Patent ID: 7760662

Claim:
A network device, for transferring data of a first protocol type via a communication network, comprising: a packet reception interface to: receive, via a serial bus, a plurality of packets of a second protocol type from a plurality of source nodes, forward the plurality of packets to a packet selection member; the packet selection member to: select one or more of the packets to be forwarded to a transmission buffer; the transmission buffer to: buffer the select one or more packets received from the packet selection member; a packet header generating member to: obtain a cycle time register value, generate, based on the cycle time register value, a packet header for the one or more packets buffered packets, and write the packet header into the transmission buffer; a transfer transmission determination member to: specify transmission criteria for the one or more packets buffered packets, and send, to a transmission interface, a request to transmit the one or more packets buffered packets based on the transmission criteria; and the transmission interface to: configure, based on the request, the buffered one or more packets into a transfer packet, convert the transfer packet into the data of the first protocol type, and transmit, based on the specified transmission criteria, the data of the first protocol type via the communication network.