Patent ID: 8930582
Filing Date: 2015-01-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system for regulating communications between a plurality of transmitters and a receiver, comprising: a plurality of cells, wherein each cell controls communications from a transmitter in the plurality of transmitters to the receiver; wherein the plurality of cells are arranged in a token ring that regulates communications from the plurality of transmitters to the receiver; wherein the presence of a token within a token ring cell indicates that the corresponding transmitter may communicate with the receiver; and wherein each cell is configured to receive a request signal from a corresponding transmitter, and in response to the request signal, is configured to issue an acknowledgement signal to the corresponding transmitter which allows the corresponding transmitter to begin transmitting if the cell has the token; a flow control mechanism in each cell that receives a flow-control signal from the receiver, wherein the receiver asserts the flow-control signal when the receiver is ready to receive communications, and wherein a logical conjunction operation is performed on the flow-control signal and an old acknowledgement signal to generate a new acknowledgement signal, wherein the old acknowledgement signal is asserted when the cell has the token and a transmitter corresponding to the cell has requested transmission to the receiver, wherein a logical disjunction operation is performed on the new acknowledgment signal and a first acknowledgement signal from a first neighboring cell to generate a second acknowledgement signal that propagates to a second neighboring cell along a row of cells.