Patent ID: 7254140

Claim:
A method for transceiving data in a micro area network that includes a plurality of data transceiving entities, the method comprises: determining by a control circuit that is coupled to the micro area network, a desired data rate and available transmission resources in the micro area network between a first transceiving entity and at least one target transceiving entity of the plurality of data transceiving entities; selecting by the control circuit one combination of a plurality of combinations of first and second transmission format conventions based at least in part on the desired data rate and available transmission resources; communicating from the control unit to the first and second transceiving entities data indicative of the first and second transmission format conventions; obtaining, by the first data transceiving entity of the plurality of data transceiving entities, a data unit for transmission, wherein the data unit includes payload data and overhead data, wherein the overhead data identifies the at least one target entity; formatting, by the first data transceiving entity, the payload data using the first transmission format convention to produce formatted payload data; formatting, by the first data transceiving entity, the overhead data using the second transmission format convention to produce formatted overhead data; transmitting, by the first data transceiving entity, the formatted payload data and the formatted overhead data to the at least one target entity; receiving, by the at least one target entity, the formatted payload data and the formatted overhead data; deformatting, by the at least one target entity, the formatted payload data using the first transmission format convention to produce retrieved payload data; deformatting, by the at least one target entity, the formatted overhead data using the second transmission format convention to produce retrieved overhead data; and reconstructing, by the at least one target entity, the data unit from the retrieved payload data and the retrieved overhead data.