Patent ID: 7793003

Claim:
A network interface device comprising: a body-portion, wherein the body-portion comprises: an isolation device adapted to isolate a transport medium internal to a customer premises from a transport medium external to the customer premises such that operational changes to one of the internal and external transport media do not affect the other of the internal and external transport media; and a first interface coupled with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with the external transport medium, wherein the external transport medium is in communication with a distribution point; at least one hinge coupled to the body-portion; and a lid-portion coupled to the body-portion via the at least one hinge such that the body-portion and the lid-portion form a clam-shell design, wherein when closed, the clam-shell design is configured to restrict access to the body-portion and the lid-portion and when opened provide access to the body-portion and the lid-portion, the lid-portion comprising: a second interface in communication with the isolation device and adapted to communicate with the internal transport medium; a plurality of microservers disposed external to the customer premises and coupled with the first and second interfaces, wherein the plurality of microservers are adapted to receive information from the external transport medium and includes software and hardware for implementing a first microserver to process the collected data and a second microserver to exchange the data between the internal transport medium and the external transport medium wherein the plurality of microservers are plug-and-play compatible such that any of the plurality of microservers are configured to be able to be added and/or removed from the network interface device at any time and without configuration, and wherein the plurality of microservers are integrated in the network interface device, and wherein at least one of the plurality of microservers comprises a television signal microserver adapted to receive encoded telecommunication information from the external transport medium and to generate television signals from the encoded telecommunication information for transmission over the internal transport medium; a processor in communication with the plurality of microservers and having software instructions to coordinate transmission of the collected data over the transport medium external to the customer premises; wherein the isolation device is further adapted to provide communications security by preventing a microserver from accessing communications information which is associated with another microserver; and an addressable application device coupled with the plurality of microservers, wherein the addressable application device is adapted to receive the processed telecommunication information and to execute a defined application as an aid to implementing the functions over the internal transport medium.