Patent
Network based KVM switching system
| العنوان: | Network based KVM switching system |
|---|---|
| Patent Number: | 7,555,567 |
| تاريخ النشر: | June 30, 2009 |
| Appl. No: | 10/640257 |
| Application Filed: | August 14, 2003 |
| مستخلص: | A keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switching protocol is disclosed in which KVM information is applied to a network of workstations. At least one data converter communicates on the workstation network and retrieves KVM information from the workstation network that is addressed to a server assigned to the converter. The converter places the KVM information in a format suitable to the assigned server and applies the converted KVM information to the appropriate standard device ports of the server. The system provides motherboard access to the servers that is characteristics of KVM switches but provides essentially unlimited scalability not known in traditional KVM switches. |
| Inventors: | Thomas, Christopher L. (Madison, AL, US); Anderson, Robin L. (Winchester, TN, US); Gilgen, Robert L. (Westford, MA, US); DesMarais, Mark (Northboro, MA, US); Pinkston, William J. (Fayetteville, TN, US); Collins, Jamie F. (Huntsville, AL, US); Schulz, Stephan (Bethesda, MD, US) |
| Assignees: | Avocent Corporation (Huntsville, AL, US) |
| Claim: | 1. A converter for communicating workstation and video data between (1) a workstation having an associated unique workstation Internet Protocol (IP) address and a workstation network port communicating with a common IP network using the unique workstation IP address and (2) one server of a plurality of servers, each server having its own unique server IP address and unique server network port providing communication with each other server across the common IP network, the converter for the one server comprising: a network interface facility having an associated unique converter IP address and a converter IP network port communicatively coupling the converter via the unique converter IP address to the common IP network and thereby to the workstation network port via the unique workstation IP address, the network interface facility receiving the workstation data from the workstation via the common IP network in a packet-switched format; a conversion facility to accept the workstation data from the workstation in the packet-switched format and to convert the workstation data to a native server format; a communication channel isolated from the common IP network and communicatively coupling the converter to the one server, said communication channel coupling the workstation data in the native server format between the converter and an input port of the server off of the common IP network, wherein: the conversion facility further to accept the video data from the server via the communication channel in a native video format and converting the video data to a packet-switched format; the network interface facility further receiving the video data in the packet-switched format from the conversion facility and transmitting the video data in the racket-switched format to the workstation via the common IP network using the unique workstation IP address. |
| Claim: | 2. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the workstation data is keyboard data or cursor control data. |
| Claim: | 3. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the native server format is a server keyboard or mouse format. |
| Claim: | 4. A method of communicating data between a workstation and one server of a plurality of servers, the plurality of servers communicating with each other and the workstation across a server network, the method comprising: transmitting the data from a first network address as packeted keyboard or cursor control data from the workstation across the server network with a designated second network address as a destination; receiving the keyboard or cursor control data from the packet switched network at a device other than the server, the device being associated with the second network address; connecting the device associated with the second network address to the one server via a channel independent of the server network, the one server having an associated third network address; the first, second and third network addresses being unique to each other; converting the keyboard or cursor control data into a format suitable for transmission to a keyboard port or a cursor control port of the server; transmitting the keyboard or cursor control data into the keyboard port or cursor control port of the server via the channel independent of the server network; receiving video data from a video port of the server at the device via the channel independent of the server network; transmitting the video data from the second network address as packeted video data across the server network with the first network address as a designated destination; and receiving the video data from the packet switched network at the workstation associated with the first network address. |
| Claim: | 5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the server network is an Internet Protocol network. |
| Claim: | 6. The method according to claim 4 wherein the device is physically co-located with the server. |
| Claim: | 7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the native server format is a server keyboard and mouse format. |
| Current U.S. Class: | 709/250 |
| Patent References Cited: | 4442321 April 1984 Stehman 4769833 September 1988 Farleigh et al. 5430850 July 1995 Papadopoulos et al. 5499377 March 1996 Lee 5638516 June 1997 Duzett et al. 5721828 February 1998 Frisch 5721842 February 1998 Beasley et al. 5732212 March 1998 Perholtz et al. 5740246 April 1998 Saito 5884096 March 1999 Beasley et al. 5917552 June 1999 Van Court 5937176 August 1999 Beasley et al. 6009490 December 1999 Fukui et al. 6041182 March 2000 Hart et al. 6070253 May 2000 Tavallaei et al. 6073188 June 2000 Fleming 6104414 August 2000 Odryna et al. 6112264 August 2000 Beasley et al. 6137455 October 2000 Duo 6304895 October 2001 Schneider et al. 6321366 November 2001 Tseng et al. 6324605 November 2001 Rafferty et al. 6330602 December 2001 Law et al. 6333750 December 2001 Odryna et al. 6378009 April 2002 Pinkston et al. 6378014 April 2002 Shirley 6388658 May 2002 Ahern et al. 6557170 April 2003 Wilder et al. 6615272 September 2003 Ambrose 6697905 February 2004 Bealkowski WO 00/17766 March 2000 |
| Other References: | European Search Report in European patent application No. 00944753.3, mailed Jan. 8, 2007. cited by other |
| Assistant Examiner: | Hoang, Hieu T |
| Primary Examiner: | Lin, Kenny S |
| Attorney, Agent or Firm: | Davidson Berquist Jackson & Gowdey LLP |
| رقم الانضمام: | edspgr.07555567 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| الوصف غير متاح. |