Architecture for communicating with and controlling separate upstream and downstream devices

• US 6,421,728 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 07/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Mohammed, Mannan, Craver, Tom, Harte, Howard M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thompson, Marc D.
• Application Number:
  US09/002,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20020062380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,658 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 345/326, 345/327, 345/335, 379/93, 709/201, 709/227, 709/203, 709/321, 709/324, 709/327, 709/221, 709/222, 348/6, 348/13, 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 725/105, 725/106, 725/109, 725/110, 725/111, 725/114
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks

Abstract

Architecture for communicating with and controlling separate upstream and downstream devices. The architecture may be implemented as an apparatus comprising a client machine having a first device capable of receiving downstream data transmitted from a server to the client machine, and a second device capable of transmitting upstream data from the client machine to the server. The second device may have a smaller bandwidth than the first device. The apparatus also includes a control and parse engine capable of causing the first and second devices to establish a multi-homed connection with the server. When downstream data is received from the server via the first device, the control and parse engine selectively establishes upstream communication with the server via the second device.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a client machine having

a first device capable of receiving downstream data transmitted from a server to the client machine,

a second device capable of transmitting upstream data from the client machine to the server, wherein the second device has a smaller bandwidth to the first device,

a first interface having a device driver for interfacing with the first device, and

a second interface having (1) an input/output control interface to interface with the first interface and (2) a control and parse engine capable of receiving commands from a user regarding the first device, the control and parse engine to cause the first and second devices to establish a multi-horned connection with the server including selectively establishing upstream communication with the server via the second device when the downstream data does not contain a command and communicating with the first device to respond to the command when the downstream data contains the command.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the client machine further comprises:

a graphical user interface coupled with the control and parse engine which allows the user to interact with the device driver and allows the user to set device driver parameters.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first device is a cable modem and the device driver is a cable modem driver.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second device is an analog modem.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said device driver further comprises:

a set of object attributes identifiers; and

,

a set of application programming interfaces.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the control and parse engine uses the input and output control interface to communicate with the device driver when communicating with the first device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second device is coupled to an analog modem driver.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a client machine having

a processor;

a first device capable of receiving downstream data transmitted from a server to the client machine, the first device having a device driver coupled thereto to provide control and data interfaces;

a second device capable of transmitting upstream data from the client machine to the server, wherein the second device has a smaller bandwidth an the first device;

a control and parse engine to communicate with the first device via an input and output control interface that allows for communication with the device driver; and

a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to (1) establish a socket connection with the first device, (2) receive a plurality of data packets from the first device and a user of the client machine, and (3) determine via tile control and parse engine if each of the data packets contains a command, wherein if a current data packet contains a command, then communicating with the first device to respond to the command, and if the current data packet does not contain a command, then communicating with the second device to initiate an upstream connection.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second device is an analog modem.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first device is a cable modem.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said socket connection has an associated port number.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein communicating with the first device comprises:

determining the command contained in the current data packet;

determining an associated object attribute identifier for the command; and

issuing the associated object attributes identifier to a device driver for the first device.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the second device is coupled to an analog modem driver.

14. A method comprising:

establishing a downstream connection from a first device to a server and an upstream connection from a second device to the server, the first device and the second device included in a client machine, wherein the first device includes a control and parse engine to manage configuration of the downstream connection based on at least one command packet received from the server and a user of the client;

receiving downstream data transmitted from the server to the client machine via the first device;

determining if the downstream data includes a data packet that contains a command;

communicating with the first device to respond to the command if the data packet contains a command;

communicating with the second device to initiate an upstream connection if the data packet does not contain a command; and

transmitting upstream data to the server via the second device, wherein the second device has a smaller bandwidth than the first device, and wherein communication with the server via the second device is established through the control and parse engine responsive to data received from the server via the first device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein communicating with the first device comprises:

determining the command contained in the data packet;

determining an associated object attribute identifier for the command; and

issuing the associated object attributes identifier to a device driver for the first device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first device is a cable modem.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the control and parse engine uses an input and output control interface to communicate with a device driver for the first device.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the connection has an associated port number.

19. An article comprising a machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

coupling a first interface with a second interface, the first interface having a device driver for interfacing with a first device, the second interface having a control and parse engine and an input/output control interface for interfacing with the first interface, wherein the control and parse engine is capable of (1) causing the first device and a second device to establish a connection with a server, (2) responding to messages from the server, and (3) receiving commands from a user regarding the first device;

establishing connections from the fist device to the server and from the second device to the server, the first device and the second device included in a client machine;

receiving downstream data transmitted from the server to the client machine via the first device;

determining if the downstream data includes a data packet that contains a command;

communicating with the first device to respond to the command if the data packet contains a command;

communicating with the second device to initiate an upstream connection if the data packet does not contain a command; and

transmitting upstream data from the client machine to the server via the second device, wherein the second device has a smaller bandwidth than the first device.

20. An article according to claim 19, wherein communicating via the control and parse engine with the first device comprises:

determining the command contained in the data packet;

determining an associated object attribute identifier for the command; and

issuing the associated object attributes identifier to a device driver for the first device.

21. An article according to claim 19, wherein the first device is a cable modem.

22. An article according to claim 19, wherein the second device is an analog modem.

23. An article according to claim 19, wherein the socket connection has an associated port number.