Abstract:
Apparatus for transmitting a signal from a periphery device to an Internet through a wireless local area network is disclosed herein, the apparatus including the following devices. Firstly, the converting device is used to transmit the signal between the local area network and the Internet using pack exchanging. Thus the frame is briefer than that used in the prior art. The frame is transmitted between the periphery device and the local area network with the frame of a brief structure. Second, the converting device is used as the bridge between the wireless local area network and the local area network. Third, the transceiving device is used to transmit the signal to the converting device through the wireless local area network. The transmitting periphery device is used to transmit a first output frame to the transceiving device. Thus the first output frame is sent to the converting device through the wireless local area network. Fourth, the receiving periphery device is used to receive the signal from the converting device.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a periphery device that can transmit data to the Internet without host (personal computer or notebook computer), especially relates to a wireless periphery device that can transmit data to the Internet with only local area network server. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     If the Internet phone or the video conference is to be performed in a Local Area Network (LAN), as shown in FIG. 1A, the corresponding periphery devices such as camera  103 , microphone  104 , speaker  102 , and monitor must be electrically coupled to the computer  100  (PC or notebook computer). Because the signal sent from the periphery device to the computer must be of an analog format. In order to digitize the signal mentioned above, the interface card proceed with the signal from the periphery device, and then the TCP/IP header is added to the digitized signal mentioned above, thus the frame is obtained. In the following step, the frame is transmitted using radio wave, and the structure of the frame  110  is shown in FIG.  1 B. 
     The access point  105  (FIG. 1A) receives the frame from the computer  100  and converts the received frame to form the frame  120  shown in FIG.  1 C. The frame  120  is sent to the Internet  109  through the gateway (not shown in FIG.  1 A). Due to the IP address of the destination computer, the frame  120  is sent to the gateway  112  of the local area network  102 . Then the access point  160  converts the received packet to the format of the frame  110 , and transmitted the converted packet to the computer  128  using radio wave. The computer  128  unpacks the frame (converted packet) to acquire the data inside the frame to transfer to the periphery device. When the signal is transferred from computer  120  to computer  100 , the signal can operate according to the principle mentioned above. So the periphery devices of the two computers can transmit data to each other. So the Internet phone and the video conference can be performed in the wireless local area network through Internet. 
     The structure of the frame that sent by computer  100  is shown in FIG. 1B as the frame  110 , in which the data  19  is the data itself. The TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) layer header  117  is provided for the application program to ensure the data can arrive at the computer through the Internet. The IP (Internet Protocol) layer header  115  is used to determine the path that the datagram arrives at the destination computer, to define the Internet&#39;s address, and to implement unpacking as well as reforming of the frame. The MAC (Media Access Control) layer source address  113  is the address in the MAC layer of the source transmitting the frame. In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer source address  113  is the hardware address of the network card of computer  100 . The MAC layer destination address  111  is the hardware address of the computer&#39;s network card that receiving the frame in the next stage network. In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer destination address  111  is the address of the gateway  106  in the MAC layer. The MAC layer access point destination address  11  is the hardware address of the access point&#39;s ( 105 ) wireless network card. 
     After the gateway  106  received the frame  110 , the MAC layer source address  113  and the MAC layer destination address  111  are substituted by the MAC layer source address  123  and the MAC layer destination address  121  respectively. The MAC layer source address  123  stands for the address of the source transmitting the frame  120 , i.e. the gateway  105 &#39;s MAC layer address in this example shown in FIG.  1 A. The MAC layer destination address  121  stands for the MAC layer destination address of the host receiving the frame  120  in the next stage. In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer destination address  121  represents the gateway  124 &#39;s MAC layer address, in which the gateway  124  is within the local area network  116 . Gateway  124  transmits the frame  120  to the gateway in the next stage local area network, and the frame is changed in accordance with the forgoing principle, i.e. only the MAC layer address  121  and  123  are substituted. 
