Importance

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Abstract

A communication adapter for a personal computer or computer terminal is interposed between the computer process unit and its accessory units, such as a keyboard, a printer and a display monitor; the adapter includes a data memory for storing data and actuation signals from the keyboard, from the process unit, and from a communication port on the adapter, together with transmission logic circuits for transmitting data from the memory through the communication port, and accessory logic circuits for supplying data from the memory to the printer and to the monitor. The adapter further includes a microprocessor with a program memory, responsive to signals from the keyboard, that actuates the adapter between a computer mode of operation in which the computer process unit is effectively connected to the accessory units for operation of the computer as if the adapter were not present, and a communication mode in which the adapter and the accessory units function as a telecommunication transceiver independent of the computer process unit. In the computer mode the adapter remains active as an automated telecommunication transceiver, recording incoming data from its communication port in the data memory and transmitting previously recorded data from the memory.

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First Claim