Network based intra-system communications architecture

A method for enabling communication between a peripheral device disposed within a computing machine having a processor and an application running on the processor, comprising:

• providing a network interface for each of the processor and the peripheral device;
• providing a communication link between the network interfaces of the processor and the peripheral device;
• creating a network software socket for each of the processor and the peripheral device;
• establishing a connection between the processor and the peripheral device;
• separating data received at the network software socket for the processor into packetized messages including network transmission protocol information within the packetized messages;
• transferring the packetized messages from the processor to the peripheral device within the packetized messages over the communication link;
• and
• extracting the data from the packetized messages received over the communication link at the peripheral device.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a housing;
• a first processor disposed within the housing;
• a first network interface coupled to the first processor, the first network interface having a first network address;
• a peripheral device disposed within the housing;
• a second network interface coupled to the peripheral device and having a second network address;
• and
• a network communication link disposed within the housing and coupled to communicate packetized messages based on a network transmission protocol between the first network interface and the second network interface to provide communication between the first processor and the peripheral device within the housing, wherein the first and second network interfaces are both coupled to insert data received from the processor and the peripheral device, respectively, into the packetized messages prior to transmitting the data onto the network communication link and to extract the data from the packetized messages received from the network communication link prior to providing the data to the processor and the peripheral device, respectively.