Method and apparatus for a hybrid limited contention and polling protocol
US5793307A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 5, 1995 |
| Grant date | Aug 11, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/4035
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus and method to implement a hybrid contention and polling protocol for a communications or computer network is disclosed. Various apparatus and method embodiments of the invention employ specific polls from a primary station for polling identified secondary stations of the network which may be in an active state; limited contention polls to an identified individual secondary station which may be in an idle state or to an identified subset of a plurality of secondary stations which may be in an idle state to initiate limited contention access to the network; limited contention polls for collision resolution in the event that a plurality of secondary stations in an idle state may have simultaneously contended for network access; general polls to any of a plurality of secondary stations of the network which may be in an unresponsive state to initiate contention access to the network; and general polls for collision resolution in the event that a plurality of secondary stations may simultaneously contend for network access. Various embodiments may also include frequency channel allocation for transmission and reception of data and other information within the network.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.