NETWORK DEVICE INTERFACE FOR DIGITALLY INTERFACING DATA CHANNELS TO A CONTROLLER VIA A NETWORK

摘要

Method of addressing groups of data channels adapted to communicate with a bus controller comprising:
constructing a mask for each data channel, wherein each bit of the mask is associated with a respective group and has a first state indicating that the respective data channel is a member of the group and a second state indicating that the respective data channel is a nonmember of the group;
transferring the mask to the respective data channels; and
thereafter transmitting a first message from the bus controller to a group of data channels having a predetermined group address;
determining, at each data channel, if the respective data channel is a member of the group having the predetermined group address by analyzing the mask associated with the respective data channel; and
processing the first message only if the respective data channel is a member of the group having the predetermined group address.