     After the gateway  128  in the local area network  118  has received a frame, the frame  130  shown in FIG. 1D is transmitted by gateway  128 . In which the MAC layer destination address  131  is assigned as the MAC layer destination address of the gateway receiving the frame  130  in the next stage. In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer destination address  131  is the address of the gateway  112  in the local area network  104 . The MAC layer source address  133  represents the address of the source transmitting the frame  130 . In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer destination address  133  stands for the MAC layer destination address of the gateway  128  in the local area network  118 . Gateway  128  transmits the frame  130  to the gateway in the next stage local area network, and the frame is changed in accordance with the forgoing principle, i.e. substitute the MAC layer address  131  and  133  only. 
     Because the access point  160  has built up a table for the computer communicating with the access point  160 . Even the MAC layer destination address is not the MAC layer address of access point  160 , the access point  160  will receive the frame that the MAC layer address is the computer&#39;s MAC layer address built in the forgoing table. In addition, a MAC layer access point address  151  is added to the frame mentioned above, and the frame being added with the MAC layer access point address  151  is shown as frame  150  in FIG.  1 E. 
     As shown in FIG. 1E, the MAC layer access point address  151  is the MAC layer address of access point  160 . The MAC layer destination address  152  stands for the computer  128 &#39;s hardware address, and the MAC layer source address  153  is the MAC layer address of the gateway&#39;s network card that transmitting the frame  150 . In this example shown in FIG. 1A, the MAC layer source address  163  is the hardware address of the gateway  112 &#39;s network card. The IP (Internet Protocol) layer header  154  and the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) layer header  156  are compared with the address of the computer  128 , if they are matched, the frame will be received and processed by the computer  128 . 
     The communicating model used by the prior are of the periphery device is the TCP/IP reference model, which includes five layers respectively defines the function used in the data communication. As shown in FIG. 1F, every layer has a name, and is not confined to one protocol, instead, the data communication function of every layer can be defined by arbitrary protocols. So a plurality of protocols can be included in a layer, every protocol provides one kind of suitable service for the layer. In transmitting the data from the resident application program to the equivalent remote application program, every layer of the TCP/IP reference models is involved. The higher level transmits the data to the bottom layer of the network depends on the lower layer, and the data is transferred downward through the stack of layers one by one, until the data passes the physical layer to the network. Vice versa, the data is transmitted to the remote application program by passing the data upward through the stack of layers one by one. 
     After the computer  100  has received the data, the five layers of the TCP/IP reference model can be used to illustrate the data transmission. The reference model  140  shown in FIG. 1F includes the application layer  147 , which relates to the protocol of the user&#39;s access. The transmission control protocol layer  146  transmits the data between the application layer  147  and the Internet protocol layer  145  when the application program is activated by the user. The Internet protocol layer  145  is used to manage the connection on the network, and to separate the protocol of the upper layer from the trivial details of the bottom layer. The logic link layer  143  cooperates with the media access control layer  142  to maintain the reliability of the data transmission in the bottom physical network. The physical layer  141  defines the characteristic of the hardware that bearing the data transmission signal. 
     When the data  119  (FIG.  1 B), is transmitted toward the bottom layer, the added header is adder by the five layers of the TCP model, in order to illustrate the principle,  11 ,  111 ,  113 ,  115 , and  117  in FIG. 1B are illustrated for example. The TCP layer header  117  is added by the application layer  146  shown in FIG.  1 F. The IP layer header  115  (FIG. 1B) is added by the Internet protocol layer  145  (FIG.  1 F). The MAC layer address  113 ,  111  and  11  are added by the media access control layer  142  (FIG.  1 F). 
     The five layers of the TCP model is used in the core of the operation system and the wireless network card of the computer  100 . Whereas if the data acquired by the camera  103 , the microphone  101  and the speaker  102  is to be sent to the Internet, the all of the periphery devices mentioned above must be connected to the computer  100  first, then the data can be transmitted to the Internet. So it is not convenient for the user to utilize the periphery devices in a wireless local area network. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In the periphery device in the prior art, the periphery device has to couple to the computer, then the signal acquired by the periphery device can be transmitted to the Internet through a LAN (Local Area Network). So the present invention proposes apparatus for transmitting a signal from a periphery device to an Internet through a wireless local area network, the apparatus includes the following devices. 
