
US
7,213,061
B1
5
control
the
security,
surveillance
and
?re
protection
systems
of
its
customers.
FIG.
2
is
a
more
detailed
block
diagram
of
a
system
and
method
10
of
coupling
one
or
more
control
system
to
the
Internet
constructed
according
to
an
embodiment
of
the
present
invention.
Control
area
netWork
portal
12
may
include
a
Web
server
13
coupled
to
the
Internet
22.
Web
server
13
is
also
coupled
to
an
Internet
appliance
(IA)
server
14,
Which
may
also
be
coupled
to
a
control
netWork
server
40.
Control
netWork
server
40
is
coupled
to
control
area
netWork
30
that links
several
appliances
and
systems,
such
as
?re
protection
systems
50,
heating,
ventilation
and
air
conditioning
(HVAC)
systems
51,
lighting
systems
52,
audio
and
visual
systems
53,
and
security
systems
54.
Control
area
netWork
30
is
also
coupled
to
user
interface
devices
55
and
master
controller
36.
It
may
be
noted
that
control
netWork
portal
12
may
be
implemented
by
a
single
stand-alone
system
that
has
suffi
cient
memory
and
processing
poWer
or
several
separate
systems
With
distinct
functions
as
shoWn
in
FIG.
2.
Web
server
13
is
operable
to
receive
requests
of
Web
pages
from
Web
broWser
23
and
to
respond
by
generating
and
providing
the
requested
Web
pages.
The
information
content
of
the
Web
pages
may
be
dynamically
obtained
by
communicating
With
IA
server
14,
Which
is
operable
to
communicate
With
master
controller
36
via
control
netWork
server
40
to
obtain
status
and
other
information.
Control
netWork
server
40
is
used
only
if
there
is
protocol
conversion
or
other
control
issues
needed
to
operate
the
control
area
netWork.
It
may
be
thought
of,
logically,
that
IA
server
14
is
directly
coupled
to
the
netWork
and
functions
as
a
device
on
the
netWork.
Commands
entered
at
a
Web
broWser
are
sent
to
Web
server
13,
Which
relays
the
commands
to
master
controller
36
via
IA
server
14
and
control
netWork
server
40.
Master
control
ler
36
then
instructs
appropriate
appliances
and/or
systems
in
the
control
netWork
to act
according
to
the
received
command.
FIG.
3
is
a
more
detailed
block
diagram
of
the
processes
and
communications
betWeen
a
Web
server
13
and
an
Internet
appliance
server
14
for
coupling
one
or
more
control
systems
to
the
Internet
constructed
according
to
an
embodiment
of
the
present
invention.
Web
server
13
may
include
one
or
more
CGI
processes
70
for
responding
to
CGI
requests
from
the
Internet
and
one
or
more
ASP
processes
76
for
responding
to
ASP
requests
form
the
Internet.
It
is
contemplated
by
the
present
invention
that
other
processes
able
to
handle
other
extensions
to
HTML
or
other types
of
requests
may
also
be
provided.
It
is
also
contemplated
by
the
present
invention
that
Web
server
13
may
merely
pass
through
the
received
IP
message
if
extension
processing
is
not
required.
Further,
a
special
protocol
process,
such
as
an
Internet
control
system
protocol
(ICSP)
process,
Which
takes
the
IP
message
from
the
Internet
and
forms
a
message
of
the
type
and
protocol
understood
by
IA
server
14.
The
ICSP
protocol
is
designed
by
Panja,
Inc.
The
CGI,
ASP
and
other
processes
may
be
dynamically
spaWned
When
there
is
a
request
of
the
corresponding
type
received
by
Web
server
13.
ASP
process
76
may
include
a
dynamic
protocol
generator
82,
Which
enables
Web
pages
provided
by
Web
server
13
to
generate,
send
and
receive
TCP/IP
messages
to
IA
server
14
and
the
Internet.
In
other
Words,
dynamic
protocol
generator
82
enables
a
scripting
language
such
as
VBScript
or
Java
Script
to
be
capable
of
directly
communicating
on
any
TCP/IP
netWork
connection.
Details
of
dynamic
protocol
generator
82
are
described
beloW.
IA
server
14
includes
a
CGI
handler
72,
Which
commu
nicates
With
CGI
process
70,
and
an
ASP
handler
78,
Which
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
6
communicates
With
ASP
process
76.
