Non-destructive media access resolution for asynchronous traffic in a half-duplex braided-ring
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsMichael Paulitsch, Brendan Hall, Kevin R. Driscoll
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A half-duplex communication network comprises a plurality of communication links, each link being configured a priori to communicate in one direction; and a plurality of nodes, each node coupled to a first and second direct neighbor nodes and a first and second skip neighbor nodes via the plurality of communication links. Each node comprises propagation logic adapted to arbitrate conflicts between concurrent messages based on at least one of higher level policies and a comparison between a priority of each message, wherein each node is adapted to communicate a message without waiting to determine if another node is transmitting another message with a higher priority.
Claims18
A half-duplex communication network, comprising:
- a plurality of communication links, each link being configured a priori to communicate in one direction;
- and
- a plurality of nodes, each node coupled to a first and second direct neighbor nodes and a first and second skip neighbor nodes via the plurality of communication links, wherein each node comprises:
- propagation logic operable to determine which of a first message and a second message to communicate based on at least one of higher level policies and a comparison between a priority of each message, the second message obtained while the first message is being obtained or communicated;
- wherein each node, if not currently communicating a message, is operable to communicate a message without waiting to determine if another node is transmitting another message with a higher priority;
- wherein each of the plurality of nodes further comprises an interface to communicatively couple each node to:
- a direct input link that is communicatively coupled to a first neighbor node in a first direction;
- a skip input link that is communicatively coupled to a first skip neighbor node in a second direction;
- a direct output link that is communicatively coupled to a second direct neighbor node in the first direction;
- and
- a skip output link that is communicatively coupled to a second skip neighbor node in the second direction.
A node in a half-duplex communication system comprising:
- an interface to communicatively couple the node to:
- a direct input link that is communicatively coupled to a first direct neighbor node;
- a skip input link that is communicatively coupled to a first skip neighbor node;
- a direct output link that is communicatively coupled to a second direct neighbor node;
- and
- a skip output link that is communicatively coupled to a second skip neighbor node, wherein each of the input and output links is configured to communicate in one direction;
- and
- propagation logic operable to arbitrate conflicts between a first message and a second message, the second message obtained by the node while the first message is being obtained or communicated by the node, based on at least one of higher level policies and a comparison between a priority of each message,
- wherein the node, if not currently communicating a message, is operable to communicate a message without determining if another node in the half-duplex communication system is transmitting another message with a higher priority.
A method of arbitrating messages in a half-duplex network node comprising an interface to communicatively couple the node to a direct input link that is communicatively coupled to a first direct neighbor node;
- to a skip input link that is communicatively coupled to a first skip neighbor node;
- to a direct output link that is communicatively coupled to a second direct neighbor node;
- and to a skip output link that is communicatively coupled to a second skip neighbor node, the method comprising:
- obtaining a new message at the node to communicate over one or more output links;
- determine if the node is currently forwarding or transmitting a message;
- communicating the new message over the one or more output links, if the node is not currently forwarding or transmitting a message, without waiting to determine if other nodes are concurrently transmitting a message, wherein each of the one or more output links is configured to transmit in one direction;
- comparing a priority of the new message to a priority of a current message, if the node is currently forwarding or transmitting a message;
- and
- communicating the message with the highest priority over the direct output link in a first direction and over the skip output link in a second direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.