Patent ID: 8417860

Claim:
An in-vehicle infotainment network comprising: a plurality of high-speed nodes connected via at least one high-speed backbone link, the at least one high-speed backbone link being capable of transporting high definition video data between a pair of the plurality of high-speed nodes, at least some of the high-speed nodes comprising: a low-speed peripheral bus controller for sending first packets to a peripheral device or a repeater device and for receiving second packets from the peripheral device or the repeater device via a low-speed bus, the low-speed bus being capable of transporting low bit rate media data and command-and-control data, and a high-speed interface controller for sending third packets to one of the plurality of high-speed nodes via a high-speed backbone link of the at least one high-speed backbone link and for receiving fourth packets from the one of the plurality of high-speed nodes via the high-speed backbone link, wherein: communications via the low-speed bus conform to a first protocol architecture having a first plurality of protocol layers, one of the first plurality of protocol layers being a first application layer, communications via the high-speed backbone link conform to a second protocol architecture having a second plurality of protocol layers, one of the second plurality of protocol layers being a second application layer, the second application layer is programmable for a high-speed backbone interface, the first application layer is programmable for a low-speed interface, the second application layer and the first application layer are programmed to use a same set of command codes, and the in-vehicle infotainment network is included within an automobile.