Method of and apparatus for dynamically binding subobjects into objects to represent functions and characteristics of a device within an IEEE 1394 serial bus network

A method of representing functions and characteristics of devices within a network at a local device comprising the steps of:

• a. maintaining a library of a plurality of available subobjects each representing an available subunit;
• b. receiving self identifying information for a remote device within the network, the self identifying information including functions and characteristics of the remote device and resident subunits within the remote device;
• c. retrieving retrieved subobjects from the library corresponding to the resident subunits;
• and
• d. assembling the retrieved subobjects into an object representing the functions and characteristics of the remote device.

A network comprising:

• a. a plurality of devices coupled together, each of the devices including:
• i. an interface circuit through which communications are transmitted and received;
• ii. a processing circuit coupled to the interface circuit to process communications received through the interface circuit;
• and
• b. a control application resident on one of the devices to maintain representations of the devices, wherein the representations are generated by determining resident subunits within each of the devices, retrieving retrieved subobjects from a library of available subunits corresponding to the resident subunits and assembling the retrieved subobjects into an object representing functions and characteristics of the device.