Abstract:
A PCB mountable module includes logic circuitry that translates between serial and wireless communication protocols. Supported standards include I2C, CAN, ProfiBus, SPI, and USB, IP, ARP, UDP, TCP, ICMP, Telnet, TFTP, AutoIP, DHCP, HTTP, and SNMP. Modules can optionally provide security, MILARRS functionality, and web related services such as email alert. The novel modules can be used wherever a device designer wants a plug-in (or “drop-in”) system that obviates the need for independent development and maintenance of wireless capability. Examples include servers, desktop and laptop computers, and even devices such as kitchen appliances with relatively simpler electronics.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 11/060,664 filed Feb. 17, 2005 now U.S Pat No. 7,018,242, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/122,867 filed Apr. 15, 2002 now U.S Pat No. 6,881,096. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The field of the invention is wireless adapters. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Several serial to Ethernet converters are known, including for example the X-Port™ from Lantronix™, aspects of which were described in the Ser. No. 10/122,867 application filed April 2002. This and all other patents and patent applications cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. A more recent example includes the CP/COM™ converter available from Arc Electronics™. (www.arcelect.com). 
   The earliest Ethernet converters did not provide wireless connectivity. Subsequent converters, including PCMCIA cards and USB dongles, do provide wireless connectivity, but such devices are not designed for surface installation on computer or other circuit boards. In addition, the existing converters are designed for particular translations of one protocol to another or they have limited or non-existing MILARRS and other functionality. PCMCIA cards, for example, are designed to require a complex parallel interface (e.g. CARDBUS) not typically provided on non-computer products or devices. Existing wireless connectivity devices are therefore not generally suitable to OEM manufacturers for use in their products. 
   Thus, there is an ongoing need to provide an electronic component board mountable modules that provide wireless connectivity, especially those that use a simple serial interface to the component board. There is also an ongoing need to provide modules that provide web server and other more advanced functionality. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention provides methods and apparatus in which a module has: an electronic component board mountable housing that includes a logic circuitry that translates between a serial communication protocol and a wireless communication protocol; a physical connector for connection to the board; and a connector to an antenna. 
   The housing can comprise any suitable size and shape, an especially contemplated embodiment of which has a cross-section of a typical RJ45 connector. Other contemplated embodiments are flatter and wider, with an especially preferred embodiment having a substantially square horizontal cross-section, and a height about 20% of the length or width. Pins are the currently preferred connectors for electrical coupling to the board, and the module can be connected to the board either directly or through an intermediate connector piece. As used herein, the term “mounted on the board” contemplates both types of situations, direct and indirect mounting. Pins can be soldered to form a permanent connection if desired. Any suitable number of pins can be used, from 2 or 3 through 7, 8, or 9, and even more. 
   The circuitry is preferably disposed on a single chip, although it can be split among multiple components. Preferred modules contain flash or other high speed RAM, at least 256 KB to store an operating system, and at least 2 MB of additional memory to store firmware, web pages, and so forth. Preferred modules can advantageously include a voltage supervisory circuit that uses a power feed of no more than 5 Volts DC, although higher and lower power feeds are contemplated as required by the circuitry. Currently, the most preferred voltage is 3.3 V. 
   Modules are preferably general purpose, being designed to accommodate any serial communication protocol. This includes especially 12C, CAN, ProfiBus, SPI, and USB. Similarly, modules are preferably designed to handle any suitable serial and management standards, including for example, IP, ARP, UDP, TCP, ICMP, Telnet, TFTP, AutoIP, DHCP, HTTP, and SNMP. It is especially contemplated that modules will comply with any of the 802.11x or superseding standards. 
   Commercial embodiments preferably include software that provide functionality other than simply protocol translation and wireless networking support. For example, the software can advantageously provide a security function such as WEP (Wired Equivalent Protocol) and WPA (Wireless Networking Protected Access) security, and various types of encryption. Software can also provide at least one of a MILARRS functionality. In other examples, the software can provide web related services such as email alert. 
   An antenna can be fixedly or detachably coupled to the antenna connector, and can be mounted at the module, or external to the module using a coaxial or other suitable cable. Multiple antennas are also contemplated. 
   The novel modules can be used wherever a device designer wants a plug-in (or “drop-in”) system that obviates the need for independent design, development and maintenance of wireless capability. Examples include servers, desktop and laptop computers, and even devices such as kitchen appliances with relatively simpler electronics. It is especially contemplated that the novel modules can be used on devices having one or more rigid or flexible component boards, and can be implemented with more than one such module on a given board to provide redundancy, or to provide intra- or inter-board communication. 
   Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a PCB board mountable converter module that uses a wired Ethernet connection. 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of the module of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a side, partially cut-away view of the module of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  is a side cross-sectional view of the module of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the electrical component circuitry for the module of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 6  is a pin input and output diagram of the module of  FIG. 1 , or a wireless embodiment. 
       FIG. 7  is a side, partially cut-away view of an alternative embodiment of a module, having horizontal and angles circuit boards. 
       FIG. 8  is a side, partially cut-away view of an alternative embodiment of a module, having circuit boards placed on a common flexible substrate. 
       FIG. 9  is a side, partially cut-away view of an alternative embodiment of a module, having vertical and angled circuit boards. 
       FIG. 10  is an alternative embodiment of a connector, having an interior chamber located beneath the connector port. 
       FIG. 11A  is a perspective cutaway view of a commercial WiPort™ module. 
       FIG. 11B  is a bottom perspective view of a commercial WiPort™ module. 
       FIG. 12  is a perspective cutaway view of a module in which a serial to wireless Ethernet capability is embodied in a housing having an approximate cross-sectional size and shape of an RJ-45 connector. 
       FIG. 13  is a cutaway view of a device having a board having two wireless modules. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   In  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  3 , module  10  comprises a generally rectangular housing  12 . The front of the housing includes an open cavity  14 . A metal Faraday shield covers the top, sides and back of the housing and provides for electromagnetic-radiation (EMR) protection. The module  10  additionally includes spring biased grounding tabs  16  that connect the Faraday shield to chassis (earth) ground by contacting the enclosure in which the connector is mounted. Also shown is an array of leads  20  for electrically interconnecting the module  10  to a printed circuit board (PCB)  18 . 
   The cavity  14  of the housing  12  incorporates a planar array of parallel electrical contacts  22  to provide the necessary electrical contacts to form a connector port within the cavity  14 . The cavity  14  is sized and dimensioned and the contacts  22  are placed within the cavity to compliment a mating plug (not shown). The sized cavity  14  along with the contacts  22  form a standard RJ-45 connector jack. The jack contacts  22  are spring biased for engagement with a mating plug (not shown). An important advantage is that novel modules as set forth herein can attach a conventional RJ-45 jack with magnetics, because the Ethernet wires are brought out of the multipin connector. 
   The housing  12  is formed of molded plastic or other suitable material used in the art, covered by a Faraday shield having a front wall  24 , a rear wall  26 , a top wall  28 , a bottom wall  30 , and sidewalls  32  and  34 . The references herein to “top”, “bottom”, and “sides” are made for ease of explanation relative to the drawing. Alternative embodiments eliminate the plastic, and the housing material is chosen to perform the Faraday shielding function without separate components, for example by using conductive metal. It is also contemplated that the module  10  can be oriented in a multitude of ways on a product, thereby accommodating engineering requirements of specific placements. 
   The front wall  24  includes LEDs  36  and  38 . The LEDs provide visual status and fault information for various functions of the serial-to-Ethernet conversion, such as (but not limited to) Ethernet connection speed, link present/absent, full/half duplex, Ethernet activity, serial port activity, and microcontroller error conditions. 
   In  FIGS. 3 and 4  the housing  12  includes a segregated interior chamber  40 . A first PCB  42  is disposed within the interior chamber  40  generally horizontal and parallel relative to the bottom wall  30 . The first PCB  42  is soldered (or otherwise electrically connected) to the contact interface  44 , which is mounted in a plastic insert. The completed insert assembly slides and snaps into the main housing  12 . The contact interface pins  44  are formed such that their ends become the wiper contacts  22 . Thus, the first PCB  42  is electrically interconnected to the contacts  22  of the port cavity  14 . The contact interface  44  additionally provides structural support to the first PCB  42 . 
   A second PCB  50  is also placed within the interior chamber  40 , positioned generally horizontal and in general parallel relation to the bottom wall  30 . The third PCB  50  is soldered (or otherwise electrically connected) to the array of leads  54 , which are formed such that their ends become the input/output pins  20  (more specifically, these pins  20  connect power and ground, reset, serial data input and output, handshake and flow control lines, and PIO lines) that connect to the user&#39;s PCB  20 . The array of leads  54  are mounted in a plastic insert. After the third PCB  50  is soldered (or otherwise connected) to the leads  54 , the completed insert assembly slides and snaps into the main housing  12 . 
   A third PCB  48  is placed within the interior chamber  40  in a generally vertical orientation, and is generally perpendicular to the other PCBs  42  and  50 . PCB  48  is positioned adjacent the rear wall  26  and is structurally and electrically interconnected to the other PCBs  42  and  50  by the formed pins  49  and  52 . PCB  48  and formed pins  49  and  52  thus provide the electrical connection between PCBs  42  and  50 . The LEDs  38  have leads (not shown) that run close to the top of the enclosure  12 , and these leads also connect to holes in PCB  48 . This provides the electrical connection between the LEDs  38  and the control PCB  50 . 
