Importance

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Abstract

In a signal transmission network, such as a data network, having a multiple access bus topology (12) in which many nodes reside and communicate over the same bus, and wherein electrically isolated and/or physically different signal transmission media (17,18,19) are encompassed by the bus (12), and wherein a common protocol is used across the entire network; a multidirectional repeater (10) repeats signals from any one of the signal transmission media to one or more of the other signal transmission media, thereby providing a contiguous logical bus across the different signal transmission media. The multidirectional repeater (10) uses logic transitions, e.g., the presence or absence of data, a change in a data or logic state, the presence or absence of a carrier, a change in a carrier frequency, or any other suitable indication that data is present on one of the signal transmission media (17,18,19) for determining when to repeat signals from that signal transmission media to other signal transmission media and for determining when to stop repeating signals. An interface (21,22,23) is provided between each signal transmission media (17,18,19) and the multidirectional repeater (10) to disable the transmission of data to the bus (12) so that only signals from one signal transmission media are being repeated at a time. The multidirectional repeater (10) determines which data to repeat when data is available on one or more signal transmission media.

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First Claim