Patent ID: 8838869

Claim:
A circuit, comprising: a plurality of protocol bridge circuits including at least a first protocol bridge circuit and a second protocol bridge circuit, the first protocol bridge circuit configured to convert data between a first format and a second format, the second format corresponding to a first data bus protocol, and the second protocol bridge circuit configured to convert data between the first format and a third format, the third format corresponding to a second data bus protocol different from the first data bus protocol; a switch network coupled to the first and second protocol bridges; and one or more interface circuits, each configured to: convert upstream data received on a first data input of the interface circuit from a raw format into first format upstream data having the first format and forward the first format upstream data to a first output of the interface circuit that is coupled to the switch network; and convert downstream data received on a second input of the interface circuit that is coupled to the switch network from the first format to raw format downstream data having the raw data format and forward the raw format downstream data to a second output of the interface circuit; wherein each interface circuit includes a control circuit configured to signal, in response to a control signal indicating a destination address for the upstream data, the switching network to route the first format upstream data to a designated one of the plurality of protocol bridge circuits indicated by the control signal.