Importance

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Abstract

In a ring network where network nodes are interconnected by an optical fiber ring, one of the nodes acts as a master node and each of the other nodes acts as a slave node. The master node successively designates a different slave node in a descending order of priorities, transmits a command message to the designated slave node, and updates its memory with a response message from the designated node. If the command message is received, each designated slave node updates its memory with data contained in the command message and returns a response message to the master node. If the command message is not received, each slave node, acting as a temporary master node, designates a different one of the other slave nodes in descending order, transmits a command message to each designated node, and updates its memory with a response message therefrom. Each temporary master node repeats the process until it receives a command message from another temporary master node having a priority higher than the priority of the sending node.

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First Claim