Patent ID: 6172983
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of managing data transmission collisions within a network having terminals connected to a hub comprising steps of:directing data packets to said hub when said data packets are generated at one of said terminals for global transmissions to a plurality of destination terminals of said network, said global transmissions being non-selective with respect to which of said destination terminals are target terminals identified in the contents of said data packets;forwarding said data packets from said hub toward said destination terminals, thereby providing first transmissions;retaining said data packets in storage at said hub in response to detection of a transmission collision in forwarding said data packets to at least one collision-inducing destination terminal, while completing said forwarding of said data packets to any remaining destination terminals for which said forwarding is collision-free, thereby isolating subsequent forwarding of said data packets to said collision-inducing destination terminals;forwarding said data packets from said hub to each of said collision-inducing destination terminals when a collision-free condition is determined to be available for said collision-inducing destination terminals, thereby providing second transmissions, said second transmissions being non-selective with respect to which of said destination terminals are target terminals identified in the contents of said data packets;retaining said data packets in storage at said hub in response to detection of a second transmission collision in forwarding said data packets to a subset of said collision-inducing destination terminals, while completing said forwarding of said data packets to any said destination terminals which were collision-inducing terminals during said first transmissions but were collision-free during said second transmissions; andforwarding said data packets from said hub to said subset of collision-inducing destination terminals at which a second transmission collision was detected so as to complete said global transmissions of said data packets, thereby providing third transmissions, said forwarding being non-selective with respect to which of said collision-inducing destination terminals are target terminals identified in the contents of said data packets.