| 摘要 |
<p>A system that guarantees reliable data transmission for one-to-one, one-to-many and/or many-to-many communications amongst data processing stations over a communications network. Nine possible solutions (solutions that can be reduced to practice by one skilled in the art) are identified. Two of these possible solutions have been found and patented by Change et al and Naron et al. A new concept (the arbitrator node) that forms the basis of at least four of these solutions is discussed in detail. Special logical nodes and a new communications protocol are used so that a message is guaranteed to be received if a receiver(s) wants to receive the message even though a receiver(s) may be busy, slow or temporarily powered off. An optional management station controls orderly start and stop of group communications or conferences and may also handle secure, confidential communications. Examples are provided to show how this guaranteed, reliable, one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many system can be applied to overcome previously unsolved problems.</p> |
