Patent ID: 8050713

Claim:
A remote control panel for controlling an operation of a radio transceiver having a predefined functional capability, comprising: a keypad configured for receiving user input commands for remotely controlling a plurality of electronic devices including at least one radio transceiver; a display unit for displaying information concerning an operational state of said radio transceiver; a communication interface configured for relaying control information from said remote control panel to said radio transceiver, and for relaying status/receive information from said radio transceiver to said remote control panel, said control information including said user input commands and transmit data to be transmitted by said radio transceiver, said status/receive information including state information concerning said operational state of said radio transceiver and receive data which has been received by said radio transceiver; said remote control panel also including at least one computer processing device configured for providing an extended capability for said radio transceiver exclusive of said predefined functional capability, said extended capability selected from the group consisting of additional digital data processing capability, additional display capability, and additional communication capability; wherein said communication interface comprises a plurality of interface cable connector ports, each configured to facilitate a wired connection to one of said plurality of electronic devices, and each having a sufficient number of wire interconnections to facilitate data communications to and from a respective one of said plurality of electronic devices using any one of a plurality of communication protocols selected from the group consisting of USB, Serial LVDS, RS-232, and RS-422, said communication interface further configured to automatically switch between said plurality of communication protocols while using the same cable connector port; and wherein said display unit is configured for displaying concurrently with said operational state of said radio transceiver, second state information concerning a second operational state of said second electronic device.