Patent ID: 6950408

Claim:
A speed converter for converting the speed of packets transmitted between first and second communication nodes respectively attached to first and second IEEE-1394 serial buses, comprising: a first transceiver node for receiving an inbound first packet at a first speed from the first bus and transmitting an inbound second packet as an outbound second packet at the first speed to the first bus; a second transceiver node for transmitting said inbound first packet as an outbound first packet at a second speed to the second bus and receiving said inbound second packet at the second speed from the second bus; and header translation circuitry for translating destination identifier of said inbound first packet to destination identifier of said outbound first packet according to a mapped relationship between the first transceiver node and the second communication node, and translating destination identifier of said inbound second packet to destination identifier of said outbound second packet, wherein the first transceiver node comprises: a first physical layer processor connected to said first bus; a first link layer processor connected to the first physical layer processor; and first speed setting means for setting a value representative of said first speed into said first link layer processor, wherein said second transceiver node comprises: a second physical layer processor connected to said second bus; a second link layer processor connected to the second physical layer processor; and second speed setting means for setting a value representative of said second speed into said second link layer processor, wherein said header translation circuitry comprises: a memory for storing identifiers for mapping said first transceiver node to said second communication node; and control circuitry connected to said first and second link layer processors for receiving a packet therefrom and rewriting destination identifier of the packet according to the identifiers stored in said memory when a transaction is initiated from said first bus.