Method and apparatus for adding a randomized propagation delay interval

Abstract

Delay times are modified in Ethernet network devices by adding a randomized time interval generated in accordance with a propagation delay between two network stations. A server in a client-server arrangement is given priority access over clients by adding to the clients' InterPacket Gap (IPG) interval a random time delay between one and two times the cable delay between the server and the corresponding client. The server can access the network media after the IPG interval, whereas clients must wait the additional random time delay before accessing the media, thereby improving server throughput and overall network throughput. Collision mediation is improved by adding a randomly selected integer multiple of a propagation delay between two stations, where the integer multiplier is randomly selected from a predetermined range of integers. The randomly selected integer multiple of the propagation delay provides a second dimension of random selection to minimize subsequent collisions and minimize the occurrence of capture effects in losing stations.