Abstract: A command information transfer method and system capable of transferring command information by discriminating it from data information, and capable of using protocols of IEEE P1284, when a nibble or byte mode is incorporated which is stipulated by IEEE P1284 as bi-directional parallel I/F. A new communication mode simulating the extensibility link is set by an extensibility request value undefined by IEEE P1284 and command information is transferred at the second and following bytes of such multiple-byte negotiation. An nFault signal is used for both a notice of error and for a reverse direction information transfer request.

Abstract: A multiple function PC card that is an input/output card providing two or more functions not used simultaneously including a PC connector for connecting the multiple function PC card to a computer, a device connector for connecting external devices accessing the functions of the card, an execution device for executing the functions, and a discriminator for identifying which functions correspond to the connected devices, wherein the discriminator outputs the function identification results, and the execution device operates and executes the corresponding function exclusively of other execution devices.

Abstract: An interrupt mechanism associated with a peripheral devise is connected to a processor by an interrupt driven I/O bus. The mechanism includes an n input System Interrupt Status Register (SISR) which collects up to n different interrupts from the device during a predetermined time period. Gate and timing circuits under control of signals provided by the processor regulate the frequency of the interrupts thus reducing the number of interrupt operations required to service the device.

Abstract: A computer system and method optimized for real-time multimedia applications are presented. The computer system, including a dedicated multimedia engine coupled directly to a real-time data cache, provides increased performance over current computer architectures. The multimedia engine includes at least one DSP engines which couple through at least one I/O channels to I/O ports. Obtaining multimedia commands and data from main memory and/or the real-time data cache, the multimedia engine performs a number of multimedia operations including audio and video functions. A CPU, coupled through a chip set logic or bridge logic to the main memory, generates multimedia commands and data. The CPU groups multimedia commands and data into separate command and data elements, and writes the command and data elements to a multimedia address space in main memory. The CPU also writes element structure information to the multimedia address space.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for optimizing the data transfer performance between a host computer and a peripheral data storage device adapted to transfer data in accordance with an internal set of configurable, performance setting parameters which determine the device's data transfer performance. A device driver program evaluates the I/O request stream of application programs hosted by the computer, and identifies any patterns evident in the I/O request stream. Identified I/O request patterns are matched to a corresponding set of data storage device performance setting parameters, i.e., mode parameter pages, which have been predetermined as able to optimize the data transfer performance of a data storage device for the identified I/O pattern. The new performance setting parameters are written to the data storage device which is operated in accordance therewith, thus tuning the data storage device for an application's I/O request pattern.

Abstract: A computer system, and particularly a handheld mobile client system, in which a user input device such as a keyboard or a scanner, coupled by a tethering conductor or a wireless link such as an infrared radiation link, functions as a master while the central processing unit of the system functions as a slave in receiving input digital signals.

Abstract: A multimodal interaction apparatus for performing a predetermined process depending upon interaction with a user to output a result of the process. The multimodal interaction apparatus comprises an input section for interpreting information input from at least one input means selected from plural input means in accordance with input media allocation and generating correspondence information in accordance with the interpretation, a problem solving section for subjecting the correspondence information to a predetermined process and outputting a result of the process and an output section for outputting the result of the process from at least one output means selected from plural output means in accordance with output media allocation.

Abstract: The present invention discovery of a printer having a particular printer type in a network is disclosed. A socket having a socket identifier (ID)) associated with the printer type is provided to allow communication between the network and the printer. In a socket poll mode, the socket awaits and obtains outgoing data from the network tagged with the socket ID and sends the obtained outgoing data to the printer. In a socket listen mode, the socket awaits and obtains incoming data from the printer and sends the obtained incoming data to the network. A printer information object is provided for storing printer information associated with the printer once the printer is discovered. A timer provides a periodic timing signal TICK. The printer is periodically polled once every N TICKs.