An abstraction layer for multiple home networking technologies that provides acommon interface to widely deployed home networking technologies is defined in this standard:IEEE 1901(TM) over power lines, IEEE 802.11(TM) for wireless, Ethernet over twisted pair cable, andMoCA 1.1 over coax. Additional network technologies are supported by an extensible mechanismusing an IEEE OUI and an XML-formatted document. Connectivity selection for transmission ofpackets arriving from any interface or application is supported by the 1905 abstraction layer.Modification to the underlying home networking technologies is not required by the 1905abstraction layer, and hence it does not change the behavior or implementation of existing homenetworking technologies. The 1905 abstraction layer is between layers 2 and 3 and abstracts theindividual details of each interface, aggregates available bandwidth, and facilitates seamlessintegration. The 1905 abstraction layer also facilitates end-to-end quality of service (QoS) whilesimplifying the introduction of new devices to the network, establishing secure connections,extending network coverage, and facilitating advanced network management features includingdiscovery, path selection, autoconfiguration, and QoS negotiation. |