Patent ID: 7171579

Claim:
A method for exchanging data in messages between at least two stations connected via a bus system, comprising the steps of: transmitting the messages containing the data by the stations over the bus system; controlling the messages over time by a first station so that the first station repeatedly transmits a reference message over the bus system at at least one specifiable time interval, the reference message including a time information of the first station, the time interval divided into time windows of specifiable length, the messages transmitted in the time windows; combining into a first cycle a reference message and subsequent time windows until a next reference message; and wherein the transmission is at least one of interrupted and restarted by an external request; wherein a reference mark is generated when the reference message is received, the reference mark being generated based on the time information of the first station contained in the reference message, and wherein the reference mark is a local time snapshot of a local time base at a receiving station.