Patent ID: 8634421

Claim:
A network monitor comprising: a communication unit which receives an external signal; an interface connected to at least one of a peripheral device and a computer; and a controller which controls a display to display an image based on the received external signal and, upon receiving a switching request signal, forwards the received external signal to the computer, wherein, if a first media access control (MAC) address which is an address of the network monitor, is changed, the controller controls the interface to transmit the changed MAC address to the computer when the computer and the network monitor share the same MAC address, wherein the switching request signal is automatically originated by the computer when the computer switched from an off state to the power on state, and wherein, in response to the received switching request signal, bypassing the displaying of the external signal and forwarding the external signal to the computer; processing by the computer the external signal, transmitting the processed signal from the computer to the monitor, and displaying the processed signal by the monitor.