Multi-service in-home network with an open interface
First Claim
1. A system for providing unified digital communications for diverse devices within a premises and access to external wide area communication facilities, the system comprising:
- an internal communication media within the premises;
a plurality of different device specific interfaces, each different device specific interface comprising a physical media interface compatible with the media and coupled thereto, a common application program interface for controlling communication through the physical media interface, a physical device interface for coupling to a predetermined different type of device within the premises, and a device specific application compatible with the common application program interface for controlling functions through and responding to inputs the physical device interface; and
a gateway, the gateway comprising;
(a) an internal interface coupled to and compatible with the internal communication media, (b) a plurality of external network interfaces, each external network interface providing a digital communication connection for a different type of wide area network link to one or more public networks, at least one of the external network interfaces providing a broadband digital communication connection for a respective wide area network link;
(c) a router coupled between the internal interface and the external interfaces for selectively routing digital information to and from the interfaces, (d) a program controlled central processing unit for controlling the routing of digital information to and from the interfaces through the router, to facilitate inter-device communication within the system and to provide selective communications via the external network interfaces, and (e) a software program executable by the central processing unit to perform the routing control, said software program being compatible with the control of communication by the application program interface that is common to the different device specific interfaces.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention utilizes a gateway providing an open software interface to control in-home communications and to enable in-home devices of various divergent technologies to selectively access external communication features. An in-home communication network utilizes any one or more of several available in-home digital networking media to connect the gateway to device interfaces. The gateway comprises interfaces to a plurality of external communication networks, and one or more in-home communication media, a router coupled to the various interfaces and a controller. Each device specific accessing the in-home network connects to media through a device interface. There will be different interfaces for enabling access by different types of customer premises devices. Each device interface provides physical access to the media as well as functional interfacing, to enable operation with the particular type of customer premises device. All of the device specific interfaces implement a standard software referred to as a common application program interface (API) interface, to enable communication over the media and accessing of in-home and/or external communication services through the gateway.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for providing unified digital communications for diverse devices within a premises and access to external wide area communication facilities, the system comprising:
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an internal communication media within the premises;
a plurality of different device specific interfaces, each different device specific interface comprising a physical media interface compatible with the media and coupled thereto, a common application program interface for controlling communication through the physical media interface, a physical device interface for coupling to a predetermined different type of device within the premises, and a device specific application compatible with the common application program interface for controlling functions through and responding to inputs the physical device interface; and
a gateway, the gateway comprising;
(a) an internal interface coupled to and compatible with the internal communication media, (b) a plurality of external network interfaces, each external network interface providing a digital communication connection for a different type of wide area network link to one or more public networks, at least one of the external network interfaces providing a broadband digital communication connection for a respective wide area network link;
(c) a router coupled between the internal interface and the external interfaces for selectively routing digital information to and from the interfaces, (d) a program controlled central processing unit for controlling the routing of digital information to and from the interfaces through the router, to facilitate inter-device communication within the system and to provide selective communications via the external network interfaces, and (e) a software program executable by the central processing unit to perform the routing control, said software program being compatible with the control of communication by the application program interface that is common to the different device specific interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A gateway for providing communications internal to a premises and providing access to multiple external communication networks, the gateway comprising:
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an internal interface for coupling to and compatible with an internal communication media within the premises;
a plurality of external network interfaces, each external network interface providing a digital communication connection for a different type of wide area network link, at least one of the external network interfaces providing a broadband digital communication connection for a respective wide area network link;
a router coupled between the internal interface and the external interfaces for selectively routing digital information to and from the interfaces;
a program controlled central processing unit for controlling the routing of digital information to and from the interfaces through the router, to enable digital communication between devices coupled to the internal communication media and to enable selective communications of the devices via the external network interfaces; and
a software program executable by the central processing unit to perform the routing control, said software program being compatible with a common application program interface implemented by interfaces for providing the coupling of the devices to the internal communication media. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A product comprising at least one computer readable medium and bearing executable code on the medium for use in a system for providing data communications within a premises and data communications access to a plurality of wide area network links, the executable code comprising:
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programming for a central processing unit of a gateway coupled between the wide area network links and a data communication media within the premises, wherein the programming for the central processing unit controlling the data communications within the premises and the data communications access to the wide area network links, and the programming for the central processing unit implements the control functions in a manner compatible with a predetermined application program interface; and
programming for each of a plurality of device specific interfaces, for interaction with the programming for the central processing unit to enable a device connected to each device specific interface to communicate through the system, the programming for each of the device specific interfaces implementing the predetermined application program interface for interaction with device specific higher level functions of a respective interface.
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Specification