Patent ID: 6359899
Filing Date: 2002-03-19
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
An individual communications station for use in a contention-based network in which, in each of a succession of access periods, each of a succession of communications stations, having accessed a communications medium, invites the succeeding communications station of said succession to access said communications medium, said individual communications station, when being the last communications station of such a succession a) responding to an invitation from the prior station of said succession by immediately accessing said communications medium upon the termination of the prior station's accessing thereof, and b) inviting a further communications station within said network which is not part of said succession to access said communications medium immediately upon the termination of said accessing by said last communications station,said individual communications station being arranged to invite said further communications station only if the number of communications stations in the succession of communications stations that would result from said inviting does not exceed a prescribed maximum.