock pulses and the binary control signals; and control circuit means responsive to the reproduced clock pulses for controlling the timing of the data bits in the transmitted reply signals.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
205 words
A cable television communications system comprising a master station, a plurality of remote subscriber units and a cable network for coupling the remote subscriber units to the master station wherein: the master station comprises: television signal transmitter means for transmitting television signals in a first frequency range; interrogation signal transmitter means for simultaneously transmitting three interrogation signals at different frequencies in a second frequency range; means for producing a train of clock pulses; means for producing binary control signal; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signal at one of the frequencies with said train of clock pulses and the interrogation signals at the other two frequencies with said binary control signals; and receiver means for receiving reply signals in a certain frequency range; and each remote subscriber unit comprises: television receiver means responsive to the transmitted television signals for reproducing television programs at the remote unit location; reply signal transmitter means for transmitting serial data bit signals back to the master station in the third frequency range; frequency selective detector means for individually reproducing the clock pulses and the binary control signals; and control circuit means responsive to the reproduced clock pulses for controlling the timing of the data bits in the transmitted reply signals.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
318 words
A cable television communications system comprising: a master station, a plurality of remote subscriber units and a cable network for coupling the remote subscriber units to the master station wherein: the master station comprises: television signal transmitter means for transmitting television signals in a first frequency range; interrogation signal transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals in a second frequency range; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals for producing a serial sequence of signal period each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selective code interval and a data readout control interval; and receiver means for receiving reply signals in a third frequency range; and each remote subscriber unit comprises: television receiver means responsive to the transmitted television signals for reproducing television programs at the remote unit location; reply signal transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station in the third frequency range; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means haviNg a different function selector code value assigned thereto; identification decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval, the pattern for each remote unit being different and thereafter producing an enabling signal for enabling its reply signal transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for determining the function selector code value during the following function selection code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals during the following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of its reply signal transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the reply signal transmitter means to transmit the secected data signal back to the master station.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
318 words
A cable television communications system comprising: a master station, a plurality of remote subscriber units and a cable network for coupling the remote subscriber units to the master station wherein: the master station comprises: television signal transmitter means for transmitting television signals in a first frequency range; interrogation signal transmitter means for transmitting interrogation signals in a second frequency range; modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals for producing a serial sequence of signal period each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selective code interval and a data readout control interval; and receiver means for receiving reply signals in a third frequency range; and each remote subscriber unit comprises: television receiver means responsive to the transmitted television signals for reproducing television programs at the remote unit location; reply signal transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station in the third frequency range; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means haviNg a different function selector code value assigned thereto; identification decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval, the pattern for each remote unit being different and thereafter producing an enabling signal for enabling its reply signal transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for determining the function selector code value during the following function selection code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals during the following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of its reply signal transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the reply signal transmitter means to transmit the secected data signal back to the master station.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
143 words
A cable television communications system in accordance with claim 18 wherein: the master station includes modulator means for modulating the interrogation signals for producing a serial sequence of signal periods each further having a control code interval; the function selector decoder means includes means for producing a function selector signal in response to certain received master station interrogation signals; and at least one of said remote units further includes: one or more control mechanisms; and control code decoder means comprising means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for determining the control code value during the control code interval and for generating a corresponding operation control signal, and means responsive to the coincident production of said enabling signal and said function selector signal for applying said operation control signal to one of said control mechanisms specified by the applied operation control signal.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
71 words
A cable television communications system in accordance with claim 18 wherein: the control code decoder means further include means for producing a monitor signal each time an operation control signal is applied to a control mechanism said monitor signal specifying the operation control signal so applied; and the data readout circuit means includes means for causing the reply signal transmitter means to transmit said monitor signal back to the master station.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
248 words
