Patent ID: 7715338

Claim:
A communication system comprising: an external maintenance terminal to which a global address is assigned, and which externally performs operations for maintenance of a communication device; and said communication device in which a plurality of boards including a maintenance-and-operation board and a switchboard are installed; wherein local addresses which are uniquely defined in said communication device are assigned to the plurality of boards, respectively, said switchboard is directly connected to said external maintenance terminal, said maintenance-and-operation board performs operations for maintenance and control of the communication device by performing communication with said external maintenance terminal, a predetermined address is assigned for use only in communication between said maintenance-and-operation board and said external maintenance terminal, and set in said switchboard, when communication is performed between ones of the plurality of boards, said switchboard establishes a first connection between the ones of said plurality of boards on the basis of ones of said local addresses assigned to the ones of the plurality of boards, and when communication is performed between the maintenance-and-operation board and the external maintenance terminal, said switchboard establishes a second connection between said maintenance-and-operation board and said external maintenance terminal, and translates said global address into said predetermined address, and the predetermined address into the global address.