7. Embedded Internet Solution

The microcontroller still contains the application code, but it also contains an embedded web server and a TCP/IP stack. The TCP/IP stack is the universal protocol used to communicate over the network. The embedded web server sends HTML pages in response to a browser request. These pages are the GUI that monitor and control the networked microcontroller.

The workstations each interface to the TCP/IP network and process the pages sent by the microcontrollers. Pages are displayed using a browser, which has become the universal GUI.

The system communicates using TCP/IP, usually over an ethernet network. TCP/IP and ethernet for most workstations are common and inexpensive. There are a number of vendors that offer TCP/IP, or a facimile thereof, for microcontrollers.

Embedded Internet Solution . . . .

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microcontrollers

the Browser

drivers

The Embedded Internet Solution

Embedded Networking

An Embedded Internet network looks like previous networks, but with a significant difference. The only points of software maintenance are at the microcontrollers, which contains not just the application code but also a TCP/IP stack & an embedded HTTP server. The embedded server contains HTML pages that are served to any client that can host a web browser. The system now has a GUI that is platform independent.

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