Accessing different types of memory by respective commands with different timing requirements

The invention relates to accessing different types of memory by respective commands with different timing requirements. A system is provided that includes a remote device and bus controller coupled to the remote device via a digital network bus. The remote device includes one or more data channels for respective one or more peripherals, and includes volatile channel-based memory for each data channel and non-volatile device-based memory for the remote device. The bus controller is configured to send a command across the network bus to the remote device, and in response thereto, the remote device is configured to acquire data from a designated data channel or command the designated data channel to perform a conversion. The command is from a communication protocol with which the remote device is compatible, and includes a set of channel commands for accessing the channel-based memory, and a different, distinct set of device-memory commands for accessing the device-based memory. The channel commands and device-m