   The first,  42 , and second PCB  50  collectively incorporate the electronic circuitry component necessary to complete a serial-to-Ethernet conversion of data. PCB  42  includes the magnetics portion of the circuitry which can advantageously include isolation transformers, common mode chokes, termination resistors, and a high voltage discharge capacitor (for ESD and voltage surges). In this implementation, PCB  48  is used solely for electrical interconnection, but it could also be used for circuitry components if required. 
   PCB  50  incorporates all of the electronic circuitry components necessary for the control function of the serial-to-Ethernet conversion. The electronic components on board PCB  50  include, but are not limited to, a microprocessor and an Ethernet controller (which can advantageously be combined in an ASIC), nonvolatile memory (flash memory in the present invention), voltage regulator, voltage supervisory circuit, crystals, resistors, capacitors, and ferrite or other surface mount beads. 
   In operation, the complete assembly is mounted on a PCB that is a part of some device or equipment. Serial data and general purpose PIO data flows from the device through the array of leads  20  and is processed by the circuitry collectively incorporated onto PCBs  42 ,  48  and  50 . PCB  42  is interconnected to the contacts  22  which mate with a plug (not shown) to effectively transmit Ethernet data thereto. Ethernet data can also flow from the Ethernet port through wiper contacts  22 , be processed by the circuitry collectively incorporated onto PCBs  42 ,  48  and  50 , and flow out as serial data and general purpose PIO data through lead pins  20  into the external device. It is additionally contemplated that the control circuitry, magnetic circuitry and LED circuitry can be interchanged among PCBs  42 ,  48  and  50  and that component can be positioned on one or both sides of each PCB&#39;s  42 ,  48  and  50 . 
   In  FIG. 5  the controller block  56  handles all of the conversion between serial and Ethernet. This includes processing of the digital (serial) and analog (Ethernet) signals, as well as all of the required code protocol translations. The controller block  56  communicates with Ethernet through the Ethernet interface  58 , which is described below in greater detail. The flash memory  66  stores the software that the controller block  56  uses to perform its functions. The supervisory circuit  68  monitors the supply voltage coming in through the PCB IO pins  64 . It resets the controller block if the voltage drops too low, or if a signal from the PCB IO pins  64  requests a system reset. The power filters  60  remove noise from the input supply voltage, and also reduce any noise that might be transmitted from the serial-to-Ethernet converter to the outside world through the voltage supply lines. The power supply  62  supplies one or more voltages required by the controller block. Serial data is transmitted to and from the controller block through the PCB IO pins  64  to the external device. The flow control and handshake lines (connected through PCB IO pins  64 ) are standard signals used to control the serial data stream. The controller block can also communicate with the external device through the PIO lines connecting through the PCB IO pins  64 . It is understood that although the components as shown in  FIG. 5  are specifically identified, all suitable control circuitry that implement the desired functions are also contemplated. 
   In  FIG. 6  the outgoing Ethernet signal  70   a  from the controller  50  passes through the isolation transformer  74 , which eliminates any DC coupling problems between Ethernet devices. The outgoing signals pass through the common mode choke  78 , which reduces spurious emissions (radiated and conducted). The outgoing signal connects to the Ethernet cable through contacts  72   a  of the RJ-45 jack. Incoming Ethernet signals enter into the jack through contacts  72   c , and pass through a common mode choke  80  that reduces spurious common mode noise that could be conducted into the device. The signals pass through the isolation transformer  76 , and then to the controller board  50  through pins  52  and  26 . The center taps  70   b  and  70   c  of the isolation transformers  74  and  76  are used to set the appropriate DC bias levels in the transmit and receive circuitry on the controller board  50 . These center taps also connect to the controller board  50  through pins  52  and  26 . Four of the RJ-45 contacts  72   c  are not used for Ethernet signals. They are terminated to ground, through matching resistors  82   c  and  82   d  and capacitor  84 , to reduce noise and DC transients. DC transients (“ESD”) on the Ethernet cable that are present at the contact  72   a  and  72   c  are reduced by discharge to ground through resistors  82   a  and  82   b.    
   The alternate module of  FIG. 7  is structurally similar to the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , with only the distinctions highlighted below. Within the interior chamber  40   a , two PCBs  86  and  88  are positioned therein. A first PCB  88  is positioned generally horizontal in parallel relation to the bottom wall  30   a . A second PCB  86  is positioned in angular relation to the PCB  88  to fit within the interior chamber  40   a . PCB  86  and  88  collectively incorporate the electric circuitry components to complete a serial to Ethernet data conversion. PCB  86  is interconnected to a lead array  20   a . PCB  86  includes all of the control circuitry, with components interconnected to the top side and bottom side of said PCB. PCB  86  is interconnected to PCB  88 . PCB  88  includes the magnetic portion of the circuitry formed on the underside of PCB  86 . The LEDs  38   a  and  36   a  (not shown) also connect to PCB  86  through leads  14   a . PCB  88  is interconnected to contacts  22   a.    
