Serial Port that Supports Multiple Protocols

A distributed data acquisition system, comprising:

• distributed I/O device, comprising a serial port;
• and
• a controller, coupled to the serial port of the distributed I/O device via a serial transmission medium;
• wherein the distributed I/O device is operable to:
• a) read data from the serial port;
• b) determine if the data are framed by time;
• c) if the data are determined to be framed by time, handle the data according to a time-based protocol;
• d) if the data are determined to not be framed by time, determine if the data are framed by delimiters;
• e) if the data are determined to be framed by delimiters:
• determine an appropriate delimiter-based protocol for the data from a plurality of delimiter-based protocols;
• and
• handle the data according to the appropriate delimiter-based protocol;
• and
• f) repeat a)-e) in an iterative manner to read a stream of data from the serial port.

A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions executable by a processor to:

• a) receive data from a serial port coupled to a serial transmission medium;
• b) determine if the data are framed by time;
• c) if the data are determined to be framed by time, handle the data according to a time-based protocol;
• d) if the data are determined to not be framed by time, determine if the data are framed by delimiters;
• e) if the data are determined to be framed by delimiters:
• determine an appropriate delimiter-based protocol for the data from a plurality of delimiter-based protocols;
• and
• handle the data according to the appropriate delimiter-based protocol;
• and
• f) repeat a)-e) in an iterative manner to read a stream of data from the serial port.

A computer accessible memory medium that stores program instructions executable by a processor to perform:

• means for a) receiving data from a serial port coupled to a serial transmission medium;
• means for b) determining if the data are framed by time;
• means for c) if the data are determined to be framed by time, handling the data according to a time-based protocol;
• means for d) if the data are determined to not be framed by time, determining if the data are framed by delimiters;
• means for e) if the data are determined to be framed by delimiters:
• determining an appropriate delimiter-based protocol for the data from a plurality of delimiter-based protocols;
• and
• handling the data according to the appropriate delimiter-based protocol;
• and
• means for repeating a)-e) in an iterative manner to read a stream of data from the serial port.