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

1. In a full-duplex communications system having at least one node in communication with other nodes over a full duplex bus, a method for determining and communicating the existence of a hybrid bus comprising the acts of:

determining whether the at least one node is a border node;

forwarding isochronous and asynchronous requests if said at least one node is not a border node;

and if said at least one node is a border node, then;

determining whether said at least one node has any asynchronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no asynchronous requests to forward;

forwarding said asynchronous requests if there are asynchronous requests to forward;

determining whether there are any isochronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no isochronous requests to forward; and

forwarding said isochronous requests if there are isochronous requests to forward;

wherein at least one of said Border_low requests communicates to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid bus.

2. A computer readable medium, containing instructions which, when executed by a computer in communication with a node over a full-duplex communications system determines and communicates the existence of a hybrid bus by performing the acts of:

determining whether the node is a border node;

forwarding isochronous and asynchronous requests as normal if said node is not a border node;

and if said node is a border node, then;

determining whether said node has any asynchronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no asynchronous requests to forward;

forwarding said asynchronous requests if there are asynchronous requests to forward;

determining whether there are any isochronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no isochronous requests to forward; and

forwarding said isochronous requests if there are isochronous requests to forward;

wherein at least one of said Border_low requests communicates to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid bus.

3. A device in communication with a full-duplex communications system having at least one node, the device comprising instructions which, when executed by the device, determine and communicate the existence of a hybrid bus by performing the acts of:

determining whether the at least one node is a border node;

forwarding isochronous and asynchronous requests as normal if said at least one node is not a border node;

and if said at least one node is a border node, then;

determining whether said at least one node has any asynchronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no asynchronous requests to forward;

forwarding said asynchronous requests if there are asynchronous requests to forward;

determining whether there are any isochronous requests to forward;

issuing a Border_low request if there are no isochronous requests to forward; and

forwarding said isochronous requests if there are isochronous requests to forward;

wherein at least one of said Border_low requests communicates to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid bus.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one node comprises a plurality of ports, and wherein determining whether said at least one node is a border node comprises determining that both at least a legacy connection and a IEEE P1394b connection have been made to ports in the plurality.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Border_low request is forwarded to a BOSS node, wherein the Border_low request is given a priority that allows pipelined in-phase arbitration requests to be handled before the Border_low request is forwarded to the BOSS node.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Border_low request issued if there are no isochronous requests to forward is distinct from the Border_low request issued if there are no asynchronous requests to be forwarded.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the node comprises a plurality of ports, and wherein determining whether said node is a border node comprises determining that both at least a legacy connection and a IEEE P1394b connection have been made to ports in the plurality.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the Border_low request is forwarded to a BOSS node, wherein the Border_low request is given a priority that allows pipelined in-phase arbitration requests to be handled before the Border_low request is forwarded to the BOSS node.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the Border_low request issued if there are no isochronous requests to forward is distinct from the Border_low request issued if there are no asynchronous requests to be forwarded.

10. The device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one node comprises a plurality of ports, and wherein determining whether said at least one node is a border node comprises determining that both at least a legacy connection and a IEEE P1394b connection have been made to ports in the plurality.

11. The device of claim 3 , wherein the Border_low request is forwarded to a BOSS node, wherein the Border_low request is given a priority that a allows pipelined in-phase arbitration requests to be handled before the Border_low request is forwarded to the BOSS node.

12. The device of claim 3 , wherein the Border_low request issued if there are no isochronous requests to forward is distinct from the Border_low request issued if there are no asynchronous requests to be forwarded.

13. In a system having at least one border node in communication with other nodes over a full duplex bus, a method for determining and communicating the existence of a hybrid bus comprising:

determining whether said at least one border node has any asynchronous requests to forward, and issuing a Border_low request if there are no asynchronous requests to forward; and

determining whether there are any isochronous requests to forward, and issuing a Border_low request if there are no isochronous requests to forward;

wherein at least one of said Border_low requests communicates to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid bus.

14. A computerized device in communication with a full-duplex communications system comprising a plurality of nodes, said device comprising a border node and a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the device, determine and communicate the existence of a communications medium operating according to both legacy and non-legacy serialized protocols by:

determining whether said device has any asynchronous communications to forward, and issuing a special symbolic communication if there are no asynchronous communications to forward; and

determining whether there are any isochronous communications to forward, and issuing a special symbolic communication if there are no isochronous communications to forward;

wherein at least one of said special symbolic communications is used to communicate to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a communication medium operating according to both legacy and non-legacy serialized protocols.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein said communication medium comprises at least one IEEE P1394b node and at least one legacy IEEE 1394 node.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein said special symbolic communication comprises a request that is assigned a priority, said priority being set so as to allow for normal arbitration between said plurality of nodes prior to the issuance of said special symbolic communications.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein said device is adapted to issue both (i) a first special symbolic communication if there are no asynchronous communications to forward, and (ii) a second special symbolic communication if there are no isochronous communications to forward;

wherein said first and second special symbolic communications comprise distinct symbols.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein said first and second special symbol communications are encoded within respective data packets transmitted on a IEEE P1394b-compliant medium.

19. The device of claim 14 , wherein at least one of said special symbolic communications are encoded within one or more data packets transmitted on a IEEE P1394 compliant medium.

20. The device of claim 14 , wherein said device comprises a DVD player.

21. The device of claim 14 , wherein said device comprises a hand-held or mobile device, and at least a portion of said system comprises a wireless link.

22. A computer readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by a computer in communication with a border node over a full-duplex communications system, communicate the existence of a hybrid topology according to the method comprising:

evaluating whether said border node has any asynchronous or isochronous requests to forward;

issuing a first special symbol request when said border node has no asynchronous requests to forward; and

issuing a second special symbol request when said border node has no isochronous requests to forward;

wherein said first and/or second special symbol requests communicate to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid topology.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein said hybrid topology comprises at least one IEEE P1394b node and at least one legacy IEEE 1394 node.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein said first and second special symbol requests are assigned at least one priority, said at least one priority allowing for normal arbitration between said plurality of nodes prior to the issuance of said at least one of said first and second special symbol requests.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 , wherein said first and second special symbol requests each comprise distinct symbols.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 23 , wherein said first and second special symbol requests are encoded within a respective data packet transmitted on a IEEE P1394b-compliant communications medium.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 22 , wherein said first and second special symbol requests comprise identical symbols.

28. In a full-duplex communications system having at least one border node in communication with other nodes over a full duplex communication medium, a method for communicating the existence of a hybrid topology using dedicated symbology comprising:

determining whether said at least one border node has any asynchronous requests to forward and issuing a first dedicated request format if there are no asynchronous requests to forward; and

determining whether said at least one border node has any isochronous requests to forward and issuing a second dedicated request format if there are no isochronous requests to forward;

wherein said first and/or second dedicated requests communicate to at least one non-border node that said at least one non-border node is communicating on a hybrid topology; and

wherein neither of said first or second dedicated request formats are used for any other purpose within at least said topology.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein said hybrid topology comprises at least one IEEE P1394b node and at least one legacy IEEE 1394 node.

30. The method of claim 28 , wherein said first and second dedicated request formats comprise at least one priority, said priority determined so as not to interfere with a normal arbitration protocol conducted with respect to said plurality of nodes by an arbitration entity.

31. The method of claim 28 , wherein said first and second dedicated request formats each comprise distinct symbols.

32. The method of claim 28 , wherein said first and second dedicated request formats are encoded within one or more data packets transmitted on a IEEE P1394b-compliant medium.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein said first and second formats requests comprise identical symbols.