Patent ID: 8185615

Claim:
A method of communication in a network access system, whereby functionality of the network access system is distributed among an external processor, a programmable access device, and an access router, said method comprising: receiving a control message from the external processor, by the programmable access device, to establish a configuration of the programmable access device; receiving, by the programmable access device, messages from a first network external to the network access system via a first network interface; processing, by the programmable access device, the messages from the first network to distinguish between various message types and to establish a first subset of the received messages and a second subset of the received messages; communicating the first subset of the received messages from the programmable access device to the external processor for service processing in accordance with the configuration; and routing the second subset of the received messages not communicated to the external processor, via the access router, from the network access system via a second network interface different from the first network interface to a second network external to the network access system, wherein the second network is different from the first network.