APPARENT NETWORK INTERFACE FOR AND BETWEEN EMBEDDED AND HOST PROCESSORS

摘要

An apparent network interface (30) permits an embedded processor (20) to communicate to a host processor (2) using standard network communication mechanisms/protocols such as TCP/IP, NFS, FTP, HTTP, etc. The web server protocol HTTP is particularly useful because it permits the embedded computer to publish a user interface for remote monitoring and remote control using a standard web browser application. The invention provides the host computer (10) with an apparent network interface (30) that appears to be a standard network device, such as an Ethernet interface card. This apparent network interface (30) communicates directly with the embedded processor (20) which appears to be a device on the apparent network. Significant cost savings and performance enhancements are realized by implementing the communication directly over the host computer's peripheral bus (6) rather than using standard network hardware such a Ethernet hardware.