Patent ID: 7478416
Filing Date: 2009-01-13
Classification: H02J,H04L,H04N

Abstract:
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 from the physical device interface; and a gateway, the gateway comprising: (a) an internal interface coupled to and compatible with the internal communication media, (b) an external network interface, the external network interface providing a broadband digital communication connection for a wide area network link to a public network; (c) a router coupled between the internal interface and the external interface 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 interface; 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.