   The alternate module of  FIG. 8  is also structurally similar to the embodiment as shown in  FIGS. 1-4 . However, here a common flexible substrate (more specifically, a rigid/flexible PCB  90 ,  92 ,  94 , and  96 ) is formed to fit the interior chamber  40   b . The rigid/flexible PCB  90 ,  92 ,  94 , and  96  collectively incorporates the electric circuitry components to complete a serial to Ethernet data conversion. Electrical and magnetic components can be mounted on the rigid portions of the PCB  92 ,  94 , and  96 . Electrical connections between the rigid portions  92 ,  94 , and  96  are made on the flexible portions  90 . Rigid portion  96  is electrically connected to the lead array  20   b . Control circuitry can be incorporated onto rigid portion  96  and possibly  94 , with magnetic circuitry incorporated on rigid portion  92  and possibly  94 . The LEDs connect to rigid portion  96  through leads  14   b . Rigid portion  92  is electrically connected to contacts  22 . It is additionally contemplated that the control circuitry, magnetic circuitry and LED connections can be interchanged among rigid portions  92 ,  94  and  96 . 
   The alternate module of  FIG. 9  is again structurally similar to the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-4 . The main difference is that two PCBs  98  and  100  are positioned within the interior chamber  40   c . The first PCB  98  is positioned generally vertically in parallel relation to the rear wall  26 . A second PCB  100  is positioned in angular relation to the PCB  98  to fit within the interior chamber  40   c . PCB  98  and  100  collectively incorporate the electric circuitry components to complete a serial-to-Ethernet data conversion. PCB  100  is interconnected to a lead array  20   c . PCB  100  includes all of the control circuitry with components interconnected to the top side and bottom side of said PCB. PCB  98  is interconnected to PCB  100 . PCB  98  includes a magnetic portion of the circuitry. PCB  98  is interconnected to contacts  22   c . PCB  100  is additionally interconnected to LEDs  38   c  and  36   c.    
   The alternate module of  FIG. 10  once again includes a connector port that is structurally similar to the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , but which does not include an interior chamber located behind the port. In the alternate embodiment shown in  FIG. 10 , the interior chamber  102  is located beneath the port cavity  14   d . Within the interior chamber  102 , at least one PCB is positioned therein which incorporates the electric circuitry components to complete a serial-to-Ethernet data conversion. It is contemplated by the present invention that the serial-to-Ethernet circuitry can be incorporated into the interior chamber  102  in a variety of ways, including those described with respect to the interior chambers of FIGS.  4  and  7 - 9 . It is further contemplated that the port cavity  14   d  in any embodiment can be replaced or augmented with a radio antenna, radio antenna connector or remote radio antenna wiring. 
   Wireless networking versions of the modules of  FIGS. 1-10  can be implemented by replacing the magnetics with a suitable radio circuitry and power amplifier, receiver, etc. Such substitutions can be implemented without altering the overall design of the module, but is more preferably implemented using structure and electronics as set forth in  FIGS. 11A-C ,  12  and  13 . 
   The modules of  FIGS. 11A and 11B  differ from the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1-4  with major distinctions being the addition of Ethernet radio functionality, which replaces or augments all or a portion of Ethernet magnetic circuitry previously described with respect to PCB boards  42  and  50 . 
   While the partitioning of required circuitry on the interior PCBs within the interior chamber can be accomplished in any suitable manner, it is especially convenient to arrange the Ethernet radio components on a single PCB  1106 , with chips  1112 ,  1114  and remaining control and supervision circuitry on PCB  1107 . The board or boards can be positioned in any practical relationship with respect to each other and with respect to the housing. The first PCB  1106  includes antenna connector  1103  and can advantageously provide for a second (diversity) antenna or connector  1104 . The second PCB  1107  can alternatively replace leads  54  by including mating connector  1101  for electrical board mounting. 
   Connector  1101  comprises three or more pins  1113  and can include any or all of serial data pins, handshaking and flow control pins, GPIO pins and pins supporting other serial or parallel protocols as desired. PCB  1107  can also incorporate all of the electronic circuitry components necessary for the control function of the serial-to-Ethernet conversion. There are, of course, a great diversity of pins in use, and additional pin configurations will undoubtedly be utilized in the future. With that caveat in mind, connector  1101  is to be interpreted euphemistically to include all manner of pin Cross sections, square, rectangular, flattened, etc. and all manner of configurations of pins. An important advantage is that novel wireless modules as set forth herein may attach a conventional RJ-45 jack incorporating magnetics, because the Ethernet wires maybe brought out of connector  1101 . By including appropriate programming data communication may take place between and among any of the provided interfaces and protocols, including serial, wireless and wired Ethernet interfaces. 
   The electronic components on PCB  1107  can include, but are not limited to, a microprocessor and an Ethernet controller (combined in an ASIC for the present invention), at least 256 KB of memory that stores an operating system and environment and at least 2 MB of nonvolatile memory that stores at least one web page (flash memory in the present invention), voltage regulator, voltage supervisory circuit, crystals, resistors, capacitors, and ferrite beads (surface mount beads in the present invention). 
   A current commercial embodiment according to  FIGS. 11A and 11B  has the following specifications: 
   
