Patent ID: 7406094

Claim:
A media access control (MAC) controller for a network providing communication for network stations located at a plurality of customer premises and sharing a communication medium, each of the premises having a plurality of network stations, the MAC controller comprising: a virtual local area network (vLAN) controller, providing access to the communication medium and communication among the stations located at a single customer's premises, to define a vLAN therebetween; and a group local area network (gLAN) controller providing access to the communication medium and communication among interfering vLANs, two vLANs being considered to be interfering when one can sense communications over the medium from a station in the other; a MAC controller being provided in at least one station in a vLAN, wherein the MAC controller is constructed to utilize a token passing protocol to control access to the medium, and wherein the gLAN controller is constructed to utilize a token passing protocol among vLANs to control access to the medium thereby, a vLAN being capable of retaining the token when received from one of the other vLANs, but must pass the token immediately when receiving it from any other vLAN except for the one of the other vLANs, whereby, although the vLANs in a gLAN are connected in a bus configuration, they pass the token in a logical ring topology in which the ring includes vLANs that are unable to communicate directly.