Claims
- 1. A local area network router comprising:
a central processing apparatus; a plurality of peripheral devices coupled to said central processing apparatus, each of said plurality of peripheral devices provided with an IP address; and an Internet interface coupled to said central processing device to provide Internet connectivity to said peripheral devices.
- 2. A local area network router as recited in claim 1:wherein said plurality of peripheral devices are coupled to at least one of a plurality of local interfaces, said at least one of a plurality of local interfaces being coupled to said central processing apparatus; and wherein said plurality of peripheral devices communicate with said at least one of a plurality of local interfaces using peripheral interface protocols.
- 3. A local area network router as recited in claim 2:wherein at least one of said plurality of local interfaces is wireless.
- 4. A local area network router as recited in claim 2:wherein said at least one of a plurality of local interfaces comprises:
(a) a universal serial bus (USB) port (b) a RS 232 serial port (c) an IEEE 1394 Fire Wire port (d) a line printer terminal (LPT) port (e) a small computer system interface (SCSI) port (f) an Ethernet port (g) a digital subscriber line (DSL) port (h) a video cable port (i) a V.90 telephone line modem port (j) an optical fiber port.
- 5. A local area network router as recited in claim 1:wherein said at least one of a plurality of peripheral devices comprises:
(a) a camera (b) a printer (c) a scanner (d) a copier (e) a hard drive (f) a CD-R/W drive (g) a DVD drive/player (h) a removable media storage device (i) a streaming tape drive (j) an Ethernet hub or router (k) a telephone (l) a modem (m) a game controller (n) a USB hub (o) an MPEG player.
- 6. A local area network router as recited in claim 2:wherein at least one of said plurality of local interfaces can be changed without re-booting said central processing apparatus.
- 7. A local area network router as recited in claim 1:wherein said IP address of at least one of said plurality of peripheral devices is saved in memory.
- 8. A local area network router as recited in claim 1:wherein a data packet with a destination IP address, originating from said Internet interface, is delivered to said IP address.
- 9. A local area network router as recited in claim 2:wherein a data packet with a destination iP address, originating from said at least one of a plurality of local interfaces, is delivered to said IP address.
- 10. A method for providing a local area network router comprising:
detecting a data packet en route from an originating IP address to a destination IP address; sending said data packet to a local interface coupled to a peripheral device having said destination EP address if said destination address is on said list of local addresses; and translating said data packet into an appropriate protocol for said peripheral device.
- 11. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 10:wherein said local interface comprises:
(a) a universal serial bus (USB) port (b) a RS 232 serial port (c) an IEEE 1394 Fire Wire port (d) a line printer terminal (LPT) port (e) a small computer system interface (SCSI) port (f) an Ethernet port (g) a digital subscriber line (DSL) port (h) a video cable port (i) a V.90 telephone line modem port (j) an optical fiber port.
- 12. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 10:wherein said peripheral device comprises:
(a) a camera (b) a printer (c) a scanner (d) a copier (e) a hard drive (f) a CD-R/W drive (g) -a DVD drive/player (h) a removable media storage drive (i) an Ethernet hub or router (j) a telephone (k) a modem (l) a game controller (m) a USB hub (n) an MPEG player.
- 13. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 10:wherein said local interface is wireless.
- 14. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 10 comprising:
changing said local interface without re-booting said local area network router.
- 15. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 10 comprising:
changing said peripheral device without re-booting said local area network router.
- 16. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 15 comprising:
removing said destination address of said peripheral device from said list of local addresses after uncoupling said peripheral device from said local interface.
- 17. A method for providing a local area network router as recited in claim 15 comprising:
adding a new destination address of a new peripheral device to said list of local addresses after coupling said new peripheral device to said local interface.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 60/352,122 filed on Jan. 25, 2002, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60352122 |
Jan 2002 |
US |