COMMUNICATION APPARATUS
BACKCROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
This present invention relates to a communication apparatus; more particularly, the communication apparatus of the present invention includes a first storage module.
The first storage module stores a first driver corresponding to a first operating mode, and a second driver corresponding to a second operating mode. A user selectively operates the communication apparatus in the first operating niode or the second operating mode via a user interface.
2. Description of the prior art
Products in the communication protocol IEEE 802.11 series can be divided into two kinds. The first kind is wireless access points. The other kind is wireless adapters.
The hardware design for the two kinds of products has the same chip and hardware circuit of wireless function. The main difference of the two kinds is the function of the driver. The hardware performs the access point function when the access point driver is loaded. The hardware performs the wireless adapter function when the wireless adapter driver is loaded.
In the communication protocol IEEE 802.11, the functions of the access point and the wireless adapter have obvious differences. It is not easy in practice to use a method for integrating those two functions in one single driver. If those two functions are integrated in a single operating system capable of loading both of the two functions, the size of the OS will be larger than those capable of loading only one driver. This kind of OS is not suitable for embedded system. If the OS further
I
includes unloading function, the size of the OS will he even larger, the OS is not suitable for embedded system too.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a method fbr integrating both the driver for access point and the driver for the wireless adapter effectively, so a user can use the access point function or the wireless adapter function in the same apparatus.
Moreover, the user can selectively operate the access point function or the wireless adapter function via a user interface. For this reason, the inventor shows his creativity, and develops his invention to the best. Therefore, the invention is created.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the invention is to provide an apparatus fbr integrating access point function and wireless adapter functiun. The communication apparatus includes a first driver corresponding to a first operating mode and a second driver corresponding to a second operating mode. When a booting module of the communication apparatus loads the first driver, the apparatus operates in the first mode. When the booting module loads the second driver, the apparatus operates in the second mode Another objective of the invention is to provide an apparatus for a user to select the access point function or the wireless adapter function via a user interface. The apparatus includes a graphical user interface or a switch circuit. A user can select the access point function or the wireless adapter function via the graphical user interface or the switch circuit. When the user selects the first operating mode or the second operating mode, the graphical user interface or the switch circuit generates a selection signal for responding to the user's operation. The selection signal is used to instruct the booting module whether to load the first driver or the second driver.
The advantage and spirit of the invention may he understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS
FIG. I is a flow chart of a method for hooting the communication apparatus of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for booting the communication apparatus of the invention. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, step S100 is first executed to hoot the system. Then, the access point function or the wireless adapter function is selected through the user interface.
While a user is selecting, step S102 is executed to generate a selection signal to respond to the operation of the user.
If the user selects the access point operating mode, then step Si 04 is executed to load the OS together with the access point driver into the DRAM. Then, S106 is executed to start the execution of the OS and the access point driver. Finally, in step S 108, the communication apparatus operates in the access point operating mode.
If the user selects the wireless adapter operating mode, step Si 1 0 is executed to load the OS together with the wireless athipter driver into the DRAM. Then, S 112 is executed to start the execution of the OS and the wireless adapter driver. Finally, in step S 114, the communication apparatus operates in the wireless adapter operating mode.
As compared to the prior art, the user can select the access point function or the wireless adapter function in the same apparatus. Therefore, the present invention successfully integrates the functions of two different products into a single apparatus.
With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.