Patent ID: 8117292

Claim:
An Internet connection system comprising: a client device and a relay device located within a private TCP/IP network, and a server located on the Internet, wherein the client device is a home appliance that is communicable with the relay device but cannot independently connect to the Internet, the relay device is installed within the client device, and the server communicates with the relay device through the Internet; and wherein said server on the Internet comprises: a tunneling establishing section coupled to the relay device via a TCP/IP session through a tunneling connection over the Internet, wherein an IP address for the tunneling connection is assigned to said client device; a client device management section in communication with the client device through the relay device or the tunneling connection; a model identification section with a comparator whose output indicates if the client device is of a predetermined model or if the relay device is of a predetermined model; a command conversion section in communication with a user via the Internet, whereby in response to a an instruction for controlling said client device received from the user, the command conversion section converts the instruction to a command in a predetermined format specific to the predetermined model and ready to cause an operation of said instruction in the client device upon decapsulation, if the model identification section output indicates that the client device or the relay device is of the predetermined model, a server packet processor in communication with the command conversion section that encapsulates a command packet to be sent to a client device, said command packet including said command, the server packet processor further decapsulating a packet received via the Internet; and a routing section in communication with the server packet processor and the relay device, the routing section routing packets according to an address in each packet, based on management at the client device management section; and wherein said relay device comprises: a control section in communication with the server on the Internet that receives said command packet which includes said command, a server address storage section comprising a global address of said server located on the Internet; a tunneling establishing section coupled to the server on the Internet via the TCP/IP session through the tunneling connection over the Internet, wherein the tunneling connection over the Internet is established using the global address of the server; and a relay packet processor in communication with the tunneling establishing section that decapsulates the command packet for delivery to the control section, said command packet including said command, the relay packet processor further encapsulating a packet to be sent to the server through the tunneling connection and routing the packet to the server.