CIR, formerly Common Interface Routing, is a network protocol and communications standard designed to facilitate communication between computer hardware and software. It is a peer-to-peer protocol with symmetric traffic, which means it can send and receive information from either direction. It uses a connection-oriented 8-bit packet-based transmission method to ensure reliable data delivery.
CIR was initially developed in the early 2000s by a group of vendors to enable different hardware devices and software applications to interoperate with one another, hence the usage of the common interface routing moniker. It was designed to be low-latency and support a wide variety of applications, such as video streaming, gaming, and file sharing, and to allow devices to remain connected even if network connectivity is lost.
Since its creation, CIR has become a popular choice for a variety of embedded systems and mobile devices, such as tablets, phones, and laptops. CIR is most often used in residential networks to enable reliable wireless connections or to establish a connection to the internet. However, due to its lightweight nature, it can also be used on wireless sensor networks and other low-power networking environments.
CIR is an open standard and has been adopted by major companies like Apple and Microsoft. Despite its name, the protocol can be used with non-common interface resources, such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee. It is highly extensible and can be adapted to accommodate new technologies and applications.
