NETWORK-ENABLED SOFTWARE LOGIC PROVIDING DISCOVERY AND CONFIGURATION OF NETWORK APPLIANCES COUPLED TO A LAN

摘要

A network-based appliance management mechanism performs operations that automatically discover IP-enabled devices that are operably coupled to a local area network and that automatically generate a graphical user interface depicting a directory of such devices. A user interacts with the graphical user interface to select one (or more) of such devices and to update the operational settings of the selected device(s). The appliance management mechanism (or portions thereof) may be implemented as part of an applet that is downloaded from a remote web server. Alternatively, it can be part of a web-based application/server that is accessible to computing devices on the local area network. The operations supported by the network-based mechanism can act as a proxy for the selected device in carrying out advanced configuration services and other services requiring interaction with the device.