Bridging and signalling subsystems and methods for private and hybrid communications systems including multimedia systems

A method of communicating a Media Access Control (MAC) layer frame over an isochronous signalling channel, comprising the steps of:

• receiving said MAC layer frame from a nonisochronous network into a frame reception circuit coupled to said nonisochronous network;
• and
• encapsulating said MAC layer frame into a first frame with a frame encapsulation circuit coupling said frame reception circuit and said isochronous signalling channel, said frame encapsulation circuit queuing said first frame for transmission over said isochronous signalling channel.

A bridge for communicating an isochronous signalling frame over a nonisochronous network, comprising:

• a frame reception circuit coupled to an isochronous channel, said frame reception circuit capable of receiving said isochronous signalling frame from a source device via said isochronous channel;
• and
• a frame encapsulation circuit coupling said frame reception circuit and nonisochronous network, said frame encapsulation circuit capable of encapsulating said isochronous signalling frame into a routable protocol frame and queuing said routable protocol frame for transmission over said nonisochronous network to a destination device, said nonisochronous network thereby capable of simulating a point-to-point connection between said source device and said destination device.

A method of communicating an isochronous signalling frame over a nonisochronous network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving said isochronous signalling frame from a source device via an isochronous channel into a frame reception circuit coupled to said isochronous channel;
• and
• encapsulating said isochronous signalling frame, in a frame encapsulation circuit coupling said frame reception circuit and said nonisochronous network, into a routable protocol frame and queuing said routable protocol frame for transmission over said nonisochronous network to a destination device, said nonisochronous network thereby capable of simulating a point-to-point connection between said source device and said destination device.

A subsystem for communicating a private network signalling message over a packet network, comprising:

• an encapsulation circuit, coupled to a transmitting user station, capable of receiving said private network signalling message from said transmitting user station, said encapsulation circuit encapsulating said signalling message into, and adding source and destination addresses to, a routable protocol frame, said source and destination addresses corresponding to addresses of said transmitting user station and a particular receiving user station, said encapsulation circuit queuing said routable protocol frame for transmission over said packet network;
• and
• a de-encapsulation circuit, coupled to said particular receiving user station, capable of receiving said routable protocol frame, said de-encapsulation circuit de-encapsulating said signalling message from said routable protocol frame, said packet network thereby simulating a point-to-point connection between said transmitting and particular receiving user stations to effect node-to-node private network signalling therebetween.

A method of communicating a private network signalling message over a packet network, comprising the steps of:

• receiving said private network signalling message from a transmitting user station into an encapsulation circuit coupled to said transmitting user station, said encapsulation circuit encapsulating said signalling message into, and adding source and destination addresses to, a routable protocol frame, said source and destination addresses corresponding to addresses of said transmitting user station and a particular receiving user station, said encapsulation circuit queuing said routable protocol frame for transmission over said packet network;
• receiving said routable protocol frame into a de-encapsulation circuit coupled to a particular receiving user station, said de-encapsulation circuit de-encapsulating said signalling message from said routable protocol frame, said packet network thereby simulating a point-to-point connection between said transmitting and particular receiving user stations to effect node-to-node private network signalling therebetween.