Patent ID: 7630390

Claim:
A method for arbitrating access to a time slot in a time division multiple access network, the method comprising: receiving signals at each of at least two asynchronous hubs from competing nodes claiming access to the same time slot; selecting, at each of the at least two asynchronous hubs, one of the nodes based on a priority scheme, wherein each of the at least two asynchronous hubs implements a different, complementary priority scheme such that the node with a higher port number is selected at one of the at least two asynchronous hubs and the node with a lower port number is selected at another of the at least two asynchronous hubs; relaying a message from the selected node having the higher port number and blocking the message from the non-selected node having the lower port number at one of the at least two asynchronous hubs; and relaying a message from the selected node having the lower port number and blocking the message from the non-selected node having the higher port number at another of the at least two asynchronous hubs.