Patent ID: 8762446

Claim:
A method for sending a message from a host device to a target device, wherein the host device is adapted to transmit messages that are compliant with a first transport protocol, and the target device is adapted to receive messages that are compliant with a second transport protocol, the method comprising in combination: maintaining a list of available drivers and a list of devices accessible through drivers on the list of available drivers, the list of devices comprising at least one of said host device and said target device; broadcasting the list of available drivers and the list of devices to connected devices comprising the host device and the target device; formatting the message to be compliant with the first transport protocol; associating the message with a target ID corresponding to the target device, at a bridge node; mapping said target ID to a transport instance at the bridge node, wherein said mapping is based at least in part upon a list of target IDs maintained within a distributed driver layer of a distributed driver messaging system configured to control the target device; passing the message using said first transport protocol corresponding to the transport instance; receiving the message at the bridge node; reformatting the message to be compliant with the second transport protocol; forwarding the message from the bridge node to the target device associated with said target ID; and causing the target device to execute the forwarded message compliant with the second transport protocol; wherein said first and said second transport protocols differ from one another.