MULTI-PORTAL BRIDGE FOR PROVIDING NETWORK CONNECTIVITY

摘要

Split IEEE 1394 bridges (100, 112) utilize individual portals (101, 102) or bundles of portals (101, 102) to communicate over a non-full-featured IEEE 1394 network such as a local (109) or wide area network (108) in combination with IEEE 1394 multi-portal bridges (100, 112). Multi-portal bridges (100, 112) may be formed through the connection of several split bridges (100, 112) each with one or more IEEE 1394 portals (112) over a core net (104). The core net (104) is invisible to the IEEE 1394 nodes (103) with respect to traffic originating from an IEEE 1394 bus (103) for a destination in an IEEE 1394 bus (103), and the network elements allow for increased network scalability in both terms of physical size and levels of hierarchy. Useful properties of a core net such as availability of high-performance switches or increased reach are incorporated into an IEEE 1394 network.