Abstract: A contention-resolution protocol on a single shared bus with asynchronous time-division multiplexing and random access is disclosed. The scheme is equivalent to finding the extremum of a set of random numbers. Each station maintains a common window. A station contending for the use of the bus generates a number. If the number generated falls in the window, the station contends in the next slot of time, otherwise it has to wait until the current contention has been resolved and a packet has been transmitted. A collision-detection rule is applied that detects whether one or more stations have contended. If more than one station has contended, or if no station has contended, a window-control rule is applied at each station to expand, shrink or otherwise change the window. The process is repeated until exactly one station has contended. The packet of data can then be sent.