Method of transmitting a high-priority message in a lighting control system

摘要

A lighting control system having a plurality of control devices coupled to a communication link operates with a communication protocol that allows the system to expeditiously process high-priority events while operating communicate at a low enough baud rate to allow for a free-wiring topology of the communication link. The transmission of regular-priority messages is suspended if any of the control devices has a high-priority message to transmit. To signal that a control device has a high-priority message to transmit, each control device is operable to transmit a break character in a predetermined time period after the transmission of one of the digital messages. After the transmission of the break character, the transmission of the regular-priority messages on the communication link is suspended to allow the high-priority message to be transmitted quickly.