Patent ID: 8792463

Claim:
Method for managing access to a communications network clocked in transmission cycles by a master node, wherein, during a given transmission cycle, a slave node of said network performs steps for: obtaining an active access sequence, according to which the nodes access a physical medium, applicable to said given transmission cycle; obtaining a piece of information on duration of relevance associated with said obtained active access sequence, said piece of information on duration of relevance giving an indication of the duration of validity of the information concerning said access sequence; carrying out a first check that at least one packet is received by said slave node during the given transmission cycle, according to said active access sequence; in the event of a positive first check, determining an access sequence for a following transmission cycle as a function of pieces of information contained in said received packet or packets; and in the event of a negative first check, determining an access sequence for the following transmission cycle as a function of said piece of information on duration of relevance associated with the obtained active access sequence, wherein, if the piece of information on duration of relevance associated with the active access sequence is non-zero, the information on duration of relevance for the next transmission cycle is obtained by reducing the information on duration of relevance for the given transmission cycle.