METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A CONNECTION-ORIENTED NETWORK OVER A SERIAL BUS

A method and apparatus provides a method and apparatus for treating a serial bus, such as an IEEE 1394 bus, as a connection-oriented network. In one embodiment, an application programming interface (API) permits different protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, IPX, and others) to connect to the 1394 bus and to make use of various 1394 features, such as isochronous packet transmission, without knowledge of hardware-specific idiosyncrasies. A call is made to set up a connection (a “virtual circuit”) over the serial bus, and, thereafter, a connection “handle” is used to communicate over the bus using the connection. Different types of connections can be provided, including a node-specific connection; a channel-specific connection; and a receiving connection (e.g., for incoming data). In one embodiment, a programming interface hides details of the connection set-up, and includes packet fragmentation and reassembly functions. Because multiple protocols can share common communication facilities, code re-use is maximized.