Patent · US Expired

Protection against multiple senders in a multipoint to point data funnel

US5926474A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
12References
32Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 6, 1996
Grant dateJul 20, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 6, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/5679
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system includes protection against multiple senders in a multipoint to point data funnel that connects multiple data sources with a single data sink. The protection is afforded by employing tokens and by adopting a token protocol. In particular, a data source must be in possession of a token in order to send data on to a data funnel. The token exhibits that the data source has permission to output the data to the data funnel. The system may operate in the scheduled mode of operation where the system knows a priori when each data source will send data over the data funnel for a data sequence. The system may also operate in a nonscheduled mode where multiple data sources have data that they wish to send but the schedule of data transmissions from the data sources is not known a priori. The token protocol is adaptable to both scheduled mode and nonscheduled mode of operation. The token protocol also facilitates regeneration of tokens if tokens do not arrive at a destination that expects a token within a predetermined period of time.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.