Patent ID: 7822344

Claim:
A system for communication of video signals from a plurality of remote devices to one or more monitoring devices, and for communication of control signals from one or more control devices to the plurality of remote devices, the system comprising: a plurality of remote interface units each coupled to a corresponding one of the remote devices; and a base unit coupled to the one or more monitoring devices and the one or more control devices; wherein the plurality of remote interface units and the base unit are interconnected by fiber optic links to form a ring; wherein each of the remote interface units supplies a video signal received from its corresponding remote device to the base unit for distribution to the one or more monitoring devices; wherein the base unit supplies control signals from the one or more control devices to the plurality of remote interface units; wherein the plurality of remote interface units comprises a first remote interface unit and a second remote interface unit; wherein the base unit supplies the control signals to the first remote interface unit for distribution to the second remote interface unit; and wherein the first remote interface unit supplies the video signal received from its corresponding remote device to the second remote interface unit for distribution to the base unit; wherein a master clock signal generated in the base unit is recovered from an incoming stream by a serial-to-parallel converter in each of the remote interface units and is embedded into an outgoing stream by a parallel-to-serial converter in each of the remote interface units, thereby providing synchronization within the system.