Apparatus and method for providing PC communication and internet service by using settop box

A settop box for providing, D-CATV (Digital Cable Television) and VOD (Video-On-Demand) services to the display of a D-CATV subscriber;

• and for providing communication and internet service between a back bone internet and a PC, where an internet gateway is disposed at a head end of said D-CATV network to provide an internet service channel between said backbone internet and said D-CATV subscriber;
• said settop box comprising
• a network interface unit for connecting said settop box to said network;
• a PC interface for enabling communication with said PC, and
• a controller operative to analyze a previously designated VC (Virtual Channel) cell for a Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point to Point Protocol (PPP) within data received from said network and to transmit said VC cell together with a SLIP or PPP header, as applicable, to said PC, said controller being further operative to separate a SLIP or PPP header from the data received from said PC and to transmit to said network said designated VC cell together with an IP (Internet Protocol)-over-ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) header.

A method for providing a PC communication and internet service by using a settop box connected to a network for D-CATV (Digital Cable Television) and VOD (Video-on-Demand) services, comprising the steps of:

• connecting a head end of said D-CATV and a center of said VOD to a backbone internet;
• assigning inherent IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to the settop box and a PC connected to said settop box via an RS-232C interface;
• analyzing a previously designated a VC (Virtual Channel) cell for Serial Line Internet Protocal (SLIP) out of data received from said network and transmitting said VC cell together with a SLIP header to said PC, and
• analyzing a previously designated VC cell received from said PC for a SLIP header, separating the SLIP header from the data received from said PC and transmitting to said network the designated VC cell together with an IP-over-ATM header.