System and Method for Providing Video and Audio Signals to Multiple Displays

1 . A method of supplying a data stream to multiple displays comprising:

presenting a first parallel data stream;

converting the first parallel data stream into a first serial data stream;

transmitting said first serial data stream to a first display node wherein said first serial data stream is converted into a second parallel data stream;

displaying said second parallel data stream on a first display in communication with said first display node;

converting said second parallel data stream into a second serial data stream at the first display node;

transmitting said second serial data stream to a second display node wherein said second serial data stream is converted into a third parallel data stream;

displaying said third parallel data stream on a second display in communication with said second display node, wherein said second display is synchronized with said first display;

converting said third parallel data stream into a third serial data stream at the second display node; and

wherein the steps above are repeatable for an n number of display nodes, wherein n is a positive integer greater than or equal to two.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein all the data streams contain a means for synchronization.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the means for synchronization is a clock.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising the steps of:

de-jittering the data stream at each node using a clock cleaner.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said serial data streams are carried by CAT-5 cable.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein any one of said display nodes is a distribution display node having multiple serial data stream outputs.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said one or more distribution display nodes perform the additional step of:

transmitting said serial data stream to a plurality of display nodes.

8 . A method of supplying a data stream to multiple displays comprising:

presenting a parallel data stream;

converting the parallel data stream to a serial data stream;

transmitting said first serial data stream to a chain of at least one display nodes, each display node performing the steps of:

converting the incoming serial data stream into a parallel data stream,

displaying the parallel data stream on a display in communication with the display node,

converting the parallel data stream back into a serial data stream; and

transmitting the serial data stream to the next display node.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:

synchronizing the parallel and serial data streams at each display node.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of synchronizing the data streams is performed by a clock device.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:

de-jittering the serial and parallel data streams using a clock cleaning device.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the transmitting step is performed by CAT-5 cable between each display node.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein said serial and parallel data streams are audio and video data.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the display nodes is a distribution display node having a plurality of serial data stream outputs.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein said one or more distribution display nodes perform the additional step of:

transmitting said serial data stream to a plurality of display nodes.

16 . A system for distributing data streams to a plurality of electronic displays, the system comprising:

a data source assembly comprising:

an AV signal source providing a parallel data stream,

a data source serializer which converts the parallel data stream into a serial data stream, and

a data source transmitter which transmits the serial data stream;

a first display node in electrical communication with the data source assembly and comprising:

a first node receiver which receives the serial data stream,

a first node de-serializer which converts the received serial data stream into a parallel data stream,

a first node display which displays the parallel data stream,

a first node serializer which converts the parallel data stream into a serial data stream, and

a first node transmitter which transmits the serial data stream; and

a second display node in electrical communication with the first display node and comprising:

a second node receiver which receives the serial data stream,

a second node de-serializer which converts the received serial data stream into a parallel data stream,

a second node display which displays the parallel data stream,

a second node serializer which converts the parallel data stream into a serial data stream, and

a second node transmitter which transmits the serial data stream.

17 . The data stream distribution system of claim 16 further comprising:

N display nodes in electrical communication with the second display node wherein N is any positive integer.

18 . The data stream distribution system of claim 17 wherein any one of the display nodes is a distribution display node having transmitter which simultaneously transmits the serial data stream to a plurality of additional display nodes.

19 . The data stream distribution system of claim 16 further comprising:

a clock cleaner within each display node which synchronizes the displays of each display node.

20 . The data stream distribution system of claim 19 wherein:

the transmission of each serial data stream takes place on CAT-5 cable.