Patent ID: 6671756
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A KVM switch, including:hardware components, including: two or more computer ports to respectively link to two or more computers at keyboard, mouse and video ports of each of said computers; a computer I/O interface to interface keyboard, mouse and video data with each of said computer ports; a single microprocessor communicating with the computer I/O interface; and two or more workstation ports to respectively link to two or more workstations each having a keyboard, mouse and video monitor, said workstation ports communicating with the single microprocessor; and software modules, including: a user interface module to give and receive keyboard, mouse, and video data to and from the workstation ports under the control of the single microprocessor; a user interface interrupt service routine to precipitate the transfer of said keyboard, mouse and video data to and from the workstation ports via interrupts on assigned lines of the workstation ports; a computer interface module to give and receive keyboard, mouse and video data to and from the computer ports under the control of the same single microprocessor; and a computer interface interrupt service routine to precipitate the transfer of said keyboard, mouse and video data to and from the computer ports and computer I/O via timer-based interrupts on assigned lines of the computer ports, wherein the computer interface interrupt service routine polls each of the assigned lines of the computer ports on a periodic basis.