Lossless arbitration scheme and network architecture for collision based network protocols

摘要

A lossless arbitration scheme combines IEEE 802.3 compliant Medium Access Controllers (MACs) with a centralized arbiter and out of band access control signaling to achieve a spatially confined LAN that looks to attached devices like an IEEE 802.3 LAN, but has no bandwidth loss due to collisions, no excessive collisions and greater short term access fairness than standard Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) LANs. Two such spatially confined LANs are combined with an IEEE 802.3 compatible full-duplex point to point link to provide communication between two spatially confined groups of devices without bridges and buffering even when the separation of the groups is not spatially confined.