The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 17, 1987
Filed:
Mar. 21, 1986
Angelo A Bione, Elmhurst, IL (US);
Semir Sirazi, Chicago, IL (US);
Zenith Electronics Corporation, Glenview, IL (US);
Abstract
A communications system includes one or more channels each comprising a plurality of LANs having multiple stations. The LANs of a particular channel are interconnected by a bridge interface, the respective bridge interfaces being connected by a backbone network. Each station is capable of transmitting a data packet including a header having either a 0 or 1 bridge flag, LAN stations being responsive only to data packets having a 0 bridge flag and bridge interfaces only to packets having a 1 bridge flag. Intra-LAN communications are thus effected by data packets having headers with 0 bridge flages while inter-LAN communications are effected by transmitting a packet with a 1 bridge flag from a source station which is coupled to the destination station by the bridge which also changes the bridge flag to 0. A special 'broadcast' header is used to effect communications when the LAN or channel of the destination station is unknown.