Importance

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Abstract

To form communication connections in a set of nodes, the set of nodes is arranged so that at least a subset of the nodes form a ring. Each node in the subset of nodes is coupled to first and second neighboring nodes in the subset by a set of inter-node communication connections. An external communication is received at one of the nodes. The external communication requests access to a communication resource of a specified type. The receiving node determines whether it has an available communication resource of the specified type. If not, the following additional steps are performed. A resource request message is sent to the first and second neighboring nodes of the receiving node to request allocation of a communication resource of the specified type. Each of the first and second neighboring nodes determines whether that node has an available communication resource of the specified type. If not, the neighboring node transmits another resource request message to one of its neighboring nodes other than the node from which the resource request message was received. When any node determines that it has an available communication resource of the specified type, a communications path is formed between the receiving node and the communication resource of the specified type via the inter-node communication connections therebetween.

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First Claim