Patent ID: 7409448

Claim:
A method for resolving contention issues by a channel in a fiber optic switch environment, said contention issues occurring during channel program execution, comprising: a channel receiving a status packet indicating that a device is no longer busy, said channel under a device-busy status; specifying whether said channel intends to re-initiate a channel program that previously resulted in said device-busy status; if said channel intends to re-initiate said channel program, setting a first combination of bits in said re-initiate field of said status-acceptance packet operable for indicating that said channel will re-initiate said channel program, after a first time period; if said channel intends to re-initiate said channel program, setting a third combination of bits in said re-initiate field of said status-acceptance packet operable for indicating that said channel will re-initiate said channel program, after a second time period; if said channel does not intend to re-initiate said channel program, setting a second combination of bits in a re-initiate field of a status-acceptance packet operable for indicating that said channel will take no further action; transmitting said status-acceptance packet to a control unit; and re-initiating said channel program in response to said re-initiate field being set by at least one of said first and third combination of bits.