Patent ID: 8600233

Claim:
A method for arbitrating use of a communication bus on an optical backplane for a certain node of a plurality of optically interconnected nodes that share the communication bus, the method comprising the steps of: presenting a data frame on a transmitter side and a receiver side of the bus, wherein the certain node performs the presenting on the transmitter side, wherein the data frame has a clock of a predetermined timing embedded therein, and wherein the data frame contains a header field; synchronizing with the clock embedded in the data frame being presented on the receiving side of the bus, wherein the certain node performs the synchronizing; presenting, successively, an idle pattern on the bus determined by a node ID preassigned to the certain node within a range of the synchronized data, wherein the certain node performs the successive presenting to maintain a DC balance of the bus; emitting light on the bus at a predetermined timing preassigned to the certain node within a range of the header field, as a bus access request from the transmitter side, wherein the emitting is performed by the certain node; and monitoring light emission on the bus that indicates a bus access request from any other one of the plurality of nodes within the range of the header field, wherein the monitoring is performed by the certain node at the receiver side.