Patent ID: 7680135

Claim:
An audio network system that connects a plurality of nodes in a ring so as to allow loop transmission of data and that performs data transmission in one direction through the ring of the nodes to perform communication between any ones of the plurality of the nodes, wherein one of the plurality of the nodes is a master node and the other nodes are slave nodes, wherein the master node transmits a packet of frame data regularly every sampling cycle, such that the packet circulates through the plurality of the nodes connected in the ring during the sampling cycle, wherein the packet is provided with a plurality of regions for containing audio sample data in correspondence to a plurality of channels, wherein information of connection positions of the nodes and information about which channel is set for writing of data at each node are shared among all the nodes, and wherein each of the nodes includes: a reading part that reads audio sample data from a particular region of the packet, which corresponds to a particular channel allocated to the node, the audio sample data being written into the particular region by another node; a storage part that stores the read audio sample data of the channel allocated to the node, wherein the storage part stores a current one of the audio sample data read in a current sampling cycle and a previous one of the audio sample data read in one sampling cycle ago; an acquiring part that acquires positional information which indicates whether said another node which writes the audio sample data of the allocated channel into the packet is located upstream or downstream of the node along a stream of the packet which is transmitted from the master node, then flows through the nodes and returns to the master node; and an output part that outputs the audio sample data of the allocated channel stored in the storage part, wherein the output part outputs the previous one of the audio sample data of the allocated channel from the storage part if said another node which writes the audio sample data of the allocated channel into the packet is located upstream of the node, and the output part outputs the current one of the audio sample data of the allocated channel from the storage part if said another node is located downstream of the node.