     Firstly, the converting device is used to transmit the signal between the local area network and the Internet using pack exchanging. Thus the frame is briefer than that used in the prior art. The frame is transmitted between the periphery device and the local area network with the frame of a brief structure. The converting device is used to process a MAC (Media Access Control) layer header of the signal and add a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol) layer header to the signal. Thus the signal can be transmitted to the Internet. The converting device processes the MAC layer header of the signal and remove the TCP/IP layer header from the signal, thus the signal is transmitted to the periphery device. The converting device includes a First MAC header processing device and a network card. The signal from the Internet to the periphery device is removed of the TCP/IP layer header, and firstly pass the network card then pass the First MAC header processing device. The signal from the periphery device to the Internet is added with the TCP/IP layer header, and firstly pass the First MAC header processing device then pass the network card. The First MAC header processing device is a virtual device driver (Vxd) that belongs to a level of a core of an operation system. 
     Second, the converting device is used as the bridge between the wireless local area network and the local area network. The transceiving device is a bridge of the wireless local area network and local area network coupling to the Internet. 
     Third, the transceiving device is used to transmit the signal to the converting device through the wireless local area network. The transmitting periphery device is used to transmit a first output frame to the transceiving device. Thus the first output frame is sent to the converting device through the wireless local area network. 
     Fourth, the receiving periphery device is used to receive the signal from the converting device. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from consideration of the following descriptions in connection with accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1A illustrates the architecture of the wireless local area network and the periphery device in the prior art; 
     FIG. 1B illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the periphery device in the prior art to the access point of the wireless local area network; 
     FIG. 1C illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the access point of the wireless local area network to the Internet according to the prior art; 
     FIG. 1D illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the Internet to the access point of the wireless local area network according to the prior art; 
     FIG. 1E illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the access point of the wireless local area network to the periphery device in the prior art; 
     FIG. 1F illustrates the structure of the TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol datagram) model that used to define the data communication; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the application of the periphery in the present invention of the wireless local area network coupled with the Internet; 
     FIG. 3A illustrates the structure of the wireless local area network and the periphery device in the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3B illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the periphery device in the present invention to the access point of the wireless local area network; 
     FIG. 3C illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the network server of the wireless local area network to the Internet according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3D illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the Internet to the network server of the wireless local area network according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3E illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the network server of the wireless local area network to the access point of the wireless local area network according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3F illustrates the structure of the frame transmitted from the access point of the wireless local area network to the periphery device according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the device that used to detect the header of frame and the path that the frame passes in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     When the data acquired by the periphery device is to be transmitted to the Internet, in order to avoid the coupling between the periphery device and the computer, i.e. to direct couple the periphery device to the Internet. The present invention provides the periphery devices using a wireless network system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thus the periphery devices can direct transmits the frame through the network server to the Internet. So the independent periphery device in the wireless local area network can connect the remote computer without the resident computer, and the application of all the periphery devices utilizing the Internet can be carried out independently. 
     The architecture of the wireless network system according to the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 2, in which the local area network  107 , the Internet  109  and the local area network  104  are the same as that of the prior art shown in FIG.  1 A. Whereas, instead of connecting to the resident computer, the periphery device in the wireless local area network according to the present invention couples to the server  108  of the local area network  107  through the access point  105 . In addition, through the Internet  109  and the local area network  104 , the periphery device can communicate with the periphery devices connecting to the access point  160 . So the various applications can be performed by the communication of the resident periphery devices and the remote periphery devices. It is obvious that the wireless local area network in the present invention enables the connection of the periphery devices to the network server, so it is very convenient to utilize the periphery devices using a wireless local area network to perform the application using the Internet. 
