Method and apparatus for border node behavior on a full-duplex bus

1. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, generate data for arbitrating on a high performance serial bus, wherein said data is adapted to indicate that a PHY or link layer from a Legacy cloud wishes to arbitrate within a beta cloud; wherein one or more non-border nodes within the beta cloud do not comprise a gap timer.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein said data comprises a legacy request symbol.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein said legacy request symbol comprises a priority.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein said priority is higher than that of any asynchronous and isochronous requests present on said beta cloud.

5. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, generate data for arbitrating on a high performance serial bus, wherein said data is adapted to indicate that a device or link from a Legacy cloud wishes to arbitrate within a beta cloud; wherein one or more non-border nodes within the beta cloud do not comprise a gap timer.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5 , wherein said data symbol comprises a legacy request symbol.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein said legacy request symbol comprises a priority.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein said priority is higher than of any asynchronous and isochronous requests present on said beta cloud.

9. In a full-duplex communications system comprising one or more border nodes and a non-border node within a beta cloud, a method for issuing gap tokens within a beta cloud comprising:

selecting one border node among said one or more border nodes to be a BOSS node;

detecting a period of idle bus activity; and

having said BOSS node generate a gap token upon said detection of said period of idle bus activity,

wherein said non-border node does not comprise a gap timer.

10. In a full-duplex communications system comprising one or more border nodes and a non-border node within a beta cloud, one of the border nodes being a senior border node, a method for issuing gap tokens within a beta cloud comprising giving exclusive responsibility for issuing gap tokens in the beta cloud to the senior border node, wherein said non-border node does not comprise a gap timer.

11. In a hybrid communications system comprising a plurality of nodes with at least one beta node comprising a senior port and at least one junior port, each node in said plurality of nodes comprising a port; a method for returning control to a senior border node comprising:

determining by the beta node whether an end of subaction has been reached;

having said beta node send a DATA_END out of said beta node's senior port and out of each of said beta node's junior ports if an end of subaction has not been reached;

if a subaction has been reached, further determining by said beta node whether there are any in-phase requests to grant from a requesting port, wherein said requesting port is a port from a node in said plurality of nodes other than said beta node;

if there are any in-phase requests, sending by said beta node a GRANT to said requesting port, and sending a DATA_NULL to all other ports of nodes other than said beta node;

if there are no in-phase requests; further determining by said beta node whether said beta node is a senior border node;

having said beta node send a DATA_END out of said beta node's senior port and out of each of said beta node's junior ports if said beta node is a senior border node; and

sending a GRANT out of said beta node's senior port and sending a DATA_END out of each of said beta node's junior ports if said beta node is not a senior border node.

12. In a communication system having a plurality of nodes and having at least one hybrid bus comprising a first serialized protocol and a second serialized protocol, a method for issuing an inactivity-related communication to one of said plurality of nodes, said method comprising:

timing a period of idle bus activity in at least a portion of said hybrid bus operating according to said first serialized protocol; and

generating an inactivity-related communication in one or more border nodes corresponding to said period of idle bus activity, wherein said one or more border nodes retain exclusive responsibility for generating said inactivity-related communication.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said first serialized protocol comprises an IEEE-1394a compliant protocol, and said second protocol comprises an IEEE-1394b compliant protocol.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said act of generating is performed exclusively by a senior border node within said system.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein said inactivity related communication comprises a gap token.

16. A control method for use by a beta node of a hybrid communication system comprising a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes comprising a port, said beta node comprising a senior port and at least one junior port, wherein said control method comprises:

issuing a first signal from said beta node's senior port and each of said beta node's junior ports if an end of a subaction has not been reached;

if an end of a subaction has been reached, determining whether a port of any node other than said beta node has issued an in-phase request; and

if an in-phase request has issued from said port of any other node, sending a second signal to said issuing port, and sending a third signal to all other ports;

if there are no in-phase requests, determining whether said beta node is a senior border node;

sending said first signal out of said beta node's senior port and out of each of said beta node's junior ports if said beta node is a senior border node; and

sending said second signal out of said beta node's senior port and sending a said first signal out of each of said beta nodes junior ports if said beta node is not a senior border node.

