Patent ID: 7590702

Claim:
A network communication system comprising: a master device for initiating a request message; an input/output slave device being exclusively responsive to the request message of the master device; an adapter device directly attached to a body of the slave device, the adapter device comprising an interface circuit for transmitting a response message to the master device in response to the request message received on a preregistered TCP port selected from a plurality of TCP ports, the response message correlating to an output received from the slave device, the adapter device configured to directly attach to an in-data port and an out-data port of the body of the slave device; and an optimal protocol utilized to communicate the request message and the response message between the master device and the adapter device, the optimal protocol comprising: an IP protocol; a TCP protocol; and, an application layer protocol wherein building and parsing of the response message is responsive to a first part of the request message.