Methods for preventing and detecting message collisions in a half-duplex communication system

Abstract

In a half-duplex communication system in which additional delays in the communication channel may cause a message collision between a message and a response, a collision detector is utilized to prevent and detect message collisions. The collision detector determines if a response may be transmitted from the communication device while it is receiving the current message. If no response is expected, the collision detector is placed into a train mode. If a response is possible, the collision detector is placed into the monitor mode. In the monitor mode, the collision detector monitors the communication channel and determines if a message collision has occurred during transmission of the message. A detection of a message collision causes retransmission of the message or possibly a new message at a later time after it has been determined that the communication channel is clear.

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