Patent ID: 7136393

Claim:
A data transmission system comprising: a plurality of modems; a transmission medium coupled to each of the modems with data transmissions between the modems being transmitted by the transmission medium with a data transmission protocol; a plurality of processors which use a common processor data protocol, each processor being coupled to one of the modems; a plurality of devices, each device receiving and/or transmitting data transmissions with a device data protocol and being coupled to a processor; a plurality of digital devices, coupled to the transmission medium, which perform at least one of transmitting digital data to the transmission medium for transmission by the transmission medium to another digital device and receiving digital data from another digital device transmitted by the transmission medium; and wherein each processor translates data transmissions in a device data protocol received from a device into the common processor data protocol which are transmitted to a modem coupled thereto and translates data transmissions received from the modem coupled thereto in the common processor data protocol into the device data protocol of the device coupled thereto which is transmitted to the device coupled thereto and each modem modulates data transmissions received from the processor coupled thereto into the data transmission protocol which are transmitted by the transmission medium and demodulates data transmissions received from another modem in the data transmission protocol into the common processor data protocol and transmits the data transmission in the common processor data protocol to the processor coupled thereto and data transmissions on the transmission medium using the data transmission protocol do not interfere with data transmissions on the transmission medium between the plurality of digital devices.