Patent ID: 7130315

Claim:
A method of encoding a data packet with one or more extension fields, wherein the data packet substantially conforms to a standardized AV/C command or response data packet for transmitting the data packet over a network, the method comprising: a) providing a data packet with a control data frame having a fixed payload, wherein the control data frame comprises a sequence of data fields; and b) providing extended fields data within at least one of the data fields, wherein the extended fields data encodes the data packet for the extension data field and includes a value representing a quantity of extension data included within the data packet, further wherein the value within the extended fields data comprises one byte of data including a first hexadecimal data value and a second hexadecimal data value and encodes the data packet to hold a number of extension data bytes, wherein the number of extension data bytes is determined such that when the first hexadecimal data value of the extended fields data is equal to eight, the second hexadecimal data value of the extended fields data equals the number of extension data bytes; and when the first hexadecimal data value is equal to nine, the number of extension data bytes is fifteen plus the second hexadecimal data value.