     
       
             
           
             
             
           
             
           
             
             
           
         
             
                 
             
           
           
             
               Wireless Specifications 
             
           
        
         
             
               Network Standard 
               IEEE 802.11 b 
             
             
               Frequency Range 
               2.412-2.484 GHz 
             
             
               Output Power 
               14 dBm +/− 1.0 dBm 
             
             
               Antenna Connector 
               1, no diversity supported. 
             
             
               Radio # of Selectable 
             
             
               Channels 
               14 Channels 
             
             
               Modulation 
               DSSS, DBPSK, DQPSK, CCK 
             
             
               Antenna 
               1 
             
             
               Connector 
             
             
               Security 
               WEP 64/128, TKIP 
             
             
               Maximum Receive Level 
               −10 dBm (with PER &lt;8%) 
             
             
               Receiver Sensitivity 
               −82 dBm for 11 Mbps 
             
             
                 
               −87 dBm for 5.5 Mbps 
             
             
                 
               −89 dBm for 2.0 Mbps 
             
             
                 
               −93 dBm for 1.0 Mbps 
             
             
               WLAN Power and Link 
               Max: 4 mA 
             
             
               LED Current 
             
           
        
         
             
               Other Specifications 
             
           
        
         
             
               CPU, Memory 
               Lantronix DSTni-EX 186 CPU, 256 KB zero wait state SRAM 
             
             
                 
               2048 KB Flash or 4096 KB Flash, 16 KB Boot ROM, 1024 KB 
             
             
                 
               SRAM 
             
             
               Firmware 
               Upgradeable via TFTP and serial port 
             
             
               Reset Circuit 
               Reset In is low active. Minimum reset pulse width is 2 ms at IIL = −500 μA 
             
             
               Serial Interface 
               CMOS (Asynchronous) 3.3 V-level signals 
             
             
                 
               Rate is software selectable (300 bps to 921600 bps) 
             
             
               Serial Line Formats 
               7 or 8 data bits, 1-2 Stop bits, 
             
             
                 
               Parity: odd, even, none 
             
             
               Modem Control 
               DTR, DCD 
             
             
               Flow Control 
               XON/XOFF (software), CTS/RTS (hardware), none 
             
             
               Network Interface 
               Wireless 802.11b and 10/100 Ethernet 
             
             
               Protocols Supported 
               802.11b, ARP, UDP, TCP, Telnet, ICMP, SNMP, DHCP, BOOTP, 
             
             
                 