     In the wireless local area network according to the present invention, a plurality of identical periphery devices can be supplied, in addition, various kinds of periphery devices can be used to implement various kinds of application. For example, the microphone  101  and the speaker  102  in the local area network  107  communicating with the microphone  129  and speaker  132  in the local area network  104  is used as a Internet phone. If the camera  103  in the local area network  107  transmits the video signal to the monitor  202  in the local area network  104 , the application mentioned above is a remote monitor. If the microphone in the local area network  107  transmits the voice signal to the speaker  132  in the local area network  104 , this is a remote broadcasting system. Because the periphery devices in the wireless local area network in the present invention is wireless coupled to the network server independently, so it is convenient to implement various kinds of functions. 
     In order to transmit the signal from the periphery device to the network server directly, the format of the signal from the periphery device must be change to the format that the network server can receive and identify. So the output signal of the periphery device of the present invention must be a digital format that has the MAC layer address header. Thus the frame transmitted by the periphery device can be sent to the network server  108 . To implement the principle mentioned above in hardware, the hardware that performs the bottom two layers of the TCP/IP five layer structure, i.e. the physical layer and the media access control layer, must be integrated in the circuit of the periphery device respectively. So the output signal of the periphery devices can fit the required format of the network server. 
     In order to illustrate how the periphery device processes the signal, the Internet phone is described for example, the functional block of the Internet phone is shown in FIG.  3 A. When the microphone  101  send a signal to the network server  108 , the input signal is the analog audio signal  30 . The analog audio signal  30  is processed by the analog/digital converter  37  to produce the first digital signal  32 . Then the MAC encoder/decoder  38  adds the media access control layer header, such as MAC layer destination address  311  and MAC layer source address  313  in FIG. 3B, to the first digital signal  32 . Thus the frame is formed as shown in FIG. 3B, and the format can be accepted and identified for the network server  108 . Next, the transceiver  39  transmits the frame  300  by radio wave. The MAC layer destination address  311  is the address of the server that receives the frame  300 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the MAC layer destination address  311  is the MAC layer address of the network server  108 . The MAC layer source address  313  is the MAC layer address of the periphery device that transmitting the frame  300 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the MAC layer source address  313  is the MAC layer address of the microphone  101 . The MAC layer access point destination address  307  is the hardware address of the wireless network card of the access point  105 . The access point  105  couples the network server and the wireless local area network. 
     After the frame  300  is received by the access point  105  of the local area network  107 , the wireless network card of the access point  105  removes the MAC layer access point destination address  307  of the frame  300 , and transmits the other headers and data of frame  300 . So the structure of the frame transmitted by the access point  105  is not shown. Through the TCP/IP five layers, the network server  108  converts the frame processed by access point  105  to the formal shown as frame  310 , thus the frame can be transmitted in the network. In the network server  108 , the MAC layer destination address  311  is replaced with the MAC layer destination address  321 , i.e. the address of the gateway  310  that receiving the frame  310 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the gateway  106  (FIG. 2) receives the frame  310 . 
     The MAC layer source address  313  is replaced with the MAC layer source address  323 , i.e., address of the network server that receiving the frame  310 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hardware address of the network server  108  is the address of the network server that receiving the frame  310 . Besides, the data  319  in the frame  310  is the data  309  in the frame  300  being processed by the network server  108 . The purpose of the TCP layer header  317  and the IP layer header  316  is the same as the TCP layer header  117  and the IP layer header  115  respectively. And is to ensure the data can arrive the destination network server, which is network server  114  in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     When the frame transmitted from the Internet is received by the network server  108 , the structure of the frame that transmitted to the local area network  107  is shown as frame  320  in FIG.  3 D. In which the data  329  is the microphone  129 &#39;s output signal that been digitized and processed by the application program of the network server. In addition, the purpose of the TCP layer header  327  and the IP layer header  325  is the same as that of the TCP layer header  117  and the IP layer header  115  respectively. And is to ensure the data can arrive at the destination network server, which is network server  108  in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The MAC layer destination address  321  is the MAC layer address of the network server that receiving the frame  320 , i.e., the hardware address of the network card of the network server  108 . The MAC layer source address  324  is the MAC layer address of the gateway that transmitting frame  320 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the address of the MAC layer source address  324  is the hardware address of the gateway  106 &#39;s network card. 