Handlers
72
and
78
are
operable
to
provide
a
translation
function
from
IP
to
a
protocol
used
in
the
control
area
netWorks,
such
as
PhastLink
or
AXLink
in
Panja,
Inc.
control
area
netWorks.
IA
server
14
is
operable
to
spaWn
a
softWare
logical
or
virtual
device
that
is
representative
of
or
associated
With
a
physical
device
directly
connected
to
a
control
area
netWork
or
a
content
provider
coupled
to
the
Internet.
Multiple
softWare
logical
devices
may
be
connected
to
a
single
control
area
netWork
or
content
provider,
if
needed.
Devices,
Whether
physical
or
logical,
are
assigned
a
system
identi?er
(system
ID)
and
a
unique
device
identi?cation
number
(device
ID)
used
to
indicate
the
destination
or
origination
of
messages.
One
or
more
protocol
converters
92
may
be
provided
to
translate
from
the
protocol
used
internally
in
IA
server,
such
as
ICSP,
to
other
protocols
used
in
the
control
area
netWorks,
such
as
AxLink
or
PhastLink.
A
protocol
converter
is
not
necessary
if
the
protocols
employed
in
IA
server
14
and
a
control
area
netWork
30
are
the
same.
FIG.
4
is
a
more
detailed
block
diagram
of
the
Internet
appliance
server
processes
for
coupling
one
or
more
control
systems
to
the
Internet
constructed
according
to
an
embodi
ment
of
the
present
invention.
Coupled
to
CGI
handler
72
and
ASP
handler
78
is
a
softWare
device
emulator
90
that
is
operable
to
spaWn
one
or
more
softWare
logical
devices
86,
Which
are
softWare
representations
of
devices
connected
to
the
control
area
netWorks
or
content
providers
connected
to
the
Internet.
SoftWare
device
emulator
90
communicates
With
a
protocol
converter
layer
92
Which
provides
a
protocol
translation
function
betWeen
the
IA
server
protocol
and
the
control
area
netWork
protocol,
if
they
are
different.
A
CAN
transport
protocol
client
94
is
also
provided
to
communicate
With
the
control
area
network
coupled
to
IA
server
14.
By
the
use
of
softWare
logical
devices,
Internet
applica
tions
such
as
Web
content
providers
appear
to
IA
server
14
no
different
than
devices
connected
to
a
control
area net
Work.
Therefore,
it
appears
that
Internet
applications
like
content
providers
on
the
Web
are
able
to
directly
commu
nicate
With
the
master
controllers
of
the
control
area
net
Works
to
issue
commands
to
devices
in
the
control
area
netWorks.
Similarly,
Internet
applications
appear
to
be
devices
on
the
control
area
netWork
that
can be
controlled
by
the
master
controller.
The
master
controller
is
able
to
issue
commands
to
the
Internet
applications.
FIG.
5
is
a
more
detailed
block
diagram
of
the
Internet
appliance
server
softWare
device
emulator
processes
90
for
coupling
one
or
more
control
systems
to
the
Internet
con
structed
according
to
an
embodiment
of
the
present
inven
tion.
Emulator
90
includes
in
Internet
control
system
pro
tocol
(ICSP)
softWare
device
core
100.
SoftWare
device
core
100
communicates
With
the
Web
server via a
device
appli
cation
program
interface
(API)
110.
SoftWare
device
core
100
also
communicates
With
the
control
area
netWorks
via
control
area
netWork
I/O
queues
112.
Emulator
90
also
includes
a
CAN
input
message
processor
102,
a
device
state
maintenance
process
104 and
a
device
state
storage
process
106.
CAN
input
message
processor
102
is
operable
to
receive
input
messages
and
parse
the
?elds
of
the
message
to
determine
a
message
destination.
The
message
destination
speci?es
a
softWare
logical
device
to
receive
the
message.
Recall
that
softWare
logical
device
may
represent
a
device
on
a
control
area
netWork
or
an
Internet
application
on
the
Internet.
Device
state
maintenance
process
104
is
operable
to
determine
a
current
state
of
a
softWare
logical
device
and
to
determine
a
next
state
in
response
to
the
processed
message.
Device
state
storage
106
is
operable
to
store
state
transition
logic
of each
softWare
logical
device
for
use
by
device
state
maintenance
process
104.
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