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:
Jun. 12, 2007
Filed:
Mar. 05, 2003
Brandon Jon Ellison, Raleigh, NC (US);
Alan Ladd Painter, Raleigh, NC (US);
Brandon Jon Ellison, Raleigh, NC (US);
Alan Ladd Painter, Raleigh, NC (US);
Lenovo Singapore Pte. Ltd, Singapore, SG;
Abstract
A computing system incorporating a portable network access point device is disclosed allowing access to mapped network drives through FireWire (1394) or USB. The device contains all the necessary functions to access a network and shared network drives. The hardware has ethernet on one end and USB or FireWire on the other. When connected to a network, this device will attempt to connect to all shared network drives for which it has been programmed. When connected to a computer via USB/FireWire, the computer loads the drivers and maps the listed drives. The computer need not load the entire network stack to access these drives. After a onetime configuration, the technician would be able to access shared drives from any computer without reconfiguring the computer's network settings or drive mappings. The computer system accessing the device through the USB/FireWire port sees a storage device. As seen from the network, however, the device looks like a network card attached to the network.