17. A method for use by a senior border node of a hybrid communication system comprising a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes comprising a port, said senior border node comprising a senior port and at least one junior port, wherein said method comprises:

issuing a first signal from said senior border node's senior port and each of said senior border node's junior ports if an end of a subaction has not been reached;

if an end of a subaction has been reached, determining whether a port of any node other than said senior border node has communicated an in-phase request; and

if there are no in-phase requests, sending a first signal out of said senior border node's senior port and out of each of said senior node's junior ports.

18. In a hybrid communications system having a plurality of nodes including a senior border node, and a device having at least one senior port and at least one and junior port, a method for returning control to said senior border node comprising:

identifying an end of an asynchronous action condition, said condition further comprising a condition where no in-phase arbitration requests are pending; and

determining whether said device is a senior border node and if so, sending a first signal out all of said device's senior and junior ports, and if not:

sending a second signal out of said device's at least one senior port; and

sending said first signal out of said device's at least one junior port.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein said second signal comprises a signal indicating control is to be granted to a node communicating with said at least one senior port, and said first signal comprises a signal indicating that control is not to be granted to a node communicating with said at least one junior port.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein said hybrid system comprises a hybrid IEEE-1394a/IEEE 1394b system.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein said device comprises a beta device.

22. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer generate data for arbitrating on a high performance serial bus, said serial bus comprising first and second serialized protocols, wherein said data is adapted to indicate that a physical layer or link layer from a network cluster operating according to said first protocol wishes to arbitrate within a cluster operating according to said second protocol.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22 , wherein said first protocol comprises the IEEE-1394a protocol, and said second protocol comprises the IEEE-1394b protocol.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22 , wherein said data comprises a legacy request symbol.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein said legacy request symbol comprises a priority.

26. The computer readable storage medium of claim 25 , wherein said priority is higher than that of any asynchronous and isochronous requests present on said network cluster operating according to said second protocol.

27. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, generate data for arbitrating on a high performance serial bus, wherein said data is adapted to indicate that a device or link from a network cluster operating according to said first protocol wishes to arbitrate within a network cluster operating according to said second protocol.

28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27 , wherein said first protocol comprises the IEEE-1394a protocol, and said second protocol comprises the IEEE-1394b protocol.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27 , wherein said data comprises a legacy request symbol.

30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 29 , wherein said legacy request symbol comprises a priority.

31. The computer readable storage medium of claim 30 , wherein said priority is higher than that of any asynchronous and isochronous requests present on said network cluster operating according to said second protocol.

32. In a hybrid bus comprising a first set of nodes adapted to utilize a first serial bus protocol, and a second set of nodes adapted to utilize a second serial bus protocol, wherein said first and second sets of nodes are adapted to being connected at a border node; a method comprising:

determining, using only the border node, a period of idle bus activity in at least a portion of said hybrid bus operating according to the first serial bus protocol; and

generating via the border node an inactivity-related communication corresponding to said period of idle bus activity.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the period of idle bus activity comprises a subaction gap.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the inactivity-related communication comprises an asynchronous start command.

35. The method of claim 32 , wherein the period of idle bus activity comprises a gap relating to a reset event.

36. The method of claim 35 , wherein the inactivity-related communication comprises an arbitration reset communication.

37. The method of claim 32 , wherein the inactivity-related communication comprises an arbitration reset communication.

38. The method of claim 32 , wherein the second serial bus protocol comprises the IEEE-1394b standard.

39. A method for use by a senior border node of a hybrid communication system comprising a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes comprising a port, said senior border node comprising a senior port and at least one junior port, wherein said method comprises:

issuing a first signal from at least one of said senior border node's ports if an end of an action has not been reached;

if an end of an action has been reached, determining whether a port of any node other than said senior border node has communicated an in-phase request; and

if there are no in-phase requests, sending a first signal out of at least one of said senior border node's senior or junior ports.

40. The method of claim 39 , wherein said sending a first signal comprises sending a data end signal.

41. The method of claim 39 , wherein said hybrid communication system comprises a first high-speed serialized protocol and a second high-speed serialized protocol.

42. The method of claim 41 , wherein said first serialized protocol comprises an IEEE-1394a compliant protocol, and said second protocol comprises an IEEE-1394b compliant protocol.