Patent ID: 7743118

Claim:
A method for operating an industry standard serial communication interface comprising: programmably setting with a processor an override state for one of a plurality of signals of the industry standard serial communication interface for communication between network devices in response to a command received from a client via a user interface, wherein the command specifies a respective name associated with the overridden one of the signals and identifies, from a set of interface cards, an interface card of the router that includes the industry standard serial communication interface, and wherein the overridden one of the signals comprises a flow control signal; storing configuration data that defines the override state to a programmable register of the industry standard serial communication interface included within the identified interface card, wherein the override state defines a logical characteristic for the overridden one of the signals to be used in place of a physical characteristic of an associated one of electrical connectors of the communication interface when the associated one of the electrical connectors conveys the overridden one of the signals; and communicating data with a controller of the industry standard serial communication interface via the electrical connectors in accordance with the programmed override state for the overridden one of the signals and actual states for the non-overridden signals, wherein communicating data comprises controlling a flow of the data through the serial communication interface in accordance with the actual states for the non-overridden signals and the programmed override state for the overridden flow control signal.