     During the network server  108  transmits the frame  320  to the periphery device, the application program processes the data  329  to generate the first row data, i.e., the data  339 . Besides, the MAC layer destination address  322  is substituted with the MAC layer destination address  311 , i.e., the MAC layer address of the periphery device that receiving the frame  330 . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the MAC layer destination address  322  is the address of the periphery device  102 . The MAC layer source address  324  is substituted with the MAC layer source address  333 , i.e., the address of the network server  108  that transmitting the frame  330 . The MAC layer source address  324  is the hardware address the network server  108 &#39;s network card in the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     The access point  105  builds up a table for the computer communicating with the access point  105  shown in FIG.  2 . Even the MAC layer destination address  333  (FIG. 3E) is not the access point  105 &#39;s MAC layer address, the access point  105  will receive the frame when the MAC layer destination address in the frame is the same as the periphery device&#39;s address. In addition, a MAC layer access point address  335  is added to the frame mentioned above, and the frame being added with the MAC layer access point address  335  is shown as frame  350  in FIG.  3 F. 
     The circuitry of the wireless periphery devices according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be the circuitry of the traditional wireless periphery device together with a circuitry for implementing function of the lower two layers of the TCP/IP five layers. 
     In the other respect, when the access point using the present invention transmits the frame to the to the network server, the path that the frame passing through is the solid line in the FIG.  4 . In which the frame is transmitted from solid line  409  and subsequently passes the solid line  414 ,  401 ,  411 ,  412 ,  413 , then return to solid line  409 . The network card  408  takes the input frame, then the application program  403  take the input frame through Vxd  407 , in which the Vxd  407  is the abbreviation of virtual device driver, and is a kind of program in the operation system level that widely used in the prior art to manage the input/output device. The application program  403  processes the MAC header of the input frame, and acquires the information of the IP header relating to the forgoing MAC header. In addition, the application program  403  proceeds with the row data in the input frame to acquire a processed data. Then the Winsock interface  404  transmits the processed data and the information of the IP header to the TCP/IP  405 , then generates a datagram including the TCP header and the IP header. Next, the datagram is added with a MAC header by the network card  406 , and then is sent to the network  408  and to the network server finally. 
     In the other aspect, when the network server transmits the frame to the access point using the present invention, the path that the frame passing through is the dashed line in the FIG.  4 . In which the frame is transmitted from solid line  409  and subsequently passes the dashed line  416 ,  418 ,  417 ,  402 ,  418 , then return to solid line  409 . The IP header of the frame transmitted to the access point is replaced with the other MAC header that enables the frame propagating to the transceiver of the periphery device. In transmitting the frame from the network server to the access point, because the function of the elements shown in FIG. 4 is the same as that of transmitting the frame from the access point to the network server. So the function of the elements is not detailed herein. 
     In processing the TCP/IP frame, the traditional operation system core includes the functional blocks  403 ,  404 ,  405 , and  406 . The frame is transmitted between the functional blocks  403 ,  404 ,  405 , and  406  in the order  409 ,  415 ,  416 ,  417 ,  411 ,  412 ,  413 , and then return to  409  again. The network  408  in FIG. 4 can be an Ethernet, and the Vxd  407  is used to manage the input/output device in the prior art. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Vxd  407  is used to enable the communication between the application program and the network  408 , thus the header according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be added to the frame. The Vxd is the abbreviation of virtual device driver, and is a kind of program in the operation system core widely used in the prior art to manage the input/output device. In addition, the access point in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is a converting device in functionality and is a bridge of the wireless local area network and a local area network coupling to the Internet. 
     As will be understood by persons skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting the present invention. Having described the invention in connection with a preferred embodiment, for example, if the various periphery device or the different protocol are used in the preferred embodiment. As long as the computer coupling the periphery device and the access point of the wireless local area network is spared, the modification will now suggest itself to those skilled in the art. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.