Patent ID: 7451242

Claim:
A method for identifying at least one of a plurality of communication channels available for communication between one of a plurality of devices and a server, wherein the plurality of communication channels are formable between the server and cascadedly arranged controllers, each controller associated with one of the devices, including n inputs, n>1, and a switching device configured to allow connection between one of the n inputs and the associated device and connection through the controller between the remaining n−1 inputs and n−1 outputs, the method comprising: monitoring, at each of the cascadedly arranged controllers, each of the plurality of communication channels between the controller and the server, wherein the n inputs of each succeeding controller in the cascade are respectively connected in series to n outputs of a preceding one of the controllers; determining whether at least one of the plurality of communication channels is being used for the transmission of link pulses generated by the server, wherein the presence of link pulses on one of the communication channels indicates that that particular communication channel and the respective port on the server are not currently being used for data transmission by the server and are available; and establishing said allowed connection between the associated device and the available server port using one of the available communication channels determined to have the link pulses.