Patent ID: 7889683
Filing Date: 2011-02-15
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. 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: 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.