Patent ID: 7346010

Claim:
A hybrid data bus having a mixed combination of hub-based and hub-less network topology subnetworks, comprising: a) at least one hub-based subnetwork, comprising: i) at least one hub-based subnetwork client node; ii) a hub, said hub comprising at least one network interface bridge (NIB); and, iii) at least one hub-client node interconnect, said hub-client node interconnect for connecting a client node through an associated NIB; b) at least one hubless subnetwork, comprising a plurality of hubless subnetwork client nodes; and, c) at least one of IEEE-1394b subnetwork-subnetwork interconnect for connecting respective adjacent subnetworks, wherein said at least one hub-based subnetwork client node or one of said plurality of hubless subnetwork client nodes utilizes a normally non-deterministic bus type client node interconnect to the remainder of the hybrid data bus, thus providing deterministic data passing capability of the hybrid data bus between said legacy-based client node and at least one other of said plurality of client nodes.