Independent clocking local area network and nodes used for the same

Abstract

In a local area network composed of transmission lines for interconnecting a plurality of subordinate networks including synchronous apparatuses and a plurality of nodes which connect the subordinate networks to the transmission lines, information is transferred using a fixed length frame, a clock source which generates an independent clock signal and a circuit which generates a fixed length frame with the oscillation frequency of the clock source as a reference are provided in each node so as to adopt an independent clocking system, and distribution of a common synchronizing clock required for synchronous apparatuses is made by transmission while embedding transition point information of a synchronizing clock in a specific space in the fixed length frame. Further, each node generates a fixed length transmission frame with an independent clock signal, and on the other hand, there are provided in each node, from the requirement that information quantity applied to a network is made constant, a circuit for extracting a received clock, a storage device for storing received information temporarily, and an information outgoing quantity control circuit in which information quantity which is sent out in one frame is increased when the information quantity stored in the storage device becomes more than a predetermined first reference value and information quantity which is sent out in one frame is decreased when the information quantity stored in the storage device becomes less than a predetermined second reference value.