Method for the transmission of data packets

An improved method for the transmission of data packets from a plurality of substations to a main station via a channel they have in common, the main station transmitting a synchronizing signal which indicates the beginning of a frame which is divided into a sequence of time slots of mutually equal lengths, those substations which have a data packet ready for transmission to the main station transmitting this packet to the main station in a time slot which is randomly selected from the sequence of time slots, the main station counting the time slots which are unmutilated, empty and mutilated respectively depending on whether an unmutilated, no packet or a mutilated packet is received, characterized in that said method further includes the steps of:

• determining in the main station the number of time slots in the next frame on the basis of the determination of the number of unmutilated, empty and mutilated time slots in the history of frames;
• taking into consideration the conditional probabilities of unmutilated, empty and mutilated time slots, given the number of substations;
• choosing said number of time slots in dependence on the a posteriori expected value in accordance with
• r=g.sub.i .multidot.b.sub.gi +e.sub.i .multidot.b.sub.ei +s.sub.i.multidot.b.sub.si -s.sub.i
• where r represents the estimation of the number of packets ready for transmission to the main station, g.sub.i represents the number of time slots in which a mutilated packet has been transmitted in frame i, e.sub.i represents the number of time slots in which no packet is transferred, s.sub.i represents the number of time slots in which an unmutilated packet has been transmitted in frame i, b.sub.gi represents the a posteriori expected value of the number of substations transmitting simultaneously in one slot, given that the time slot contains a mutilated packet, b.sub.ei represents the a posteriori expected value of the number of substations transmitting simultaneously in one slot given that the time slot contains no packet and b.sub.si represents the a posteriori expected value of the number of substations transmitting simultaneously in one slot, given that the time slot contains an unmutilated packet;
• and that the number of time slots in a frame is transmitted as part of the synchronizing signal to said substations.