Patent ID: 7814216

Claim:
A method of enabling communication between a host and a remote device using a controller, comprising: connecting the controller to the host; connecting the controller to the remote device, the host and the remote device being in separate locations; validating, at the controller, digital identity certificates received from each of the host and the remote device, each identity certificate containing (i) the public half of an asymmetric key algorithm key pair, (ii) identity information, and (iii) a digital signature of the issuing certificate authority, thereby converting the host to a validated host, and converting the remote device to a validated remote device; receiving, at the controller, a selection of the host from the validated remote device; sending parameters for the validated remote device from the controller to the selected host; sending an instruction, from the controller to the selected host, to establish a connection to the remote device; receiving, at the controller, notifications from the selected host and the validated remote device that a connection exists therebetween; and after receiving notice of a connection between the selected host and the validated remote device refraining from involvement, at the controller, in transporting data between the selected host and the validated remote device, so that the selected host and the validated remote device subsequently communicate with each other without using any resource of the controller.