The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 16, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 06, 1995
Andrew J Kraslavsky, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (US);
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A network interface device which can communicate with other devices via a local area network (LAN) using various protocols and frame types, and which can be remotely reconfigured to use different protocols and frame types. The network interface device includes a LAN interface that receives packets including address and data information from the LAN and transmits packets to the LAN. The network interface device also includes a processor that (i) executes an initialization routine to load protocol stack modules and to assign a frame type for each of the loaded protocol stack modules based on configuration information regarding the protocols and frame types used on the LAN, (ii) determines whether a packet received from the LAN is a configuration packet by detecting whether the received packet is addressed to a predetermined address, and (iii) alters the configuration information using the data in the configuration packet, in response to a determination that the received packet is a configuration packet, and changes the configuration of at least one of (i) the loaded protocol stacks and (ii) the frame type assignments based on the altered configuration information.