Patent ID: 6772236
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method of reporting a value of an attribute of a device to a host, wherein the attribute of the device is not explicitly recognized by a PS/2 communication protocol and without requiring modification of the PS/2 communication protocol by which the attribute of the device is conveyed, comprising the steps of:(a) providing a predefined indicator for one portion of a PS/2 data packet with the device, said portion being allocated for conveying a first parameter that is explicitly recognized in the PS/2 communication protocol; (b) encoding the value of the attribute that is not explicitly recognized into another portion of the PS/2 data packet, said other portion being allocated for a second parameter that is explicitly recognized in the PS/2 communication protocol, said one portion and said other portion comprising an encoded PS/2 data packet; (c) communicating the encoded PS/2 data packet to a host using the PS/2 communication protocol; (d) receiving the encoded PS/2 data packet with a PS/2 port driver that has not been modified to explicitly recognize the attribute being reported; (e) detecting the predefined indicator in the one portion of the encoded PS/2 data packet, at the host; and (f) decoding the attribute from the other portion of the encoded PS/2 packet to recover the value of the attribute of the device, so that the value of the attribute is available to the host.