Patent ID: 7725627

Claim:
A method for performing distributed input/output (I/O), the method comprising: using a computer to perform: a) receiving data from a serial port coupled to a serial transmission medium; b) automatically determining if the data are framed by time, wherein said automatically determining if the data are framed by time is performed without user involvement; c) if the data are determined to be framed by time, handling the data according to a time-based protocol, wherein the time-based protocol is automatically selected from a plurality of time-based protocols without user input specifying the time-based protocol; d) if the data are determined to not be framed by time: automatically determining that the data are framed by delimiters wherein said automatically determining that the data are framed by delimiters is performed without user involvement; automatically determining an appropriate delimiter-based protocol for the data from a plurality of delimiter-based protocols, wherein the delimiter-based protocol is automatically selected from the plurality of delimiter-based protocols without user input specifying the delimiter-based protocol; and handling the data according to the appropriate delimiter-based protocol; and e) repeating a)-d) in an iterative manner to read a stream of data from the serial port.