Power-saving, full duplex nodal communications systems.

摘要

An inter-nodal communication system is described wherein full duplex transmission links connect asynchronously operating nodes. Links between nodes (A, B) are quiesced to a no-current flow state in the absence of message traffic. The method employed by the communication protocol incorporates time-outs (T1, T2, T3, T4) which (1) enable a broken link to be detected at the inception of a message and (2) prevent a receiver from listening to a link which has been quiesced by a transmitter at the other end of the link shutting-off. All synchronization messages in the inter-nodal communication network are carried by data links and no additional communicating wires are required. <IMAGE>