Patent ID: 7720956

Claim:
A system for providing continuous communication between passive equipment and active equipment, comprising; a conversion unit coupled to at least one of said passive equipment and active equipment, said conversion unit operable for: monitoring signals received from at least one of said passive equipment and active equipment, said signals relating to at least one equipment state; and upon detecting a state change, converting a signal associated with said state change to a TCP/IP-formatted request; and a message handler coupled to said conversion unit, said message handler operable for: receiving said request from said conversion unit; and transmitting said request to a host system; wherein said message handler is further operable for removing TCP/IP formatting from said request resulting in a file transfer protocol message; and wherein said conversion unit is further operable for: converting said file transfer protocol message to a signal; responding to said signal by at least one of said passive equipment and said active equipment; and wherein said converting a signal associated with said state change includes: decoding said file transfer protocol message; and setting a signal line to a requested state.