Patent ID: 7388872

Claim:
A method of dynamically allocating bandwidth in a fully distributed ring-topology communications network, the network comprising a plurality of nodes connected by inter-nodal links, wherein each link comprises at least one data channel and at least one control channel, and wherein the control and data channels are treated by the plurality of nodes as shared resources, and wherein each data channel is represented on the at least one control channel by one token, and wherein the token comprises an array of bit fields with each bit field representing one inter-nodal link on the network, and wherein control over the network is fully distributed among the nodes such that multiple nodes may communicate simultaneously over a single data channel, the method comprising: (a) transmitting the token(s) on the at least one control channel; and (b) evaluating the token(s) at each node to determine if a corresponding data payload is destined for and simultaneously arriving at that node on the data channel represented by that token, wherein the token further comprises: a channel ID field; and a communications path status array, wherein each communications path status array element comprises a field of at least two bits, and wherein the field comprises: a first value that indicates that the corresponding link is currently available; a second value that indicates that the link associated with that subfield is either a source link or an intermediate link; a third value that indicates that the corresponding link is a destination link; and a fourth value that indicates that the link is the only link between the source of the data transmission and its destination.