               Auto IP, HTTP, SMTP, TFTP 
             
             
               Data Rates With 
                11 Mbps 
             
             
               Automatic Fallback 
               5.5 Mbps 
             
             
                 
                 2 Mbps 
             
             
                 
                 1 Mbps 
             
             
               Media Access Control 
               CSMA/CA with ACK 
             
             
               Frequency Range 
               2.412-2.484 GHz 
             
             
               Range 
               Up to 328 feet indoors 
             
             
               Modulation Techniques 
               CCK (11 Mbps) 
             
             
                 
               CCK (5.5 Mbps) 
             
             
                 
               DQPSK (2 Mbps) 
             
             
                 
               DBPSK (1 Mbps) 
             
             
               Transmit Output Power 
               14 dBm ± 1 dBm 
             
             
               Average Power 
               1280 mW (WLAN mode; maximum data rate) 
             
             
               Consumption 
                820 mW (WLAN mode; idle) 
             
             
                 
                710 mW (Ethernet mode) 
             
             
               Peak Supply Current 
                460 mA 
             
             
               Management 
               Internal web server, SNMP (read only) 
             
             
                 
               Serial login, Telnet login, DeviceInstaller software 
             
             
               Security 
               Password protection, locking features, 64/128 bit WEP 
             
             
               Internal Web Server 
               Serves web pages 
             
             
                 
               Storage capacity: 1.8 MB or 3.8 MB (depending on Flash size) 
             
             
               Weight 
               29 grams 
             
             
               Material 
               Metal shell 
             
             
               Temperature 
               Operating range, WLAN: −40° C. to +70° C. 
             
             
                 
               Operating range, Ethernet: −10° C. to +75° C. 
             
             
                 
               Storage range: −40° C. to +85° C. (−40° F. to 185° F.) 
             
             
               Included Software 
               Windows ™ 98/NT/2000/XP based DeviceInstaller configuration 
             
             
                 
               software and Windows ™ based Comm Port Redirector, 
             
             
                 
               DeviceInstaller, Web-Manager. 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   The microprocessor can advantageously implement MILARRS functionality. MILARRS refers to the following: Monitoring the state of the device for an administrator; Inventory the devices sub-systems, components, or assets; Logging data or events generated by the device; Alerting an administrator of device state or taking action based on defined rules; Recovering the device if it fails or shuts down; Reporting device information or diagnostics to an administrator; and Securing the device and its assets from threats and risks. Additional details regarding the acronym and implementation are set forth in U.S. Ser. No. 11/031643, filed Jan. 7, 2005. 
   In  FIG. 12 , the housing  1201  can represent a similar form factor in height and width to conventional passive RJ45 jacks, where height can be in a range of 12 to 14 mm or more and width in a range of 15 to 24 mm or more. In a particularly preferred embodiment, height is approximately 13 mm and width is approximately 16 mm. The translation circuitry can be split among multiple components disposed on PCB  1203  and PCB  1204 , or even across other boards as can be necessary or desirable. In addition to antenna  1205  a second (diversity) antenna can be provided. 
   In  FIG. 13 , a device  1301  has one or more component boards  1304 ,  1305 , upon which are mounted two modules  1303  and  1306 . The  1303  module is directly connected to the board  1304  using soldered pins. The  1306  module can be mounted on the board  1305  using an intermediate coupling. The modules  1303  and  1306  are able to talk with one another and with a device  1302  in the outside world wirelessly using their respective antenna  1307 ,  1312  and  1308  via the conventional device to device paths  1309  and  1310  but also by the unconventional path  1311  connecting two points within the same device wirelessly. Path  1311  can be desirable for providing routing flexibility, architectural generality, and digital signal integrity including secure encryption or physical convenience. 
   The device of  FIG. 13  is drawn generically, and is intended to represent any suitable device, including but not limited to Information Technology equipment, electronic communications equipment, networked device appliances or remote management modules, medical or security equipment, industrial monitoring, sensing or control equipment, digital storage or processing devices and equipment and consumer audio or video entertainment components or devices. Such contemplated devices vary tremendously, and for example, can range in size from chip scale components to rack mounted enclosures to room or building sized systems, and in intelligence from basic GPIO signal communication to complete protocol bridging functions or inclusion of management functions such as provision of one or all of MILARRS functions, web services, gateway functions, database access or search, or any other function enabled by wireless local or worldwide network connection. 
   Thus, specific embodiments and applications of wireless communication ports have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps can be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced.