Patent ID: 7165109

Claim:
A method of accessing information related to a peripheral device, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a network address in a storage of the peripheral device; (b) when the peripheral device is coupled to a host device, transferring the network address from the peripheral device to the host device, said step of transferring comprising the steps of: (i) providing a pointer to a location in an addressable memory of the peripheral device at which the network address is stored; (ii) communicating the pointer to the host device; (iii) using the pointer to access the location in the addressable memory of the peripheral device; and (iv) communicating the network address to the host device from said location; and (c) enabling communication between the host device and a source indicated by the network address, said communication pertaining to the peripheral device, said step of enabling communication comprising the steps of: (i) requesting permission of a user to communicate with the source; and (ii) upon receiving permission to do so from the user, initiating the communication between the host device and the source to automatically obtain information from the source pertaining to the peripheral device.