Peripheral device for communication over a communications system

1. A method of communicating over a network using a first device and a peripheral device, the first device comprising a user interface and a network interface for connecting to the network, the peripheral device having a local connection to the first device, the local connection being independent of the network, the method comprising:

receiving data packets from the network at the network interface of the first device;

forwarding the received data packets from the first device to the peripheral device via the local connection;

executing a client engine of a communication client on a processor of the peripheral device to process the received data packets, wherein the communication client executing on the processor of the peripheral device is configured to control a user interface associated with the first device; and

sending processed data packets from the peripheral device to the first device via the local connection such that data contained in the received data packets is conveyed to a user of the first device using the user interface of the first device.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the peripheral device is a data capture device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the received data packets are encoded and the method further comprises decoding the processed data packets at a decoder of the first device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

capturing data from the user at the peripheral device;

processing the captured data using the client engine of the client at the peripheral device;

sending the captured data to the first device via the local connection; and

forwarding the captured data from the first device to the network using the network interface.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing user data on the peripheral device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the received data comprises at least one of video data and audio data.

7. A system for communicating over a network comprising:

a first device configured to connect through a local connection to a peripheral device, the local connection being independent of the network, the first device comprising:

user interface means;

network interface means for connecting to the network and for receiving data packets from the network;

means for forwarding the received data packets from the first device to the peripheral device via the local connection; and

means for receiving processed data packets from the peripheral device via the local connection such that data contained in the received data packets is conveyed to a user of the first device using the user interface means,

wherein the first device does not include a client engine of a communication client; and

the peripheral device comprising:

means for receiving the received data packets from the first device via the local connection;

processing means for executing a client engine of a communication client to process the received data packets; and

means for sending processed data packets to the first device via the local connection.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the peripheral device is a data capture device.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the peripheral device is not connected directly to the network.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the user interface of the first device is a client user interface of the communication client executed on a processor of the first device.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10 wherein client user interface of the communication client executed on the processor of the first device is retrieved from the peripheral device by an operating system of the first device together with driver software for the peripheral device.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the user interface of the first device is a native user interface of the first device, the native user interface being independent of the communication client.

13. The system of claim 7 wherein the user interface of the first device is downloaded from a web server.

14. The system of claim 7 wherein an application programming interface is arranged to handle communication between the user interface of the first device and the client engine.

15. The system as claimed in 14 wherein the application programming interface executed on the processor of the first device is retrieved from the peripheral device by an operating system of the first device together with driver software for the peripheral device.

16. The system of claim 7 wherein the peripheral device is detachable from the first device.

17. The system of claim 7 wherein the peripheral device is integrated with the first device.

18. The system of claim 7 wherein the first device is a television and the peripheral device is a webcam.

19. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the communication client executing on the peripheral device is further configured to send user interface notifications to the user interface means of the first device.

20. A peripheral device for communicating over a network, the peripheral device comprising:

means for receiving data packets from a first device via a local connection that is independent of the network, the data packets originating from the network;

processing means for executing a client engine of a communication client to process the received data packets, wherein the communication client is further configured to control a user interface associated with the first device; and

means for sending processed data packets to the first device via the local connection, the processed data packets being for conveying data contained in the received data packets to a user of the first device.

21. A peripheral device as claimed in claim 20 wherein the peripheral device is a data capture device.

22. A peripheral device as claimed in claim 20 wherein the peripheral device further comprises:

driver software; and

user interface software, wherein the driver software and the user interface software are provided for installation on the first device.

23. A peripheral device as claimed in claim 22 wherein the user interface software comprises either a user interface of the communication client or application programming interface for handling communication between the client engine and a third party user interface.

24. A peripheral device as claimed in claim 23 wherein the third party user interface is downloaded from a web server.

25. A method of communicating over a network using a first device and a peripheral device, the first device comprising a user interface and a network interface for connecting to the network, the peripheral device having a local connection to the first device that is independent of the network, the method comprising:

receiving data at the peripheral device;

encoding the received data at the peripheral device;

executing a client engine of a communication client on a processor of the peripheral device to process the received data packets, wherein the communication client is further configured to control at least part of the user interface associated with the first device;

sending the processed data packets from the peripheral device to the first device via the local connection; and

forwarding the received data packets from the first device to the communication network via the network interface.

26. A method of establishing a bidirectional communication over a network using a first device and a peripheral device, the first device comprising a user interface, the peripheral device comprising a network interface for connecting to the network and a local connection to the first device that is independent of the network, the method comprising:

receiving data packets from the network at the network interface of the peripheral device;

executing a client engine of a communication client on a processor of the peripheral device effective to process the received data packets, identify a type of data associated with the received data packets, and determine an appropriate module of the first device to send the received data packets to;

sending, based at least in part on the identified type of data, processed data packets from the peripheral device to the first device via the local connection; and

decoding the data at the first device such that data contained in the received data packets is conveyed to a user of the first device using the user interface of the first device; and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving data at the peripheral device;

encoding the received data at the peripheral device;

executing a client engine of a communication client on a processor of the peripheral device to process the received data packets;

sending the processed data packets from the peripheral device to the first device via the local connection; and

forwarding the received data packets from the first device to the communication network via the network interface.

27. A system for communicating over a network comprising:

a first device having a local connection to a peripheral device, the local connection being independent of the network, the peripheral device comprising:

network interface means for connecting to the network and for receiving data packets from the network;

processing means for executing a client engine of a communication client to process the received data packets;

means for sending a client user interface application to the first device for execution; and

means for sending processed data packets to the first device via the local connection,

wherein the first device further comprises:

means for receiving the processed data packets from the peripheral device;

means for retrieving the client user interface application on the peripheral device;

responsive to retrieving the client user interface application, means for executing the client user interface application on the first device;

means for decoding the processed data packets; and

user interface means for conveying data contained in the processed data packets to a user of the first device.