Method and apparatus for adding a randomized propagation delay interval to an interframe spacing in a station accessing an ethernet network

A network interface for connection with media of an Ethernet network, comprising:

• a carrier sensor sensing deassertion of a receive carrier on the media;
• a delay time calculator adding a randomized delay interval to a predetermined interpacket gap interval to obtain said delay time, the randomized delay interval randomly selected between one and two times a propagation delay between two network stations;
• and
• a media access device attempting access of the media in response to the sensed deassertion of the media and after said delay time.

A method of managing access to a media of an Ethernet network having a server and clients, comprising:

• assigning a first delay time to the server equal to a predetermined interpacket gap interval;
• enabling the server to access the media in response to deassertion of a receive carrier on the media and after the first delay time;
• assigning a second delay time to each of the clients equal to the predetermined interpacket gap interval plus a time interval randomly selected with respect to a propagation delay between two network stations;
• and
• enabling each of the clients to access the media in response to the deassertion of said receive carrier and after the second delay time.

A method of mediating collisions on media of an Ethernet network, comprising:

• sensing a collision on the media;
• determining a collision delay interval by multiplying a propagation delay interval representing a maximum propagation delay between two stations on the network with a randomly selected integer from a predetermined range of integers to obtain a randomized delay interval;
• and
• attempting access of the media in response to the detected collision and after the collision delay interval.

A method of mediating collisions on media of an Ethernet network, comprising:

• sensing a collision on the media;
• determining a collision delay interval comprising:
• (1) randomly selecting a first integer from a predetermined range of integers,
• (2) randomly selecting a second integer from a second range of integers calculated from an exponential number of access attempts by a network station,
• (3) multiplying a propagation delay interval representing a maximum propagation delay between two stations on the network with the first integer to obtain a first randomized delay interval,
• (4) multiplying the second integer with a predetermined slot time to obtain a second randomized delay interval, and
• (5) adding the first and second randomized delay intervals to obtain the collision delay interval;
• and
• attempting access of the media in response to the detected collision and after the collision delay interval.