Patent ID: 8401684

Claim:
A network system comprising a plurality of consecutive nodes connected in series, each of said plurality of consecutive nodes comprising two sets of receivers and transmitters, each set comprising a receiver and a transmitter, each receiver and each transmitter performing communication in a single direction, and adjacent nodes connected in the series being connected to each other via a connection between one of the two sets of receivers and transmitters of each of the adjacent nodes, wherein two or more consecutive ones of said nodes form a group of nodes along a ring transmission route, the group operating in a temporary communication mode or in an audio transport mode, wherein, in said temporary communication mode, one of the nodes in the group is determined as a temporary master node, wherein, in said temporary communication mode, the temporary master node generates a transport frame circulated along the ring transmission route, said transport frame including a region for storing a communication frame for sending a command, wherein, in said audio transport mode, one of the nodes in the group is designated as a master node, wherein, in said audio transport mode, the master node generates an audio transport frame circulated along the ring transmission route, said audio transport frame including a plurality of storage regions for audio signals, wherein, when one of the nodes in the group is designated as the master node, all of the nodes connected in the series are switched into said audio transport mode, and start communication in said audio transport mode under control of the master node, and wherein, when a connection between any two nodes in the group, when the group is operating in said audio transport mode and the master node has been designated, is disconnected at a disconnection point and said nodes in the group are divided at the disconnection point into two sub-groups, the nodes in one of the two sub-groups to which the designated master node belongs continue operation in said audio transport mode, and the nodes in the other of the two sub-groups to which the designated master node does not belong are switched into said temporary communication mode.