Patent ID: 7689123

Claim:
A method of communicating data among a plurality of devices, comprising: providing at least one interconnect hub having a plurality of ports; providing a plurality of connection devices each of which is configured to connect to one or more signal sources; physically connecting the connection devices to the ports on the interconnect hub to form a network having a physical star configuration with the interconnect hub as a center; logically connecting the connection devices using the interconnect hub to form a logical ring configuration within the interconnect hub so that each connection device has access to each digital data packet sent by any other connection device as it passes around the logical ring within the interconnect hub; providing a second counter-rotating logical ring within the interconnect hub for communication of digital data packets; communicating digital data packets between the connection devices through the interconnect hub using synchronous communications based upon a common clock signal, wherein at least a portion of the digital data packets include data representing signals from the signal sources; and automatically bypassing inactive ports in the interconnect hub.