Method for establishing a master-slave relationship in a peer-to-peer network
AssigneeNortel Networks Limited
InventorGeoffrey O. Thompson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system is provided for establishing a master-slave relationship at the physical layer between a first device and a second device in a peer-to-peer network. The system generates a first information which is associated with the first device. A second information is generated and associated with the second device. The first information is compared with the second information to generate a comparison result. Based on the comparison result, one device is designated as a master and the other device is designated as a slave.
Claims20
A method comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating a first information associated with a first device;
- (b) generating a second information associated with a second device;
- (c) comparing the first information with the second information by the first device and the second device, the comparison operation generating a comparison result;
- (d) designating one device as a master and one device as a slave in response to the comparison result;
- (e) receiving by the slave a clock signal from the master;
- and
- (f) returning the clock signal from the slave to the master.
A method for establishing a master-slave relationship at the physical layer between a first device and a second device in a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating a first random number associated with the first device;
- (b) generating a second random number associated with the second device;
- (c) comparing the first random number with the second random number;
- (d) repeating steps (a), (b), (c) if the first random number is equal to the second random number;
- (e) designating the device with the higher associated random number as a master device;
- and
- (f) designating the device with the lower associated number as a slave device;
- (g) receiving by the slave device a clock signal from the master device;
- and
- (h) returning the clock signal from the slave device to the master device.
A method for establishing a master-slave relationship at the physical layer between a first device and a second device in a peer-to-peer network, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) assigning a first value associated with the first device;
- (b) assigning a second value associated with the second device;
- (c) determining whether the first assigned value and the second assigned value are equal;
- (d) designating one device as a master device and the other device as a slave device in response to their assigned values if the first assigned value is not equal to the second assigned value;
- (e) designating one device as a master device and the other device as a slave device if the first assigned value is not equal to the second assigned value by performing the following steps:
- generating a first random number associated with the first device;
- generating a second random number associated with the second device;
- comparing the first random number with the second random number and generating a comparison result;
- designating one device as a master device and one device as a slave device in response to the comparison result;
- receiving by the slave device a clock signal from the master device;
- and
- returning the clock signal from the slave device to the master device.
A device comprising:
- logic at a physical layer configured to (i) generate information that is retained within the device and transmitted to a remote device, (ii) compare the information to incoming information received from the remote device in order to determine a master-slave relationship between the device and the remote device and (ii) generate secondary information if the information is equal to the incoming information;
- and
- logic of the physical layer configured to (i) transmit a first clock signal to the remote device and (ii) receive the first clock signal returned from the remote device when the device is a master device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.