Character-Oriented Data Link Control Protocols

Character or byte-oriented data link control protocols have had a profound influence on the rapid and successful development of data communications networks. Although subject to certain limitations which led to the development of the now emerging bit-oriented protocols, character-oriented protocols have served our industry very well. Because of widespread implementation, they can be expected to continue this service into the foreseeable future. This paper offers an overview of characteroriented protocols and their place in the communications hierarchy. It examines these protocols from a historical and evolutionary perspective. It provides details, with examples, of the structure, functions, characteristics, and operation of the family of character-oriented link protocols.