Appliance communications manager
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, via one of a plurality of different types of input/output (I/O) communication modules of an appliance communications manager that stands apart from a number of source and destination appliances, a connection request from a first source appliance;
receiving at the appliance communications manager, destination appliance communication information for a first destination appliance;
receiving at the appliance communications manager, a communication message from the first source appliance;
storing the communication message in a data memory of the appliance communications manager;
establishing, via one of the plurality of different types of I/O communication modules of the appliance communications manager, a communication link with the first destination appliance; and
transferring the stored communication message to the first destination appliance via the communication link.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for communication between appliances. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving at an appliance communications manager that stands apart from source and destination appliances, a connection request from a source appliance, receiving at the appliance communications manager destination appliance communication information for a destination appliance, and receiving at the appliance communications manager a communication message from the source appliance. The method additionally comprises storing the communication message in a data memory of the appliance communications manager, establishing, via the appliance communications manager, a communication link with the destination appliance, and transferring the stored communication message to the destination appliance via the communication link.
17 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving, via one of a plurality of different types of input/output (I/O) communication modules of an appliance communications manager that stands apart from a number of source and destination appliances, a connection request from a first source appliance;
receiving at the appliance communications manager, destination appliance communication information for a first destination appliance;
receiving at the appliance communications manager, a communication message from the first source appliance;
storing the communication message in a data memory of the appliance communications manager;
establishing, via one of the plurality of different types of I/O communication modules of the appliance communications manager, a communication link with the first destination appliance; and
transferring the stored communication message to the first destination appliance via the communication link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 14, 15)
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7. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of input/output (I/O) communication modules of different types to receive i) connection requests from a plurality of source appliances, ii) destination appliance communication information for a plurality of destination appliances, and iii) communication messages from said source appliances;
data memory to store the communication messages received from the source appliances; and
a processor to access the data memory, to establish communication links with destination appliances that are subjects of said received connection requests, and to transfer the stored communication messages to the destination appliances via the communication links. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17)
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12. A system comprising:
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a source appliance to transmit a connection request, destination appliance communication information for a destination appliance, and a communication message, to an appliance communications manager that stands apart from said source and destination appliances;
the appliance communications manager including i) a plurality of different types of input/output (I/O) communication modules from which one or more I/O communication modules for communicating with said source and destination appliances are selected, and ii) a data memory to store the communication message received from the source appliance, the appliance communications manager to transfer the stored communication message to the destination appliance; and
the destination appliance to receive the communication message from the appliance communications manager. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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Specification