Patent ID: 7233592

Claim:
A method comprising: transferring a write packet from a first node to a second node, when a plurality of nodes, including the first node, the second node and a third node, connect by a bus but not connected in a ring form and the plurality of nodes constitute an IEEE 1394 topology, the write packet having an identifier storing identification information which indicates addressee of data stored in data portion of the write packet or indicates that the data portion of the write packet includes a blank data portion; determining at a link layer processor of the second node whether a received packet is the write packet; checking at an identification circuit of the second node the identification information of the identifier of the received write packet and determining whether data stored in the data portion of the write packet can be replaced with another data stored in the second node and to be addressed to the third node; storing data addressed to the third node and to be written in a data portion of a packet, in the data portion of the write packet at the second node in accordance with the checking result, wherein said storing data includes replacing the data stored in the data portion of the write packet with said another data; and transferring the write packet from the second node to the third node.