Patent ID: 7600041

Claim:
A method for exchanging information frames over a network between a plurality of devices, each device of the plurality of devices comprising a communication circuit connected to a processing unit and comprising a plurality of addresses, each address being associated with one of a transmission indicator and a reception indicator but not both, wherein each address is associated with a memory containing an information frame that can be at least one of modified and read by the processing unit, wherein only a single device of the plurality of devices includes one of the plurality of addresses associated with the transmission indicator, and wherein all other devices of the plurality of devices that include the one address associate the one address with the reception indicator, the method comprising the steps of: having a master device periodically transmit an address of the plurality of addresses over the network; and responsive to transmission of the address by the master device: having the communication circuit of the single device for which the address transmitted by the master device is associated with the transmission indicator transmit the information frame contained in the memory associated with the address over the network and provide its processing unit with an identifier of the address; and having the communication circuit of each device for which the address transmitted by the master device is associated with the reception indicator write into the memory associated with the address the information frame transmitted over the network by the single device and provide its processing unit with an identifier of the address.