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:
Dec. 31, 1991
Filed:
Sep. 11, 1989
David L Whipple, Braintree, MA (US);
Wang Laboratories, Inc., Lowell, MA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus for determining priority of access to a bus by nodes in a group of nodes attached to the bus. For purposes of determining priority, the apparatus arranges the nodes in a circular configuration and selects one of the nodes as the 'anchor node'. The anchor node has the highest priority and the priorities of the other nodes are determined by their positions in the circle relative to the anchor node. Each node includes a presettable counter for indicating a number of times that a node may access the bus before the highest priority is rotated to another node. After a device represented by one of the nodes accesses the bus for a predetermined number of accesses the current anchor node ceases being the anchor node and the next node in the circle becomes the new anchor node. The priorities of the nodes change to reflect the new location of the anchor node.