Digital communication network with a moderator station election process
US5471461A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 28, 1993 |
| Grant date | Nov 28, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 28, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/407
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A moderator on a communication network periodically transmits a set of parameters for a protocol that is used to communicate over the network. Each node on the network compares the set of protocol parameters from the moderator to a set of parameters stored in that node. If the sets of parameters at a given node do not match, that given node ceases transmitting messages over the network until either the set of protocol parameters from the moderator match the stored set of parameters, or a matching set of parameters is stored in the node. Typically the active node that is assigned the lowest numerical network address functions as the moderator. However, an automatic process is utilized to prevent a node with a non-matching set of the protocol parameters from becoming the moderator for more than a brief period of time. An override procedure is provided to force all the nodes on the network to adopt a common set of protocol parameters in the event that the automatic process fails.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.