NETWORK ACCESS MECHANISM AND METHOD

摘要

A communication system (10) includes a network (12) that is coupled to a number of terminals (22, 24, 26, 28, 30), at least some of which are capable of audio or other forms of real-time interactive data communications over the network (12). Each of the terminals (22, 24, 26, 28 and 30) includes a network adapter that is capable of detecting a collision with another terminal on the network (12). If a collision is detected, transmission of a data frame is aborted, and a backoff time delay is selected. The backoff time delay is selected from a group of delay periods that vary less than exponentially with a number of collisions.