Apparatus and method for communicating arbitrarily encoded data over a 1-gigabit ethernet

1. A method for transmitting data, comprising:

(a) receiving a first data stream from a first physical transmission medium using a first communications standard sub-layer of an IEEE 1394b data bus including an 8-bit data type;

(b) appending to each data byte in said first data stream a 2-bit data type identification (DTID), wherein the DTID identifies a class of data associated with the data byte, thereby creating a technology independent data stream having a first bit rate;

(c) matching said first bit rate to a second bit rate that corresponds to a second communications standard; and

(d) transmitting said technology independent data stream over a second physical transmission medium using said second communications standard.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) comprises:

(i) receiving at a first first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer said technology independent data stream at said first bit rate;

(ii) when said first FIFO buffer is full, transmitting said technology independent data stream at said second bit rate according to step (e); and

(iii) when said FIFO buffer is empty, stopping said transmitting, thereby allowing said FIFO buffer to refill with said technology independent data stream.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises receiving said first data stream from a physical sub-layer of an IEEE 1394b data bus including an 8-bit data byte, an 8-bit request byte, and a 4-bit control byte.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein step (b) further comprises:

appending a second 2-bit DTID to each request byte; and

appending a third 2-bit control DTID and four null bits to each control byte, thereby creating a technology independent data stream that represents said first data stream.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (e) comprises transmitting said technology independent data stream over said transmission medium using IEEE 802.3 1000BASE-T standards.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein step (e) comprises transmitting over a category five unshielded twisted pair (UTP) wiring.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(e) receiving said technology independent data stream at said second bit rate;

(f) matching said second bit rate to said first bit rate;

(g) restoring said first data stream by removing said DTID from each data byte of said technology independent data stream; and

(h) receiving said first data stream into a third transmission medium using said first communications standard.

8. A communications reconciliation sub-layer, comprising:

a transmit data type identification (DTID) circuit coupled to an output of a first transmission medium of an IEEE 1394b data bus for appending a 2-bit DTID to each 8-bit data byte in an original data stream, wherein the DTID identifies a class of data associated with the data byte, thereby generating a technology independent data stream at first bit rate that represents the original data stream from said first transmission medium;

a transmit first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer coupled to an output of said transmit DTID and an input of a second transmission medium, said transmit FIFO buffer for matching said first bit rate to a second bit rate used by said second transmission medium;

a receive FIFO buffer coupled to an output of said second transmission medium, said receive FIFO buffer for matching said second bit rate to said first bit rate; and

a receive DTID circuit coupled to an output of said receive FIFO buffer for restoring said original data stream from said technology independent data stream.

9. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 8 , wherein said transmit FIFO buffer is 120 bits deep.

10. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 8 , wherein said transmit FIFO buffer is coupled to a pointer for indicating a status of said transmit FIFO buffer.

11. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 8 , wherein said original data stream comprises unencoded, unscrambled 1394b data from a physical sub-layer of said IEEE 1394b data bus.

12. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 11 , wherein said unencoded, unscrambled 1394b data is tapped from a beta mode function circuit of said IEEE 1394b data bus.

13. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 8 , wherein said second transmission medium is an IEEE 802.3 1000BASE-T data bus.

14. The reconciliation sub-layer of claim 8 , wherein said first transmission medium is a universal serial bus.

15. A communications sub-layer for transmitting data formatted according to a first communications of an IEEE 1394b standard over a physical medium designed for data formatted according to a second communications standard, comprising:

means for receiving a first data stream formatted according to the IEEE 1394b standard including an 8-bit data byte;

means for appending a 2-bit data type identification to each data byte in said first data stream, wherein the data type identification identifies a class of data associated with the byte, thereby creating a technology independent data stream from said first data stream, said technology independent data stream having a first bit rate;

means for matching said first bit rate to a second bit rate corresponding to the second communications standard; and

means for transmitting said technology independent data stream over the physical medium according to the second communications standard.

16. The communications sub-layer of claim 15 , further comprising:

means for receiving said technology independent data stream;

means for matching said second bit to said first bit rate;

means for restoring said first data stream from said technology independent data stream.

17. The communications sub-layer of claim 15 , wherein said restoring means comprises removing said data type identification from each data byte of said technology data stream.

18. The communications sub-layer of claim 16 , wherein said matching means uses a first-in-first-out buffer.