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:
Jun. 25, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 31, 1994
Menachem Abraham, Lexington, MA (US);
David Bartolini, Dudley, MA (US);
Samuel Ben-Meir, Sharon, MA (US);
Ilan Carmi, Framingham, MA (US);
John L Cook, III, Southborough, MA (US);
Ira Hart, Cambridge, MA (US);
Alex Herman, Sharon, MA (US);
Steven E Horowitz, Holliston, MA (US);
Yongbum Kim, Brookline, MA (US);
Yoseph Linde, Needham, MA (US);
Brian Ramelson, Brighton, MA (US);
Richard Rehberg, Northboro, MA (US);
Gordon Saussy, Brighton, MA (US);
Yuval Shohet, Acton, MA (US);
Igor Zhovnirovski, Lexington, MA (US);
3COM Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A local net area network, or LAN, configuration is provided with a multiple generic LAN channel architecture which can be logically and dynamically changed. The configuration control can be applied to each module of the network and to each port of a module of a LAN hub. The architecture provides multiple LAN protocols to be used simultaneously, as needed, through protocol specific functions. Industry standard protocol such as: token bus, token ring, and fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), can be implemented using the generic channel architecture and its characteristics providing respective network functions. The architecture also provides a digital collision detection method and provides information necessary for precise network statistics monitoring. The token passing ring architecture provides a logical ring formation within the generic channel. A token passing bus architecture uses modified Ethernet.TM. architecture, and a hub management provides control for the generic multichannel and the LAN management provides protocol dependent network management. The architecture provided allows multiple hub management entities via hub mastership arbitration to provide a unique master for the hub management function.