| 摘要 |
A generic network device includes a serial line switching apparatus for performing either parallel or serial communications amongst multiple nodes over switching networks. An aspect includes the adaptation of standard and proprietary serial interfaces using either optical or electrical transmission media to interface to a parallel switch. The converted serial data is routed to the selected destination through the parallel switch network, where it is received and converted back into a serial optical or electrical interface/protocol. Thus, the combination of the switching adapter and an ALLNODE parallel switching network make it feasible for serial message data to be switched and routed to various destinations. Further flexibility is provided which permits the switching adapter to be personalized to support any one of a number of standard and proprietary serial protocols. A personalization PROM specifies the particular serial protocol that each individual adapter is to support. The parallel switching network becomes a flexible media that interconnects and allows different serial protocols to communicate with each other; i.e., any number of different serial protocols can interface with the same parallel switch network. This allows every node of the parallel system to send and receive messages using its own native protocol. However, a node is not restricted to communicating only with others nodes using the same protocol, but is can communicate with any of the other nodes regardless of the serial protocol they use.
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