MULTICHANNEL BACKPLANE BUS SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE MULTICHANNEL BACKPLANE BUS SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

摘要

2079671 9116679 PCTABS00008 A local area network, or LAN, configuration is provided with a multiple generic LAN channel architecture which can be logically and dynamically changed. The configuraton control can be applied to each module (120) of the network and to each port of a module of a LAN hub. Multiple LAN protocols can be used simultaneously through protocol specific functions. Protocols such as token bus, token ring, and fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) can be implemented using the generic channel architecture. Digital collision detection and information necessary for precise network statistics monitoring are provided. The token passing ring architecture provides a logical ring formation within the generic channel. A token passing bus architecture uses modified Ethernet architecture, and a hub management provides control for the generic multichannel. Multiple hub management entities are provided via hub mastership arbitration to provide a unique master for the hub management function.