Patent ID: 7649473

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a first end node; a first transmission segment directly connected to the first end node; at least one intermediate node directly connected to the first transmission segment; a second transmission segment directly connected to the at least one intermediate node; and a second end node directly connected to the second transmission segment; wherein the first and second end nodes are the only end nodes of; and wherein each of the intermediate and end nodes includes logic configured to enable the nodes to communicate with each other in accordance with a communication protocol that provides for each node to receive each communication initiated by each node, independent of whether a node is an intended recipient of a communication; wherein the first end node is a top node, the second end node is a bottom node, a first token is a down-token, and a second token is an up-token in a downhole network associated with a drill string, the downhole network formed by a plurality of store and forward nodes coupled together in a hierarchal physically segmented logical token configuration; wherein each intermediate node is configured to become the bottom node when no data and/or token is received from a successor immediately coupled node for a designated time period based in part on the number of nodes in the downhole network.