Patent ID: 7656865

Claim:
A method for transmitting data messages in a switched cyclical communication system having a plurality of users that are interconnected by network connections, in which, each user is configured as at least one of a sender and a receiver of data messages, and in which each said user has at least one buffer memory for storage of data messages, and where the data messages are transmitted in transmission cycles and each transmission cycle has at least one first segment for transmission of data messages with real-time critical data and at least one additional segment for transmission of data messages with non-real-time critical data, the method comprising: identifying the data messages containing real-time critical data; determining by a computer a chronological start of each of the at least one first segment of a respective transmission cycle within the respective transmission cycle; ensuring that the transmission of a non-real-time critical data message is completed when each of the at least one first segment of the respective transmission cycle starts; and transmitting the real-time critical data messages in the at least one first segment of the transmission cycle, wherein, during each cycle, based on the determined chronological start of the first segment of the respective cycle, determining if non-real-time critical data fits into the additional segment of the same respective cycle that precedes the chronological start of the first segment of the same respective cycle.