COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND DEVICE

摘要

A communication system (500) comprising a plurality of devices (101-106) interconnected via a bus, the bus being capable of handling isochronous and asynchronous transmissions. A status manager (105) maintains an isochronous status channel for broadcasting status information on the isochronous status channel. Devices (101-106) can send status information to the status manager (105) so it can broadcast it over the status channel. The devices (101-106) can then tap into the status channel to read the status information if they support it, or use conventional asynchronous messages to obtain the status information otherwise. Information on the status channel is only sent once, which saves bandwidth. This information can be about the network topology of the communication system (500), about capabilities of a device (101-106) in the communication system (500), about available bandwidth on the bus, or about the strength of a level of attachment between a mobile device (520) and a base station device (106) in the communication system (500). The bus preferably conforms to the IEEE 1394 series of specifications. The Home Audio/Video interoperability (HAVI) standard may be used to operate the communication system.