Modem having flexible architecture for connecting to multiple channel interfaces

• US 7,092,375 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2001
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Netgear Holdings Ltd. (NETGEAR, Inc.), NETGEAR, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Westell Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Pitsoulakis, George
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boakye, Alexander O.
• Application Number:
  US10/181,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20030035471A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,902 Days
• Field of Search: 370/493, 370/494, 370/395.53, 370/437, 370/352, 370/401, 370/402, 370/471, 370/355, 370/445, 370/463, 370/908, 370/338, 375/222, 375/220
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2881 IP/Ethernet DSLAM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2889 Multiservice, e.g. MSAN
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0069 comprising a residential gateway, e.g. those which provide an adapter for POTS or ISDN terminals

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an integrated access device (IAD) that provides multiple communication interfaces for communications to a variety of service providers. The disclosed IAD acts as a DSL modem and combines the functions of a gateway, router, and Ethernet hub to provide high-speed Internet access to PCs sharing a local network. It provides the networking functions that let PCs connect through a variety of methods, including traditional Ethernet, wireless, universal serial bus (USB), and home phoneline networking alliance (HPNA). It also provides point-to-point protocol over Ethernet (PPPOE) tunneling through network address translation (NAT).

Claims

1. An xDSL modem comprising:

a controller having a computer memory associated therewith;

software resident in said computer memory, said software comprising preloaded software drivers configured to support a plurality of PCMCIA cards;

at least one PCMCIA slot accessible from an exterior surface of the modem, and

at least one port configured to accept a new software driver suitable for cooperating with a PCMCIA card for which no suitable software driver is already resident in said computer memory, wherein upon insertion of a PCMCIA card, a proper software driver is automatically invoked, if said proper software driver is resident in said computer memory.

2. The xDSL modem according to claim 1, comprising at least two PCMCIA slots, each of which is accessible from an exterior surface of the modem.

3. The xDSL modem according to claim 1, wherein said preloaded software drivers include software drivers for protocols from the group consisting of Bluetooth, IEEE802.11a, IEEE802.11b, HomeRF, HiperLAN, and HiperLAN2.

4. An xDSL modem comprising:

a motherboard having a controller having a first computer memory associated therewith; and

at least one voice expansion slot connected to the motherboard, wherein the xDSL modem is convertible into a voice-capable device upon insertion of a voice card in the voice exoansion slot;

wherein the voice card includes at least one digital signal processor (DSP) unit and at least one subscriber line interface circuits (SLIC), and wherein the voice card is configured to support at least one coder-decoder (codec) standard and at least one voice protocol.

5. The xDSL modem according to claim 4, wherein the at least one codec standard is two or more from the group consisting of G.711, G.726, G.723.1, G.729A and G.728.

6. The xDSL modem according to claim 4, wherein the at least one voice protocol is two or more from the group consisting of MGCP, SIP, H.323, H.248/MEGACO.