A remote unit for use in a communications system wherein a master station transmits parallel interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies and such signals are individually modulated to provide a serial sequence of signal periods each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selector code interval and a data readout control interval, such remote unit comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing parallel control signals in accordance with the modulation of the individual ones of the parallel interrogation signals; identification decoder means responsive to the control signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval and thereafter enabling the remote unit transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the control signals for determining the selector code value during the following function selector code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the control signals during thE following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to transmit corresponding data signals back to the master station.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
248 words
A remote unit for use in a communications system wherein a master station transmits parallel interrogation signals at a plurality of different frequencies and such signals are individually modulated to provide a serial sequence of signal periods each having a remote unit identification code interval, a function selector code interval and a data readout control interval, such remote unit comprising: transmitter means for transmitting reply signals back to the master station; a plurality of data transducer means for producing a plurality of different data signals, each such transducer means having a different function selector code value assigned thereto; frequency selective detector means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for producing parallel control signals in accordance with the modulation of the individual ones of the parallel interrogation signals; identification decoder means responsive to the control signals for detecting the occurrence of a unique identification code pattern during an identification code interval and thereafter enabling the remote unit transmitter means; function selector decoder means responsive to the control signals for determining the selector code value during the following function selector code interval and enabling the corresponding one of the data transducer means; and data readout circuit means responsive to the control signals during thE following data readout control interval for controlling the operation of the remote unit transmitter means in accordance with the data condition of the selected data transducer means for causing the remote unit transmitter means to transmit corresponding data signals back to the master station.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
328 words
A remote unit for use in a communications system wherein a master station transmits interrogation signals having control code signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein, such remote unit comprising: decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for generating operation control signals corresponding to the code values of the received control code signal pattern; a plurality of control mechanisms each responsive to different ones of said operation control signals for performing certain predetermined operations; and said decoder means comprising: a multiple-stage shift register; logic circuit means responsive to the master station interrogation signals for applying to said shift register data representing a received control code signal pattern; first decoder means coupled to a first group of the shift register stages and having a plurality of output lines and including means responsive to the data condition in such first group of shift register stages for activating only a particular one of such output lines; second decoder means coupled to a second group of the shift register stages and having a plurality of output lines and including means responsive to the data condition in such second group of shift register stages for activating only a particular one of the output lines; and second logic circuit means coupled to a selected output line from said first decoder means and to said output lines of said second decoder means and having a plurality of output lines each corresponding to a different one of the output lines of said second decoder means and each coupled to different ones of said control mechanisms and including means responsive to the activation of the output line of said first decoder means to which said second logic circuit means is coupled and the activation of one of the output lines of said second decoder means for applying an operation control signal to one of the output lines of said second logic circuit means corresponding to the activated output line of said second decoder means.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
328 words
A remote unit for use in a communications system wherein a master station transmits interrogation signals having control code signal patterns at recurrent time intervals therein, such remote unit comprising: decoder means responsive to the received master station interrogation signals for generating operation control signals corresponding to the code values of the received control code signal pattern; a plurality of control mechanisms each responsive to different ones of said operation control signals for performing certain predetermined operations; and said decoder means comprising: a multiple-stage shift register; logic circuit means responsive to the master station interrogation signals for applying to said shift register data representing a received control code signal pattern; first decoder means coupled to a first group of the shift register stages and having a plurality of output lines and including means responsive to the data condition in such first group of shift register stages for activating only a particular one of such output lines; second decoder means coupled to a second group of the shift register stages and having a plurality of output lines and including means responsive to the data condition in such second group of shift register stages for activating only a particular one of the output lines; and second logic circuit means coupled to a selected output line from said first decoder means and to said output lines of said second decoder means and having a plurality of output lines each corresponding to a different one of the output lines of said second decoder means and each coupled to different ones of said control mechanisms and including means responsive to the activation of the output line of said first decoder means to which said second logic circuit means is coupled and the activation of one of the output lines of said second decoder means for applying an operation control signal to one of the output lines of said second logic circuit means corresponding to the activated output line of said second decoder means.