Patent ID: 7508813

Claim:
A method of eliminating packet loss at a packet-switching device, comprising the steps of: (1) collecting in a first device a plurality of different data signals; (2) converting each of the plurality of different data signals into digital form; (3) transmitting the data signals in digital form from step (2) over a bus or internal network to a CPU of the first device; (4) in the CPU of the first device, converting the digital data into network packets destined for delivery to the packet-switching device; and (5) in the CPU of the first device, scheduling the transmission of the network packets to the packet-switching device in such a way as to eliminate packet loss in the packet-switching device that would otherwise occur if the network packets had been processed by separate devices coupled to the packet-switching device, wherein packet loss is eliminated without the need for retransmission to the packet-switching device by coordinating the transmission from the first device to avoid contention among transmitters for the packet-switching device, in such a way as to eliminate queue overflow in the packet-switching device, the scheduling step comprising: detecting the presence of one or more other devices connected to the first device; identifying a designated master device within the one or more other devices connected to the first device; and receiving from the designated master device a transmission schedule indicating times during which transmission to the packet-switching device would not conflict with transmissions of any of the one or more other devices connected to the first device.