Bi-directional daisy-chain cascading of network repeaters

Abstract

Each stacked repeater has two activity ports that are daisy chained to the activity ports of other repeaters in the stack. Each activity port has an input and an output. The two activity ports connect to the next repeater above and the next repeater below in the stack. Each repeater examines its local network ports to computer stations such as PC's to determine if any are inputting data to the repeater. When any local port is inputting data, the repeater activates both of its activity-port outputs. When no local port is inputting data, the repeater simply passes each activity-port's input through to the other activity-port's output. Thus the activity-port output indicates when either the repeater or an earlier repeater in the chain has a local port inputting data. Port activity is chained in two directions: through all repeaters in the stack from the top-most repeater, down the stack to the bottom-most repeater, and also from the bottom-most repeater, up through the repeaters to the top-most repeater. Thus one activity-port's input indicates when any of the repeaters above have a local port inputting data, while the other activity-port's input indicates when any of the repeaters below have a local port inputting data. The one-port-left state is determined by any repeater using the two activity ports.